Many years ago I used to use the alpha-matic. It was expensive even now.  Now even more so even used.... haha.  Recalling .. kinda a little heavy for my liking.  Auto advance also means that you have to lift your pencil once in a while.  But I suppose the solidity of german manufacture is unrivalled even to this day.

I had this baby for a very short while (1~2 weeks?) before I lost it!     


I'm currently using this one

Pretty alright, but I do not like the grip. Seems a tad slippery but overall a nice pencil.

This blog provides some good reviews on some pencils around, but sadly I don't see any of those at my local book store or stationery shop. Most of them suffer from wobbliness anyway which is a major nono for me. My criteria on a good mech pencil are:

1. Absolutely no wobbling
2. Non-retractable
3. Non-rubber grip
4. Metal body
5. Minimalistic, no unnessesary hanky panky ( eg. marble body / gold plating / engraved picasso's signature etc)

Why a mechanical pencil?
A school staple ever since forever, mech pencils are often a forgotten but loyal companion throughout our homework, assignments, and even life deciding exams ( you probably used it to scrawl a quick calculation somewhere or write a skeleton for an essay) . We twirled it when we were bored, we bit the tip when we were thinking, and we used it to play all sorts of pencil and pen games. When recording information, a pencil and a notebook offers speed, and a certain charm over fumbling to open the note app in your phone. The unvarying width and lack of depth of lines drawn by mech pencils may disappoint the more artistic kind, but the same qualities appeal to  engineers and the likes. Dig out your old mech pencil and let the nostalgia sink in. Then post your awesome pencils here! Cool pens are welcome too!

jchong says
UPDATE:
Just received my Rotring 600
I'm super excited!

The box is somewhat smaller than I expected lol.

Anyway on to my mini review.

The pencil weighs nicely in my hand. Its balance point is about at the middle. The grip is just right, much better than my old graphgear 500 which will shred your fingers. I pressed the tip down hard on a piece of paper backed by a hard surface, and shook it a little. I was slightly disappointed that the lead DOES move, albeit only a tiny bit. But I suppose some space is needed between the sleeve and lead, otherwise the lead wont advance at all! (being gripped by the sleeve itself) It is usually not noticeable unless I applied an unnatural amount of force. A quick test I had devised for myself is to write a word (my name usually) in the smallest size font I can. If the pencil is accurate, the lead will go where you want it to go and the written word will be more legible than a lesser pencil with the same lead thickness. My Rotring did pretty well. Another minor disappointment is that my pencil arrived with a 5 mm long scuff line between the hardness indicator and the rest of the pencil. Nothing serious though, just a cosmetic injury. Probably happened during shipment. The push top is nice and springy, it is impossible to accidentally advance your lead while fiddling now =D. I like the lead indicator at the top, very prominent and easy to see.

So far I have only used HB leads but I've heard that the mechanism of the Rotring 600 0.5 mm version breaks softer lead easily. This is probably hinted by the lead hardness indicator which goes to a softest of 2B.

It is a rather small pencil, and since I rotate my pencil a lot while writing, the clip sometimes get in the way. A quick adjustment in my holding style fixed it though. The fixed sleeve means that the pencil will seldom be in pockets, so I guess the only real purpose the clip serve is to prevent the pencil from rolling away and crashing into the floor. Another thing is the knurled grip will still shred your fingers if you write long and rotate often, but I will still pick it any day over a rubber grip ( I had bad experiences with rubberized grips).

Overall I would give 8.5/10 for this pencil.
And that is being harsh!

I had this baby for a very short while (1~2 weeks?) before I lost it!     


I'm currently using this one

Pretty alright, but I do not like the grip. Seems a tad slippery but overall a nice pencil.

This blog provides some good reviews on some pencils around, but sadly I don't see any of those at my local book store or stationery shop. Most of them suffer from wobbliness anyway which is a major nono for me. My criteria on a good mech pencil are:

1. Absolutely no wobbling
2. Non-retractable
3. Non-rubber grip
4. Metal body
5. Minimalistic, no unnessesary hanky panky ( eg. marble body / gold plating / engraved picasso's signature etc)

Why a mechanical pencil?
A school staple ever since forever, mech pencils are often a forgotten but loyal companion throughout our homework, assignments, and even life deciding exams ( you probably used it to scrawl a quick calculation somewhere or write a skeleton for an essay) . We twirled it when we were bored, we bit the tip when we were thinking, and we used it to play all sorts of pencil and pen games. When recording information, a pencil and a notebook offers speed, and a certain charm over fumbling to open the note app in your phone. The unvarying width and lack of depth of lines drawn by mech pencils may disappoint the more artistic kind, but the same qualities appeal to  engineers and the likes. Dig out your old mech pencil and let the nostalgia sink in. Then post your awesome pencils here! Cool pens are welcome too!

jchong says
UPDATE:
Just received my Rotring 600
I'm super excited!

The box is somewhat smaller than I expected lol.

Anyway on to my mini review.

The pencil weighs nicely in my hand. Its balance point is about at the middle. The grip is just right, much better than my old graphgear 500 which will shred your fingers. I pressed the tip down hard on a piece of paper backed by a hard surface, and shook it a little. I was slightly disappointed that the lead DOES move, albeit only a tiny bit. But I suppose some space is needed between the sleeve and lead, otherwise the lead wont advance at all! (being gripped by the sleeve itself) It is usually not noticeable unless I applied an unnatural amount of force. A quick test I had devised for myself is to write a word (my name usually) in the smallest size font I can. If the pencil is accurate, the lead will go where you want it to go and the written word will be more legible than a lesser pencil with the same lead thickness. My Rotring did pretty well. Another minor disappointment is that my pencil arrived with a 5 mm long scuff line between the hardness indicator and the rest of the pencil. Nothing serious though, just a cosmetic injury. Probably happened during shipment. The push top is nice and springy, it is impossible to accidentally advance your lead while fiddling now =D. I like the lead indicator at the top, very prominent and easy to see.

So far I have only used HB leads but I've heard that the mechanism of the Rotring 600 0.5 mm version breaks softer lead easily. This is probably hinted by the lead hardness indicator which goes to a softest of 2B.

It is a rather small pencil, and since I rotate my pencil a lot while writing, the clip sometimes get in the way. A quick adjustment in my holding style fixed it though. The fixed sleeve means that the pencil will seldom be in pockets, so I guess the only real purpose the clip serve is to prevent the pencil from rolling away and crashing into the floor. Another thing is the knurled grip will still shred your fingers if you write long and rotate often, but I will still pick it any day over a rubber grip ( I had bad experiences with rubberized grips).

Overall I would give 8.5/10 for this pencil.
And that is being harsh!

For those that prefer fatter mech pencil these two are recommended.  Pilot Nextage & Sakura Grosso Sharp. Both are 0.5mm.  Pilot has is a little heavier than Sakura and with hardier materials too.  Sakura has bigger barrel and cheaper by a bit because of the distribution channels used.  Pilot comes with a fixed cone tip while Sakura is fitted a slightly longish retractable one.  Them leads that comes with the Sakura are hard scratchy HB I believe so you better fill it with a bettter one before using.  Both come with soft grip and yet they are not sticky like those on Pilot Shaker 2020.

Pentel. Idk what, it's those slim kind, grey colour.

My first love traded with me. She took my Pilot and I kept her Pentel.

 

tragic story, then we broke up after some time, then some time later in some seminar dunno which farker borrow my pencil never give back.
Lost forever dy   

My search stop ere....

Purr fect weight and balance it almost writes on its own!

I use cap ayam with 2.0mm lead

It equipped with sharpener at end cap also
* edit from 1.0mm to 2.0mm after double check

brand : Neki



above is the example image of the brand

model is

NEKI 5566A, 2.0mm

They look like Pilot Shaker barrel and system design.  Perhaps they use the same mold.  But I believe those are 0.5mm shaker pencil
Anyway nice to know that there are cheaper leadhoder now albeit china make and brand.  I remember using staedler leadholder long ago.

Don't think I saw anyone post what I use



0.5mm Pentel Caplet, often considered a girls' pencil in my school, but its small, slim, lightweight and yet never breaks down cause of the close fit of the head and quality engineering. Plus its almost the only mech pencil with a cap, leading many to ask "That's not a pen?!" whenever I whip out this baby. All for the low low price of RM3.

/sales pitch