STAEDTLERMars Tehnical Mechanical Pencil, 2mm (#2) Lead Holder with Built-in Sharpener - Drawing & Sketching Pencil with Metal Clip & Push-Button Lead Advance

There are certain Artists/Engineers that prefer using a mechanical pencil for drawing/drafting. The small widths of the 0.3-0.7 mm lengths tend to keep a sharp point and are great for drawing without stopping every minute to sharpen the point. The drawback to these mechanical pencils is that it also tends to snap on you with the slightest bit of pressure. Besides being annoying it can sometimes leave a mark on your paper as well. Now the 1.0 mm leads are thicker but the points seem duller and they also snap on you when drawing (maybe not as easily or as often). Another drawback with these types of pencils is they often don't come with varying degrees of hardness (9B-9H) as your wood encased pencils often do.Staedtler has taken the best of both and fused them into this Lead holder. At 2.0 mm the leads are very sturdy and can take a greater measure of pressure. For all intents and purposes this lead holder is very similar to mechanical pencils. Although they are the tools I use most often they are not without their drawbacks as well. Here is a summary of the pros and cons IMO:Pros:1. Staedtler leads are one of the best products.2. Very light-weight and comfortable design.3. The thick lead makes it very durable. It hardly ever snaps on me.4. A variety of hardness degrees are available (EB, 6B-B, HB, F, H-9H).5. There is a lead pointer located at the end of each pencil. Therefore you don't have to buy one separately. However, Staedtler does make Staedtler Mars Rotary Action Lead Pointer and Tub for 2mm Leads, 502BKA6, which works very well.6. The individual leads are labeled with the various degrees.7. You don't have to worry about unevenly centered lead cores, which can happen with the standard pencil. Resulting in breakage and waste.8. The lead keeps a point longer than a standard pencil. You can create both a sharp point and dull point as needed with the above sharpener.9. Since you are only sharpening the lead, you can save yourself time and money. Whenever you sharpen a standard pencil, you eat away a lot of the wood casing along with the lead.10. Refills are cheaper than buying a new standard pencil.Cons:1. Unless you want to switch out the lead each time you need a different degree, you need to buy a lead holder for each degree you need. (Tip: The staedtler graphite/lead is what I love. There are a variety of 2.0 mm lead holders available.)2. There is a lead pointer located at the end of each pencil. It does pull off to sharpen the lead but it is very small and difficult to maneuver. There is only one type of point to sharpen your lead to. (Sharp point)3. After sharpening your lead, the shavings have to go somewhere. If you don't remember to dump the end, you will certainly end up with a mess somewhere.4. Although the individual leads are labeled with the various degrees, the lead holder itself has no mechanism to let you know which degree of lead you are using. However, Staedtler does provide inter-changeable color-coded pencil ends to mark which lead is in each holder. However, this is only provided with the purchase of 12 count refill leads. (I use tape to identify the different leads. I also bought Paper Mate Foohy Gooshy Grips (73740), which adds comfort to my grip and the color coding helps me to visually see the pencil degree I need.5. No built in eraser. Not always used, but still nice to have.6. Push button advance is a bit of an exaggeration. You push the button and it releases the lead. Not controlled advancements that you would find with a traditional mechanical pencil.I still think that the pros far outweigh the cons. Either which way, I still love the Staedtler graphite and think it is one of the best products for sketching and drawing.

I've got a total of six model 780 holders with various leads around my easels... 2mm leads and holders are the best tools for graphite drawing and sketching. These are comfortable, strong well built holder that are practically indestructible.

Just what I was looking for in a lead holder, I use this for sketching it's much better than the usual mechanical pencil (which I was obsessed with using), the quality is great, the grip was secure, and the weight was night, not too much to make it a hassle to use.

Love the design, nice quality and design the lead in there lasts as long as a new pencil.

Light & practical mechanical pencil ✏️.

If you want a smooth barrel graphite holder that is fairly tall compared to my Red barreled Koh-I-Noor graphite holder then this is a good option. It is longer than I would like to carry in a short pencil case but it have more aggressive stippling at the fingers for more control. The clutch appears sturdy and the built-in sharpener works fairly well.. HOWEVER, when I sharpen the tip where is all that powder going? There is a small hole in the tip of the holder that receives a 2mm lead. Twist and it does a good job of sharpening the point. It is not so aggressive that you waste a lot of graphite but I don't see an outlet for the dust. All in all its a very good taller than expected graphite holder with a smooth barrel that has good control and a magical sharpener built in that somehow consumes graphite.

Works better than a wood pencil . Use it all the time for wood working .

Five Stars for everything!!! This is a lead holder, rather than a mechanical pencil that dispenses little tiny leads. This one contains a lead equal to what you would find in a No.2 pencil. It cleverly has a way to sharpen the lead with a little hole in the clicker to advance the lead.I really like this lead holder. You can buy a variety of leads for it, all 2mm, but with different hardness or colors. The holder is easy to grip, with a crosshatched metal part where you grip the instrument. It only holds one lead at a time, but it is long and would be like saying you only use one pencil at a time. I really love the way this feels, the weight is there, but not too much. It feels sturdy, and I'm not tempted to chew on it at all. That's a good thing :-) If you are happy using regular wood pencils, this may be superfluous, but if you like using holders and having back-up lead instead of backup pencils, this could be just your thing. I am considering getting another one in a different color, to mark that it has colored lead in it.I really enjoy being able to retract the lead entirely when not using this, so there is no worry about lead breakage. This is a fine lead holder, and I cannot find anything negative to say about it.