Platinum Pro-Use 171 Drafting Pencil Limited Edition Review

Platinum not only makes some of the best fountain pens on the market, they have done a great job in the mechanical pencil space for decades as well. The Platinum Pro-Use 171 Drafting Pencil is their top of the line model, with a feature list to match the price tag. Is it worth it? Let’s find out.

The Pro-Use 171 has two main selling points outside of the standard setup: an adjustable length lead sleeve, and a toggleable spring mechanism to help prevent breakage. Let’s tackle those first, and then we will get into the traditional features.

On the front end of the pencil, the nose cone is twistable to extend and retract the lead sleeve. This extension ranges from 0 mm when completely retracted, to 4.5 mm when fully exposed. As a fan of an extended lead pipe, 4.5 mm is a bit too long even for my tastes, but that is the good news - you can customize it to fit your exact needs. It is a bit of a visual trick when doing this, as it’s the nose cone itself moving up and down. The shorter the sleeve appears, the bigger the gap between the nose cone and barrel. I’m not a fan of the aesthetics of this feature, but it’s usable in my normal writing position.

What I can get behind is the spring mechanism to help with lead breakage. Twisting the grip section to the proper station activates or deactivates the mechanism. I’ve kept it “on” for the most part, other than testing if I could feel any difference. If I push it hard I can notice some give with it activated, but my writing pressure is light enough that it’s hardly noticeable in either stage.

The two stages are marked on the barrel, with a short twist to engage/disengage the spring.

The standout feature of the Pro-Use 171 is the knurled metal grip section, and the balance it prides to the overall writing experience. The knurling is light-to-moderate so it won’t sandpaper your skin during long sessions, and the entire section is heavy, especially when placed against the lightweight plastic barrel. That’s how engineering and drafting pencils should be designed, but I can’t help but wonder if a lightweight aluminum barrel would better fit the price tag of this pencil.

The Pro-Use is a good pencil, but it has a long list of competitors that I would choose before it. Top to bottom: Spoke Design Model 4, uniball Kuru Toga Wood, Pro-Use, Rotring 600.

Price is the kicker for the Pro-Use 171. It’s $43 for this Limited Edition color (the all-Black standard model is $38,) and I’m not sure there is enough there to justify it for my own use. The lead sleeve adjustment is a set it and forget it situation, as is the spring mechanism to assist with breakage. With a few exceptions, I guess you could say I’m a fan of fixed pencils.

Do you have any use cases where the features of the Pro-Use 171 come into play? I’d love to hear them if so.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Zebra DelGuard Type-GR Mechanical Pencil Review

I’m on record as only being “meh” about the Zebra DelGuard Mechanical Pencil. But a DelGuard in Purple and Pink with a squishy grip? Ok Zebra, you win!

The DelGuard is a legitimately good pencil. The build quality is great, the price is fair, and the selling point - a front-end mechanism that helps prevent breakage - works perfectly.

I’m only meh on it because of the mechanism. It’s nothing that has ever been a selling point for me. Rotating lead? I can use that from time to time. A retractable lead pipe? Yes, if additional protection while portable is required. Mostly, I prefer a standard fixed mechanical pencil, which more than meets my needs. I don’t use 0.3 mm lead sizes much, where the DelGuard mechanism would come in handy. And I’m sure there are a few other specific use cases too, such as using it against a ruler or other fast-paced situations.

All that said, I am a sucker for color and whimsy, and my goodness, does the DelGuard Type-GR have it all.

More color, more better! L to R: Pentel P205, DelGuard Type-GR, Pentel Smash.

Can we talk about this color scheme? It’s a mix of gradients and color blocks, and unbeknownst to me before I got it in hand, it has a subtle cloud pattern starting in the Blurple section of the pencil, rising up towards the clip. The Blue and Grey models each have their own atmospheric design, different from the clouds on this one.

The soft grip section is well done, providing a good middle ground from the firm grip on the Pilot Dr. Grip, and the extra squishy uniball Alpha Gel Grip. The Type GR grip is soft on the outer layer, and firm underneath, making for a comfortable writing experience.

Cloudy, with a chance of Graphite.

If I could wish cast, I would like an 0.7 mm or 0.9 mm option in the Type-GR. The wide diameter barrel lends itself to wider tip sizes, making for a more natural writing flow. But do you know what 0.7 mm or 0.9 mm lead sizes don’t do? Break as much. So there is less need for their mechanism to come in to play in those wider sizes. They do offer an 0.7 mm in their base model in a few colors, but the vast majority of the product lineup is 0.3 mm and 0.5 mm, for good reason.

Zebra’s stock graphite is fine. If this was a long-term use pencil I’d look at something with more tooth, like Pentel’s stock graphite.

Given all of my capitulating, and wondering what the perfect Zebra DelGuard would look like, sometimes I’m just enamored by how a product looks. That’s the case here with the Twilight Purple Limited Edition. It’s $10.75 at JetPens, which puts it a price tier above the base model, but far less expensive than some premium pencils. I’d say the fun it offers makes it more than worth it for me. Looks like I’m a DelGuard fan after all.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Leuchtturm Drehgriffel Mechanical Pencil Review

The fact that I’m sitting here thinking about if the Leuchtturm Drehgriffel Mechanical Pencil is better than the Drehgriffel Ballpoint pen I already love tells you what I think about this pencil. Is it better, though? Maybe. Is it better than a traditional mechanical pencil? That’s a tougher question to answer, but I’m going to give it a shot today.

The Mechanical Pencil was a surprise entrant into the Drehgriffel lineup, at least for me. The Ballpoint seemed to be a success, so why not a pencil? From standard colors, to gel ink refills, to building your own pen from an array of colors, I’ve enjoyed all things Drehgriffel. Would I enjoy the pencil? Clearly, yes.

Matching packaging!

What is it about this lineup that I like so much? The design is wonderful. It has a vintage feel with modern colors. It’s small and slim, so it fits in many places, including in the hand nicely when it’s time to write. The aluminum barrel feels sturdy, and both models - Ballpoint and Mechanical Pencil - use a twist mechanism to extend and retract the tip or graphite.

My custom built ballpoint.

The pencil ships with 0.7 mm HB graphite, and it does a nice job. I do find it to be slightly on the Hard side of the scale, but that works well if you are looking for a portable pencil. That’s where this Drehgriffel thrives. In other areas, like when compared to more traditional mechanical pencils, it falls a bit short.

For starters, there is no eraser. That’s not a deal-breaker for me, but is mandatory for others. What may be closer to a deal-breaker, is the aforementioned twist mechanism. To extend the graphite, you give the mechanism on the end of the pencil a quarter-twist, counter-clockwise, for each stage you would like to extend. For me, that’s two clicks (it’s a ratchet-style mechanism that snaps back after each twist,) to get my preferred writing length.

Rotring 600, left. Pentel Sharp, right.

While this mechanism is functional, it becomes weird when it is time to retract the lead. For that, you will hold the twist instead of letting it go, and push the graphite back in, either with your finger or on the page or desk. It’s easy enough, and it feels weird to complain about something that works fine, but decades of standard mechanical pencil operation had me overthinking this.

You may have to grip the Drehgriffel further back on the barrel.

Another design element to consider is the grip section. While it matches the entire Drehgriffel design aesthetic, the large nose cone is more befitting of a traditional wooden pencil than a mechanical one. Most typical mechanical pencils, especially of the engineering variety, have some form of straight-sided grip section. There are some notable exceptions - the Pentel Sharp is a big one - so keep that in mind if that is important to you.

With all of the pros and cons laid out, there is of course one more detail to consider: price. This is a $34 mechanical pencil, which puts it well into the upper end of the price spectrum for mechanical pencils. I think that limits who this pencil is for. Leuchtturm fans will enjoy it, as will stationery nerds like myself. It would also make for a good gift. Otherwise, I think it might be a tough sell for a user needing a mechanical pencil, or a random stationery purchase.

For me, I enjoy it and I can see using it frequently. It will be a nice travel companion since it doesn’t have a lead pipe on the front that can get bent, and it is more writer-ish than my favorite travel pencil, the Caran d’Ache Fixpencil. And who knows, if Leuchtturm ever offers the opportunity to build your own, I may add another one to the arsenal.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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