I really like my Christmas gift: a set of Graphgear mechanical pencils in 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9.
The official price for one in the UK is £26.68 [1]except the 0.4 mm version which isn’t officially available in the UK, but you can get a set of five, with different lead diameters, for under £35.
Pentel’s Orenz is a mechanical pencil I use often, but I haven’t had the pleasure of using another one of Pentel’s pencils yet: the Graphgear.
The Graphgear’s design is great. I especially like the retractable sleeve, activated via the clip. The grip section, knurled metal with rubbery dots, officially referred to as Latex-free grip ‘pips’, and lead hardness indicator, as well as the overall construction are also amazing and show a nice attention to detail.
The lead that came with the pencil doesn’t seem to be all HB. The lead from the 0.5 mm pencil is so much softer than the one that came with the 0.4 mm pencil.
I will certainly enjoy using the different lead diameters and retracting the sleeve when I have finished writing… When I write a lot in one go I will probably still want to use a sliding sleeve pencil out of convenience, i.e. to always have the right amount of lead looking out of the sleeve.
References
| ↑1 | except the 0.4 mm version which isn’t officially available in the UK |
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I never pay attention to the Graphgear…now I think I’ll check it out tomorrow. 😉
Like you, I also never did, but they’re quite nice. Very well made.
That is a very nice gift. I am curious to see a review from you of the pencils. The grip is a very polarizing subject.
Thank you. So far I am happy with the grip. What I really like is that the sleeve is not wobbly at all, not a given for a retractable sleeve.
I really tried to like the GraphGear 1000-series, but they are to big and back-heavy for me. I much prefer a Staedtler 925 or Rotring 600. Perhaps if they make a full aluminium version of GraphGear 500 and I might take out my wallet again.
I agree regarding big and bulky, but they are great as a pen on the desk to write the occasional short sentence – except that every time you retract and extend the sleeve the lead will also advance, so you need to push the lead back in to be properly retracted…