Uni Shift Pipe Lock Drafting 0.5mm Pencil, Silver Body with Blue Accent (M51010.26)...

A while ago I got four nice 0.5mm mechanical pencils to compare: - Uni Kuru Toga Roulette : Haven't touched this one in months. It's very interesting mechanically, but the lead wiggles too much and the rotating feature doesn't make enough of a difference for that to be worth is for me. Maybe in a larger lead size this would work better. I have to admit it looks cool though. - Uni Shift Pipe Lock : The retractable lead pipe is nice. I have bent the lead pipe on the staedler and pentel pencils, so keeping it away can help with that. The wiggle isn't too bad but the weight distribution is a bit off for me. This would be a great pencil to throw in the bottom of your bag if you need a draft pencil that can take a bit of a beating. Otherwise see the options below. - Staedler [****] : My solid #2. Very well made, no lead wiggle as long as the tip is screwed on tight, so writing is smooth. The knurling is a bit sharp but personally I enjoy that grip. I keep one of these at my desk so I don't have to take my other pencil out of my bag. My biggest issue is that the eraser feels a bit loose, but it's not too bad. The price is a bit much for me too. - Pentel Graphgear 500 : Instantly my favorite, and has stayed as such for the couple of years I've used them. The lead pipe is totally fixed to the grip so there is no lead wiggle and I've only had it bend once when it flew spinning down onto tile. The knurling is a bit softer than the staedler, it's a nice middle ground. The eraser feels tight but it does wear a bit fast as someone who makes a lot of mistakes. Just a good pencil, and the cheapest of the lot. That's hard to beat. As someone who does a lot of math and diagrams on paper I pretty much stick to the 0.5mm graphgear now. Alongside it I use the Pentel Hi-Polymer eraser for bigger erasing jobs and a MUJI 0.38mm black pen for dark permanent lines. I highly recommend both of these too, no matter what pencil you use.

This pencil feels nice in the hand. You have to hold and twist the pencil counterclockwise to show the lead sleeve and clockwise to retract it back. I will admit that as much as I like the pencil, the quality does make me question the pencil. I haven't had any issues with it so far, but that doesn't mean to act careless with it either. I would recommend it regardless.

I had been using this pencil for a while. The metal base has a good weight for drafting and keeps the pencil from poking through my bags. The only thing is the top pencil clipper part is so easy to break. I can just break it when trying to clip it to my notebook.

Take note, this is a drafting pen - NOT recommended for other purposes - but writing is alright. Take care of the twist mechanism and this will last you long enough. I like the feel of the twist lock and especially the retracting lead holder.

A couple were purchased for EDC, and they work fine for that. The mechanism for retracting the tip works and is quite novel. Its a sharp looking unit when deployed and writes fine without breaking much. Some use these automatic type pencils for drafting. What? None of these work well for precision drafting. 2mm lead holders are the standard and have been for decades. Politics aside, if it isnt lines on tracing paper, these units are pretty good. Some in dismay about this pencil suggest going with something better, at twice the price. Im not about to carry a pricey Rotring collection around town. Sometimes writing utensils get lost or hammered hard. Carry pencils you wont cry about if lost/broken/stolen. Addendum: I got to thinking how nice this pencil would be with a few modifications. All metal construction with anodized color where there is now plastic. Reduce width of knurled part to match same diameter of barrel. All metal retraction parts. It would be expensive, but Id buy it just to look at it now and then, and use it when someone important came in. Titanium for the metal parts would be quite something, though likely out of range....