Customer Reviews

Pentel Graph Gear 1000 Automatic Drafting Pencil, 0.5mm Lead Size, Brushed Metal Barrel, 1 Each (PG1015A)

5 star:		(62)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have chosen this sharp pencil after a vigilantly careful 3-4 hour session in a department store.
I went into several stores and compared all the mechanical pencils they had at that time.
I took 10+ pencils for a ride (CDT, Cross, Faber Castell, Mitsubishi Kuru Toga, Ohto Promecha, Parker, Pelikan, Pilot, Pentel Graph Limited 1000, Rotring, Staedtler 885, Zebra Tect 2way etc. ).


For whatever reasons drawing with the Graphgear 1000 just feels right the very moment you take this pen into your hand.

When I made my decision I decided for the feature I REALLY need for a long term relationship. ;-)

While the "obvious" feature would certainly include the visual design you will be surprised to find out how much more there is to it, as I will elaborate below.


Hard factors:

1) Heavy usage of hand and/or rheumatoid arthritis:

If you or a good friend happen to play guitar daily for many hours and take notes at the same time or are unfortunate enough to already have rheumatoid arthritis in your hands, then this is "The pencil you don't want to leave the house without". I am not talking about the reliability itself but about how comfortable it is to use. This pen allows you to do more with much less effort !!

2) You can hide the sharp and sensitive penfront inside the pen.
While this may not be an obvious advantage, consider that you may accidently drop it once during its lifecycle.

The fact that the pens tip is hidden on the inside does not only protect your investment itself it also somewhat lessens the likelyhood of an actual damage to your other inventory, your expensive new shirt - or worse an injury to a family members eye (kids) etc.

I can not stress enough that this first feature alone is the one that is selling the pen for me. I tried many things to avoid that our almost 4 year old is taking my pencils. The "hidden" lead is a cool feature, so the kids dont play with the pens (because they are unusable).


3) The metal case is robust enough to handle when its dropped on the floor and makes sure the pen is still usable after it.

4) The pen has an adjustable lead type indicator for users that tend to forget what lead they filled it with last time, which is also handy if you own several of those.

5) Best Price-Performance value on the market. You will be hard pressed to find another pen that provides similar or even more quality for less.

This pencil easily beats any current competitions products that are priced at even ten times the price !!


Soft factors:

6) The overall visual design is nice and the pen is very slim which makes it look elegant.
(one exception is that the clip could be designed more elegant)

7) The feeling that comes with it when you draw and when you hold it is amazing. F.e while other pencils have a certain resistance on the media this one "glides" over it.


Summary:

Pentels Graphgear 1000 has many appealing points. In a super short summary, "IT JUST FEELS RIGHT".

Users with heavy daily drawing activity by hand and/or rheumatoid arthritis will be sold on the sole fact that they can do more with less efforts.
Or in other words it avoids stress to your hand and - more important - the likelyhood of an accident.

The Graphgear 1000 has also unmatched "real" advantages over the competition that protect your "investment".
I am well aware that other pens have features like adjustment of the length of the outcoming lead or automatically pushing out the lead when shaking etc.

But when you want to have a pencil that has all the features you MUST have and provides you with a suberb support than the choice becomes amazingly clear.
The Pentel Graphgear 1000 is a tough, reliable lifestyle partner that lets you feel that you are the one in charge !!
It also does easily pay for itself over and over by the time others have replaced their counterparts.

So if you are looking for a serious long term relationship than you have just found your partner ;-)

These things are great. A bit expensive for a pencil but worth it. The thickness of the pencil is just right, and the spring loaded retractable clip is great. The tip doesn't wiggle around like a lot of drafting pencils with retractable tips.

The pencil itself is built really well too. The plastic parts are all high quality and the metal parts fit together perfectly. When you shake it all you hear is the lead moving around, there's no parts rattling at all unless the tip is retracted. Very tight construction.

Also unlike other drafting pencils this one actually has a decent sized eraser. I still carry around a block eraser but this one is actually big enough I don't hesitate to use it like I do with my other ones.

The only problem I have with it is there was no metal pin stuck in the eraser to clean out the tip but I haven't had any lead break yet so it might not need it.

All in all, these things are a pleasure to use.

I have lots of mechnical pencils and for the price this is the best one. My top three are the Rotring 600, Faber-Castel Vario and of course the Pentel 1000. The 1000 has the features you would expect on a good automatic pencil including the HB, F, M, 2H, 4H,2B,B (controls the softness) and a feature not on those other two: You press the clip and it retracts the last part of the metal barrel that sticks out and contains the lead. Without that, pencils such as the Rotring 600 and Vario can be dangerous weapons and cut through your shirt pocket or break. The 1000 pencil retracts so you can carry it arround in your pockets without it cutting through it. The only feature I wish it had was a moving eraser like the Vario. I have a heavy hand apparently and I am constantly breaking the leads of many other automatic pencils even when I try to write softly but not with the 1000 (.7). Also I like the grip of the rough metal surface which is pleasant and provides precise control over your writing. The silver and blue metal surface looks very nice. You would pay about 3 times more for a Cross mechanical and in my opinion an inferior product to the Pentel Graphgear.

I originally owned the Pentel Graph Pro 1000 and the pencils are slightly different in function/use. For those who have a Graph Pro, the GraphGear is slightly heavier but not enough to get your hand to strain unless you are writing for an extended period of time. The weight makes it feel more sturdy then its counter part. The Retractable Tip provides a strong kick when it retracts and startled me the first time I used it. If you decide to show of the pencil to friends, make sure they don't drop your new pencil on the ground when it trys to jump from their hands.

The look of the pencil is much more flashy then the Graph 1000, if that matters for you. The balance point on the GraphGear 1000 is slightly higher then mid center. You wont notice a difference unless you try to twirl your pencil. For those you like to hold the very tip of the pencil while writing, this pencil is NOT for you. The Grip is a nicely placed for individuals who like holding the shaft but there is not enough substance to hold the tip at its edge. Changing the Led Indicator is a little tricky at times but should not effect the average user.

The price is a little high for a Pencil but if you plan to take care of it and keep a nice solid pencil for a long time, you cant go wrong with the GraphGear 1000.

(If looks matter to you, I suggest getting the .7 version, the blue highlights make it stand out more. I just prefer the finer line and lower drag/friction of the .5.)

This is a great product in almost every way with one important exception: the clip. The clip on this pencil is used to retract the metal tip of the pencil so if you have it in your pocket or your pencil bag you don't stick yourself reaching in. You do this by pushing the top of the clip which raises the bottom of the clip which is essentially 'holding' the metal tip in place for drawing, so it retracts. But if you are using the clip regularly to clip it onto your pocket or whatever else, it becomes loose, and the bottom of the clip will no longer hold the tip in place without forcing the clip into the hole. Really, it's pretty annoying. And at a certain point, holding it in place won't even work.

I own 8 of these pencils, in the .3 .5 and .7 variety, and it has been a problem with all of them. So it definitely isn't one faulty pencil I am having issues with. I think you are better off dropping your money on a super promecha, it's more expensive but if you care enough about your pencil to spend so much on a Graph Gear 1000 you probably don't mind spending the extra cash on a better product. It's also a much better looking pencil aesthetically.

Hope this helps someone who likes to keep their pencils clipped inside the pocket of their pants shirt or bag.

I own >95% of mechanical pencil models produced in the past 30 years. This is one of the best. Love the grip. .3mm still has limited utility because it breaks so easily but for traces and ghosts this makes a line that is professional class. Lead handling is less error-prone than other small bore pencils.

like other longtime mechanical pencil users here, I've used almost all pencils, my favorites being the Rotring 600/Koh-i-Noor Rapidomatic (God, how i loved it, i felt like i was using a scalpel), the Staedtler 925 (the all-metal version is fantastic, the plastic version is garbage), and the Pentel P205 (because it was ubiquitous and pretty damn good for the price). along the way, I've used many other pencils, but none stick out in my mind as well as these.
my last pencil before getting this one was my trusty Pentel P205 which had after about 5 years of constant abuse (including dropping it lots of times) had finally given out.
i then decided to order this pencil for two reasons: i liked the Rotring-like sharp tip (it simply feels more precise when i write, since i like to write my formulas extra small), and its all-metal design (all metal pencils simply feel more sturdy than plastic, even though the pentel P205 with its bakelite-hard composition comes close). when i got the pencil, i began to use it and found Pentel really did all their homework. for starters, the retractable point is a design that ALL manufacturers of long-sleeve pencils should adopt! i can't tell you how many Koh-i-Noors and Rotrings i've killed after dropping them (we're all clumsy sometimes and our pencils should be built to deal with this). Not to mention the fact it won't poke through your shirt or injure someone if you accidentally drop it on them (something that the Koh-I-Noor regularly risked doing). The feel, as is expected in an all-metal pencil is superb and feels like its gonna last a while as compared with plastic pencils that felt like cheap imitations. the little rubber oval points inside the metal knurlings are a tradeoff for those who felt the knurls were a bit like a nail file; the result is a good tradeoff that feels secure in your hand without feeling too rough. the pushbutton mechanism advances the lead a little less than normal, but i noticed that my leads broke less often as a result (though some say buying top quality leads solves that, though lead breakage is at least partly the fault of a sloppy mechanism, and this one's mechanism is NOT sloppy). so writing with the pencil, even feverishly copying down physics notes onto multiple sheets of paper for a couple hours at a time (something i do regularly) is quite comfortable and enjoyable... not to mention the fact the pencil looks nice and i get asked about it occasionally. the eraser, well, unfortunately, i've come to expect that the eraser is simply not that important (yes, i'd like to find a pencil with a great eraser, but haven't yet), so for now, i simply use the tiny eraser when i don't carry my large one. the price is also great as it is in the same ballpark as the nicer pencils while offering the extra help. all in all, i'd get one again as it seems like the best of both worlds (sharp long sleeve, good reliable daily writer pencil).

I bought this due to its glowing reviews, but am not a fan.

Pros:

-solid body construction
-advances lead very precisely

Cons

-grip is not tacky enough
-clip wiggles when you write (very annoying)
-eraser isn't a twist one
-lead indicator is cheaply constructed and harder to use than it should be to use
-not comfortable if you hold down low on your pencil.

I feel a lot more comfortable using either a alvin draftmatic or protouch ii (my favorite)

The weight balance and heft feels right, and the knurled barrel is very comfortable to work with for hours. The grip sits a little high, and if you intent to bear down on the lead very much, you may find your fingers slipping down past the grip. The clip releases with a satisfying, sharp clunk.

The import pricing on the GraphGear 1000 is quite high. I purchased all of mine in Japan for about US$7-8, and unfortunately it seems impossible to buy at these prices in the States. I'd still recommend it as one of the best general pencils made, but at N. American prices is something of a luxury.

One important note: Pentel appears to have recently changed the design of the clip; earlier models - as shown in this listing - use a single leaf spring to support the clip, while current models have a pinned joint and a wire spring. After six months of heavy use, the former design tended to wear out. I was able to rebend the clip on my 3mm, it's not yet clear to me whether the new design will have similar problems. This is a very nice pencil, but the older model is not necessarily built to last.

I've had several small diameter drafting pencils, and my biggest problem has been accidentally bending the tip of the pencil, rendering it useless. This pencil's retraction mechanism makes bending the tip much less likely.

Operating the pencil is easy. Pressing down on the lead advancer exposes the tip for writing. Pressing the pocket-clip retracts the tip when you're done writing.

This pencil also has a knurled and padded grip, ensuring a firm, yet solid grip on the pencil.

Overall, this is a lightweight, but well-constructed pencil. In stylish and practical aluminum, this pencil is a durable tool. Its extra cost is offset by its durability. Because of the protected tip, you won't have to replace it nearly so often.