Pentel Graph 1000 Mechanical Pencil 0.5 mm Red Gradation Review

PENCIL REVOLUTION! The zine, available on Etsy.

Am I on the record that Pentel makes the best mechanical pencils on the market? If not, I am now.

I’ll hear your Uni-ball Kuru Toga and Rotring 600 arguments, and I do think they are individually great. But as a group, across the board? Give me all Pentel, all the time.

The Pentel Sharp is the classic office and school mechanical pencil. The Pentel GraphGear is a beloved drafting and engineering pencil, right there with the Rotring 600 for many people. The Pentel Kerry is a unique and fun capped - yes, capped - mechanical pencil. Throw in the Pentel Smash, the litany of sub-$10 quality pencils, and the best stock lead and eraser setup … have I said Pentel is the best yet? Ok, just making sure.

With all of those amazing options, the Graph 1000 was one I hadn’t tried, and it’s safe to say you can go ahead and add it to the list of excellent mechanical pencils above.

Compared to the classic GraphGear, the Graph 1000 is the little sibling. Other companies have this type of setup with their main-line, full-metal drafting pencils as the top tier, followed by a metal grip, plastic barrel option a tier below. See the Rotring 600 vs. 500, for example.

That’s no slight on these step-down pens. In fact, they are probably the better entry point for general writing. The Graph 1000 is lightweight, and has a fantastic aluminum grip section with raised rubber ovals to keep your fingers in place. There are no other bells and whistles outside of the lead grade indicator on the cap, which ranges from B to 3H.

The main selling point of this particular model is the gradient paint job. These were a limited edition produced for the Korean market, and I wish we would see these with a broader release because they are so great. Due to this fact, the price of these specific Graph 1000 pens runs $20 - more than the cost of the standard, premium, GraphGear.

I’m fine with the premium because I am a superfan of the brand. The standard Graph 1000 runs $12, which puts it in line with what it intended to be in Pentel’s lineup.

And what a lineup it is. I’ve been using this mechanical pencil, along with an Orange Kerry, as part of my weekly planner setup, and I can’t want for anything more.

(I purchased this pencil from Yoseka Stationery at regular price.)

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Platinum Pro-Use 171 Mechanical Pencil Review

It's been a while since I really used a mechanical pencil in earnest, but I'm glad I decided to pick up the Platinum Pro-Use 171 recently. The name isn't great, but don't let that turn you away from this otherwise excellent pencil.

The Platinum Pro-Use 171 mechanical pencil is a drafting pencil made with premium materials, but it also sports a couple of neat tricks that make it a little nicer to use than your standard drafting pencil. Of course, it also has that tiny emergency eraser to erase the tiniest of mistakes.

Along with the metal body, knurled grip, and matte black finish, the pencil also features a fairly standard lead-grade indicator, a pocket clip, and a retractable lead pipe. Pretty standard fare in the mechanical pencil realm.

What sets this pencil apart is a couple of features that add some additional customization and adjustments to make this pencil fit your grip, style, or the specific job at hand.

First off, the lead pipe is completely adjustable in length. By rotating the cone back and forth, you can extend or retract the lead pipe from 0 to 4.5mm. At the 0 setting, the pencil is set for storage in a bag or pocket without the risk of poking through fabric. But when you're ready to write, draw, sketch, or use the pencil alongside a straight-edge, you can extend the pipe to the appropriate length to get the job done.

I've found that I enjoy using the pencil with the lead pipe extended all the way (to 4.5mm) because of the way it alters the grip. See, this is the main downside I have with the pencil. When fully extended, the knurled grip blends smoothly into the cone and gives me the grip that I prefer. When the pipe is retracted, that extra space (up to 4.5mm) is transferred to a gap between the grip section and the cone. The pencil still works just fine in this setup, but it does alter the grip feel. My fingers can't get comfortable when this gap is present. The smooth material between the knurled grip and notched cone just confuses my fingers and I end up fidgeting with it too much.

With my personal idiosyncrasies aside, it's still a really cool feature. I have plenty of pencils with retractable lead pipes, but they're either fully extended or fully retracted — no in between. It's nice to have this level of control for certain tasks.

The other feature, which I'm even more excited about, is the pressure-absorbing spring contraption inside the pencil that allows the lead to retract back into the pipe if you exert much pressure on it. This is intended to prevent lead breakage when you apply too much pressure when using the pencil, but it has the added benefit of making the pencil feel softer on the paper when using it. This feature is easy to turn on or off — just rotate the grip one way or the other. You can't tell a big difference at first between the two modes, but after writing for a good minute or two in one mode, it's much easier to feel how it can completely change the way the pencil feels when writing or drawing. I've really enjoyed writing with this pencil with the soft mode turned on. In my mind, it's a similar difference to how a soft gold nib feels as compared to a stiff steel nib of the same size. They both write great, but the gold nib feels a little softer. Depending on what you're doing with the pencil, the ability to switch back and forth is really cool.

As far as other options go, you can grab this pencil in a variety of sizes/colors. If you want the matte black version shown here, you have an option of 0.3mm or 0.5mm lead sizes. There are also 0.3mm, 0.5mm, 0.7mm, and 0.9mm versions, and each is represented by a specific color — gray, navy, black, and white bodies with a silver knurled grip section and cone. The matte black versions both cost $34, while the other ones come in at just $20. From what I can tell, the only difference in price comes down to the materials used. The body of the matte black versions are metal, while the others are just plastic. Functionality-wise, they're the same.

The Matte Black Pro-Use 171 looks killer, and it's worth the extra 14 bucks to match that blacked-out aesthetic if that's your thing. If not, save some money and know that you're getting an equally great pencil!

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

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Hombre x Kaweco Edition Pen and Pencil Set Review

A funny thing happened on the way to this review.

I’ve had my Hombre x Kaweco Edition set for months now, using and enjoying both the AL Sport Gel Roller and Special S Series mechanical pencil (more on them in a moment) that are part of this collaboration. When it came time for me to type up this review, I went to grab the product link to insert into this article, and noticed something strange. The price of this set, directly from Kaweco (where I bought mine) has increased drastically.

I had it in my head that I paid around $90 for the set, and now I’m seeing it listed at 123.75€, or approximately $150. Is my memory failing me? That’s always a valid thought, but in this case, it wasn’t. I paid 85€ ($103) for this set in August 2020:

So what gives? I have no idea, but I sent Kaweco an email to see if something changed. I do know that it recalibrates some of the thoughts I have around this product.

(Update: There are many Country settings, language setting, and VAT setting to get set in your website cookies, so make sure you are seeing the 99 Euro version of the pen if you are interested in it.)

Let’s get one thing out of the way up front: This is a charity-focused product. All proceeds from these 500 sets go to a children’s hospital in Germany, and will help to build a school in Kenya. Raise all the money you can! But, maybe along the way, clean up the product copy a little bit:

But enough about the pricing - for now - let’s talk about the product itself.

Pablo Fontagnier, aka Hombre, is a graffiti/street artist after my own heart. His art style is wonderful, with colorful, clean, and poignant works, made to scale from a computer screen to the wall of a warehouse. 25 years in the game have earned him a reputation to match the name. And this collaboration with Kaweco came out great.

The product packaging is traditional Kaweco, with the full-on Hombre treatment. The black tin features the HOMBRE tag, which is housed in a paper sheath of Hombre artwork, and the hand-numbered serial number of the set. Both the pen and pencil feature the Hombre logo etched in white on the black base of each barrel. A+ on packaging and presentation across the board.

The pen is the classic Kaweco AL Sport Gel Roller, in a black satin finish, with an 0.7 mm Parker style (international G2) black gel ink refill. I adore this pen, and it is the main reason I made this purchase. I didn’t own a Kaweco gel roller pen prior to this one, and this one matches my style to a tee. I will mention that when writing, there is a little tip rattle from the metal on metal contact between the refill and barrel, but not enough to be a real problem.

If you have used any pocket Kaweco fountain pen, then you know the size of this model. It is small and pocketable when capped, and when in use, extends to a full-length writing instrument.

If it is love for me and the AL Sport Gel, it is only like for me and what is the Kaweco Special S 2.0 mm Push Pencil in this set. I love the idea of this pencil, and the aesthetics are spot-on, but this is a mini Kaweco that in unable to transition into full-length for writing. It is great for freehand sketching and art, so maybe it really is perfect for this set, but for regular writing, it just isn’t long enough for extended sessions.

I may shop around for 2.0 mm graphite with a little more texture to see if that works better for me. The graphite included with the pencil has a slight clay feel to it, which is used to help bind the material into the sticks that we use as refills. I prefer ones that are more scratchy than glassy, which is what this one is.

Still, I’m not sure I can work with the shorter length of the pencil in the long term, not to mention having to hunt down a sharpener (not included) if I want to put a point on it. Again, if you treat this as an art pencil, I think you will be happy.

So, is it worth it? Heck yes - at the original price I paid for it. If bought separately, the pen is around $60, the pencil around $40. Add in nice barrel etching, great packaging, and all the proceeds going to charity? It’s fantastic. At $150? Maybe I wouldn’t have been so quick to pull the trigger, especially if I’m not certain how much use I will get from the pencil. If it settles back down to the $120 as listed in the website copy, I think that is completely fair, and would recommend it if it fits your needs.

(I purchased this pen at full price from Kaweco Germany.)

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