My Favourite Mechanical Pencils

Mechanical pencils are the most basic tool in a designer's kit. Mechanical pencils are for me the cornerstone when it comes to tools, some people like to use a regular old pencil when they draw but for me, mechanical pencils are way more versatile and reliable. They come in different lead thicknesses so I like to have one in each thickness to cover my bases.

Let me begin with the thinnest one and the one I use the least the Tombow Monograph 0.3mm mechanical pencil. The pencil has an interesting mechanism utilizing the clip to both extend the lead and lock the lead in place as this is a shaker also. This is a very situational pen that I only use when I'm working on technical drawings and I need a very thin, clean line to show something that is further back. I struggle with using thinner leads as I end up breaking them quite often but all in all, this is a solid budget option that comes in different lead thicknesses but the plastic build might be a turnoff for some people.

The second pencil is one of the most interesting and most innovative mechanical pencils in the market, the Uni Kuru Toga High Grade 0.5 mm Mechanical Pencil. If you do not know Uni’s Kuru Toga line they are mechanical pencils designed to rotate the lead so that the tip doesn’t get chisel-shaped and break quite easily. The build quality of the high grade isn’t on par with some of these other pencils however there are other versions with different grips and builds especially the Roulette is a higher quality version of the High grade. This is a pencil that lives in a separate pencil case that I mostly use for classes that I need to do quick calculations or write stuff down.

The third pencil in this lineup is the one that I use the most and arguably my favourite one out of the four, it is the Pentel 1000 0.5 mm Mechanical Pencil. This pencil is one of best pencils on the Pentel lineup. This pencil brings everything I need and want in a mechanical pencil in a compact and sleek package. The pencil is built out of metal and lacks that cheap feeling that some plastic pencils have however it is also light enough that you can use it very easily which is an issue I have with these higher end mechanical pencils. My only caveat with this mechanical pencil is that it doesn’t look as sleek and modern as the next pencil I will be talking about.

The fourth and last pencil I will be talking about is the most expensive and most high end out of the four. The rOtring 800 Mechanical Pencil is the top of the line when it comes to Rotring's mechanical pencil lineup. (other than 800+ which is the same pencil only with a stylus in the front.) The build quality of this pencil is very high as both the interior mechanism and the exterior shell are made out of metal, this reflects on the weight of the pencil and the feel it has in the hand of the user. This is my one caveat with the pencil although it feels very high quality when I use it but it also feels too hefty and makes it a little hard to use. The reason I don't use this pencil as much as the Graphgear is that I have the 0.7 mm version of it which is a lead thickness I don't use as much as 0.5mm, however, it is very useful for sketching purposes. The retractable tip of the pencil was a selling point for me as I could carry it easily however as I made my research about these mechanical pencils some people had issues with the retractable mechanism making the tip feel loose which is why some people chose the 600 which lacks the retractable tip.

As a last note, I want to give some honourable mentions and the cheaper or more expensive versions of the ones I use. Pentel Sharp (Pentel p205) is one of the favourites when it comes to designers and architects its sleek body makes it comfortable to use in every grip it is a much cheaper option to the Graphgear 1000. The rOtring 600 is the cheaper version of the 800 and is a favourite for many people over the 800, however, would not recommend you buy 500 or 300 as they are very low in quality in commperesant to the 600 or 800. The uni Kurutoga Roulette is the higher end version of the Kurutoga Highgrade that features a full metal build for a quality feel.

I hope you guys found my geeky review of my favourite mechanical pencils if you like this review and want more gear reviews like this, be sure to let me now.

Thanks for Reading.

The Lost Architect