Pentel GraphGear 500 Mechanical Drafting Pencil, (0.5mm), Fine Line, Black Barrel (PG525A)

An excellent drafting, art and writing mechanical pencil. The GraphGear 500 is lightweight like the Sharp p205 series pencil with the addition of a comfortable knurled aluminum grip that commands greater precision control of the pencil. Loading replacement lead is quick and easy. The eraser is very effective and easily replaced when necessary. A very enjoyable mechanical pencil and worth the investment.

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 925 25-05 : 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.

The Pentel GraphGear 500 is an outstanding mechanical pencil that perfectly balances precision, durability, and comfort. With its solid metal grip and weighted barrel, it offers excellent control and stability—ideal for detailed work like sketching, technical drawing, or note-taking. The knurled grip ensures a non-slip hold during long sessions, and the fixed sleeve makes it perfect for ruler work and clean, crisp lines. As shown in my drawing, this pencil makes shading and linework feel smooth and effortless. Whether you’re an artist, student, or professional, the GraphGear 500 is a tool you can truly rely on.

This is an amazing pencil for drawing or sketching. I really love the fine lines it makes. Worth the price for sure!

I'm obsessed with this pencil. It's very lightweight, the eraser doesn't smudge and the lead isn't too dark. I love the design, mostly because whenever I don't use it for a long period of time, it's cool to the touch. I don't use to write, I use it to draw but it's great quality with either use. Be careful where you place it and how you use cause it breaks easily.

Great pencil. Love the weight of the pencil. Would be great for any use!

Context: I wanted to get a nice mechanical pencil in 0.5mm lead that had finer lead advancement and better comfort for long writing sessions than the common bulk mechanical pencil. At first glance, the construction of the Graphgear 500 is what you'd expect for the price. The barrel and lead tube are indeed plastic. The grip is a single piece of machined metal that measures 9mm across, about a millimeter wider than most bulk writing utensils. Beneath the grip is a brass clutch fixed to the barrel. The action is more sophisticated than a typical gravity feed—keeping the button depressed doesn't allow the lead to slide freely, so you only get consistent advancements in what are roughly half-millimeter increments. My biggest complaint with the design of this pencil is the distance between the end of the clutch and the tip of the sleeve is rather long. That's a solid 14mm/half inch of perfectly good lead you'll never get to use. My other complaint is that the weight of the pencil is centered where the grip meets the barrel. While I don't consider this ideal (I'd rather have the weight centered where the barrel rests on my hand) the 500 is light enough for this to not really be a problem to me. In spite of the things I listed above, I really enjoy writing with this pencil. The grip is comfortable to hold and it's nice to not have a pencil shoot out lead by whole millimeters only to break. A fixed sleeve prevents the tip from ever wobbling, which makes it easy to write very small. All in all, the Graphgear 500 is a solid pencil that packs durability in all the right places and has everything I was looking for without any unnecessary frill to introduce points of failure. Post-script: The included Hi-Polymer brand lead writes very smoothly—too smoothly in my opinion. It's certainly high-quality stuff and I'm happy to use it, but I think I'll switch to another brand once I expend the other two sticks. Smoothness is overrated. Don't be afraid to have a little feedback from your writing utensil. I won't comment on the included eraser since I intend to use the remainder of my block.

I bought this pencil because I wanted to try out an even thinner lead diameter than .5 and this seemed to be a good quality and fairly inexpensive option at only 6 dollars or so. The pencil arrived by itself in a box with a bar code sticker on it, no packaging or anything, so that is somewhat odd. At least it does include lead already inside the pencil but not much, only 2 strips. First impressions are that it is smaller, thinner, and lighter than I expected. The picture made it look like it would be thicker and I assumed the metal parts would make the pencil pretty heavy. It is comfortable to hold and it’s a great weight, light but not cheap or hollow feeling. The texture on the metal grip feels nice. Not too rough which I was worried about. The mechanical action feels solid but precise and delicate. There does not seem to be any looseness in the pencil while writing. I really like how the eraser is very easily removable and extendable; it is also nice and small for detailed erasing. This is the first time I have ever used .3 size lead. The thickness is visually significantly thinner, but when I put it to paper the difference from .5 lead is actually not that apparent. The lines I am getting are not much thinner but they are lighter, and the lead digs into the paper more easily leading to a scratchier feel. I will need to use this pencil for a while and see how I get used to it. The lead breaks more easily but with normal writing pressure I don’t think this is a problem. You will probably tear through the paper with the sharp thin lead if you use it with enough force to come close to breaking it. I keep the lead about 3 clicks in length. The reason why I went for .3 to begin with is because even .5 was just a tiny bit too thick for me at times, so I think I will come to value the .3’s edge over .5 for this. Edit: Now that I have been using it awhile, the .3 is quite nice. I bought some uni dia lead for it and it is much smoother than the stock lead. I find it much easier to cram in tiny words when I start running out of space. Edit: I am still using this as my favorite pencil 5 months later and it still works perfectly. Hope this gives confidence in this product for anyone who wants to try it. I'm surprised I have not lost it yet actually, best $6 I ever spent. BONUS INFO: When peeling off the bar-code there was some residue left over so I immediately took some goo-gone solvent to it to take it off. The plastic is not chemically resistant at all, and immediately smudged and weakened where I applied the solvent. Thankfully I didn't use more than I did. I suggest just using water for the residue and gently scratching it off.