Staedtler 925-35 2.0 mm Lead Holder Review

(This is a guest post by Nick Folz. You can find more of Nick and his work on his blog, Smallberry Drive, Twitter, and Instagram.)

Staedtler finally pitched me over the edge of Mechanical Pencilville, into Lead Holder Valley. Lead holders, for the uninitiated, are mechanical pencils whose lead is 2.0 mm or larger. They have a couple of lead advancement systems, the most common is a “clutch” system that holds onto the lead like a claw until you hit the knock and then it releases, dropping the lead until you let off the knock and it grabs it again. This is fine if you have a free hand to stop the lead, otherwise it’s hitting the floor. The Staedtler 925 35-20 thankfully has a typical lead advancement, like what you would expect from a regular mechanical pencil; each click extends the lead bit by bit. Its navy blue all metal body and precise construction are attention grabbers from the get go. This pencil is as no nonsense as it is aesthetically pleasing. There are some nitpicks and strange decisions, but Staedtler's 925-35 2.0 mm Lead Holder is one stunner of a tool.

The all metal build is not overly heavy, thanks to aluminum. The knurled grip is a series of textured ring areas. The knurling is not extreme, but just enough to be grippy. The lead guide is fixed, but since it is such a wide diameter it is pocket safe. Toward the body of the pen is the lead grade indicator, so you can mark what type of lead is currently in the pencil (2B for life). The slick blue body features their name and logo. I think just the helmet logo would have looked better, but I am nitpicking.

The clip is okay, not great. It has a tendency to slide a bit, by a bit I mean a few centimeters a week with pocket carrying the whole time. I usually prefer a built in clip so that might be a personal bias. You can remove it if you want. The cap in has “2.0” printed on it, and it has a satisfying resistance to it when advancing the lead.

I am not sure why they opted out of putting a sharpener on the inside of the cap. It is a feature that most mid-level lead holders have, so if you want to put a point on the lead you can do it on the fly without having to grab another tool. I might have understood if they swapped it for an eraser - I would still rather have a sharpener - but even that is absent. The lack of an eraser is not as egregious as the missing sharpener, since it would be eaten alive by this amount of lead. I wound up buying a little plastic sharpener and a kneaded rubber eraser that I keep in an Altoids mini tin. These tins are quickly becoming a favorite storage device of mine.

This goes for all lead holders, but it's worth mentioning, these are garbage for taking notes or writing unless you print very large. I like a thick mechanical pencil lead, .7mm and .9mm usually, but this is too much. I had to adjust the size of my lettering to be able to write anything legible at all. You can get a fine point with a sharpener, but it wears down quick, especially my soft 2B lead. If you are looking primarily for a writing device you should probably look elsewhere, otherwise you'll be sharpening this thing non-stop.

All and all the results are sort of mixed bag. Once I got used to the larger lead size I really enjoyed the experience. I kind of liken it to brushes versus ballpoints, you can get a ton more expression out of a lead holder versus a typical mechanical pencil. The drawbacks weren't enough to keep this thing out of my pocket day in and day out, but if I did more writing than drawing you can bet it would have not lasted long. One of the things that really helps this pencil is the aesthetic and its price. At $20 it is top tier quality at a mid level cost. The blue is very eye catching and the weight and feel is solid. If you are in the market for a quality lead holder that looks as good as it works, this is going to be a serious contender.

The Staedtler 925-35 2.0 mm Lead Holder is available from JetPens and also comes in standard mechanical pencil sizes (which have erasers in the cap).

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

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The Pen Addict Podcast: Episode 209 - There's Not Enough Pink Pens

We go behind the scenes a bit in this episode to talk about about stress and burnout as it relates to blogging, podcasting, and keeping a good work/life balance. We also share details of an awesome new podcast from one of our friends, Nock news, and when there will be a Top 5 Pens update.

This episode of The Pen Addict is sponsored by:

Harry's: An exceptional shave at a fraction of the price. Use code PENADDICT for $5 off your first purchase.

Uni Style Fit Meister Multi Pen Review

Earlier this year, I started using a Uni Style Fit multi-pen to plan and track my work for different projects in a Leuchtturm notebook. I wrote a review of the multi-pen shortly after, stating that the gel refills were some of my favorites. While that was certainly true, I wasn't a huge fan of the standard plastic barrel that I chose to house the refills. Luckily, there's a more "premium" barrel option that features metal materials and a twist mechanism as opposed to the three knock switches that make a lot of noise.

And just like that, the Uni Style Fit Meister became the perfect work log solution for me. The refills are top-notch, and I finally have a barrel to match.

Everything about the original review still holds true when it comes to the refills. These are probably my favorite multi-pen refills. They're incredibly smooth and reliable even at the 0.38mm size. And, surprisingly, they last a long time. I'm getting about 3-4 months of daily use out of these refills. I'm a big fan of them, and I hope you check them out sometime.

The new member of this multi-pen family, however, is the Meister body. This classes up the format from "art tool" to "business pen" for me. The metal adds some weight in all the right places to improve the feeling in the hand while writing, and it looks great in the process. The metal is shiny and catches fingerprints like nobody's business, but it's easy enough to clean. If there were more color options in the lineup, I certainly wouldn't complain.

That being said, I really love the gunmetal color I chose. It looks great and feels nice when writing.

Another improvement over the cheaper body is the refill selector method. In the plastic model, there are three knock-like switches that you can depress to use a certain color refill. On the Meister, you twist the body to roll through the 3 refills. For me, this is a huge improvement. I love how smooth the movement is, and I also like that it's quieter than the plastic model. The mechanism feels great for the price, which is saying a lot.

Even though the body is metal, there's a clear window midway up the pen that allows you to see the refill colors. The "active" color lines up directly with the clip, which makes it easy to see what color you can expect when you start writing. It also makes it easy to rotate and select the color you want. The window is a bit small, so you might have some trouble seeing the colors clearly if you're using similar colors. For me, it's really easy to differentiate between blue, green, and orange.

The clip isn't exceptionally strong, but it gets the job done. It's designed to be slim to match the overall aesthetic of the pen, so that might explain why it isn't overly strong. Still, I've never had any issues with it coming undone once it's clipped to something.

One of the things I haven't taken advantage of with this pen is the ability to add a mechanical pencil unit. This isn't possible with the cheaper plastic model, but the Meister incorporates a click mechanism to advance the lead. You only have the option of 0.5mm lead size for this unit, so keep that in mind if the mechanical pencil is something you'd use in this pen.

I have no problem saying that this is my favorite multi-pen to date, and it gets used every day to plan and track my work day. The Meister body improved the experience by adding a better design and feel to an already useful instrument. Definitely try out the refills, and also keep in mind that the Uni Style bodies also work with the Pilot Acroball multi-pen refills (if you prefer those to the Uni refills).

The Uni Style Fit Meister is available from JetPens in a variety of colors, and keep in mind that they don't come with any refills — you need to buy those separately!

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

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