Best Mechanical Pencils
The Pentel graph gear 1000 mechanical Pencil is a superior drafting Pencil for architects, draftsmen, artists and enthusiasts. Dual-action retractor advances and retracts Pencil tip to protect lead from breaking.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"These pads are different colors depending on the lead size you choose (brown for .3 mm, grey for .5 mm, blue for .7 mm, and yellow for .9 mm), making it easy to identify which size of lead you're using. Between this and the color-coding for the lead type, it makes it incredibly easy to keep on creating rather than having to take breaks to remember where you put a certain lead size or hardness or softness of lead. I regularly carry the following Pentel Graph Gear 1000s in my mobile sketch kit: - A .5 mm with 2H lead. - A .5 mm with HB lead. - A .5 mm with 2B lead. - A .3 mm with 2H lead. That said, these are by far my favorite mechanical pencils, and they are something I regularly use at home and while on the go."
"Pentel GraphGear 500 Automatic Drafting Pencil Black (PG525A). 2. Zebra M-301 Stainless Steel Mechanical Pencil, 0.5mm, Black Barrel, 2-Pack (54012). Somehow, I find GraphGear 500 is more comfortable to hold than GraphGear 1000, maybe because GraphGear 500 is lighter. The Pentel GraphGear 500's price is right, only half of the Pentel GraphGear 1000, it but feels better in my hand, this maybe different for others."
"They're everything you could want from a pencil. I think it's reasonable to say that dropping a pencil is part of normal wear-and-tear; and a $10 pencil ought to hold up better in everyday use."
"I may have spent more for these pencils, but I'm still probably spending the same amount of money on pencils, because I protect these more!"
Decorated with eye-catching sparkles, these colorful pencils are a smart choice for standardized tests, note-taking, and other everyday writing tasks. Reliable mechanical pencils with sparkly, fun designs and #2 leads perfect for standardized tests.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Whether it's homework at night or in the morning, at the house or at school or at a different math class, the kids, ages 7 and 9, always need pencils and an eraser. My kids misplace more pencils than I can count and it drives me crazy."
"The leads that came with the pencils are perfect, they're dark and they look like they were written by regular #2 pencils."
"BIC is always my go to for my pens and pencils!"
"While I prefer the refillable mechanical pencils (Bic's Atlantis pencils are fabulous), these were too good of a deal to pass up."
"So in order to fight all the thieving students who will find these at desks and pocket them for their greedy hands (or because your not paying attention and just drop them between your seats or leave them in the library) I suggest you just buy a huge pack and get it over with because you WILL need all these anyways, especially for your college students."
"Bought these for writing Japanese, and you get a TON of mechanical pencils FULL of graphite."
"Great pencils that take abuse."
"Bought these to give to kids in my classroom."
Dual-function pocket clip releases heavy spring mechanism to retract tip. Chiseled metallic grip inlaid with soft latex-free pads provides writing comfort.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"These pads are different colors depending on the lead size you choose (brown for .3 mm, grey for .5 mm, blue for .7 mm, and yellow for .9 mm), making it easy to identify which size of lead you're using. Between this and the color-coding for the lead type, it makes it incredibly easy to keep on creating rather than having to take breaks to remember where you put a certain lead size or hardness or softness of lead. I regularly carry the following Pentel Graph Gear 1000s in my mobile sketch kit: - A .5 mm with 2H lead. - A .5 mm with HB lead. - A .5 mm with 2B lead. - A .3 mm with 2H lead. That said, these are by far my favorite mechanical pencils, and they are something I regularly use at home and while on the go."
"Pentel GraphGear 500 Automatic Drafting Pencil Black (PG525A). 2. Zebra M-301 Stainless Steel Mechanical Pencil, 0.5mm, Black Barrel, 2-Pack (54012). Somehow, I find GraphGear 500 is more comfortable to hold than GraphGear 1000, maybe because GraphGear 500 is lighter. The Pentel GraphGear 500's price is right, only half of the Pentel GraphGear 1000, it but feels better in my hand, this maybe different for others."
"They're everything you could want from a pencil. I think it's reasonable to say that dropping a pencil is part of normal wear-and-tear; and a $10 pencil ought to hold up better in everyday use."
"I may have spent more for these pencils, but I'm still probably spending the same amount of money on pencils, because I protect these more!"
Best Sewing Marking & Tracing Tools
If you’re looking for a premium-quality paint marker pen that won’t fade and can write on any surface, look no further than PaintMark’s super-vibrant pack of 15 oil-based marker pens. 15 VIBRANT PAINT COLORS: Included Colors: Black, Blue, Brown, Dark Green, Light Blue, Orange, Red, White, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Metallic Blue, Metallic Green, Metallic Pink, and Metallic Violet.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Most of the time these markers work okay every once in awhile a drip.........."
"They work great."
"My nephew’s love these markers."
"Delivered fast and worked as it should."
"Product as described and highly recommended."
"Very nice."
"Love the paint pens."
"Great pens."
Best Mechanical Pencil Refills
Super Hi-Polymer Lead Refill (0.7mm) Medium, HB, 30 pcs/Tube 3-Pk Pentel Co., Ltd. is a privately held Japanese company which produces stationery products. Triple Threat: #1 selling lead, Industry Standard, Stronger than competitors.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This lead is great for drawing or writing, HB is a firmer lead so it won't break as much but it's still dark enough to resist smudging (all lead is going to potentially smudge a little bit, but a softer lead will be darker and smudge more)."
"However it is very hard it doesn't break easily and I am kind of getting used to the shade."
"The lead was very light in the store-bought pencils."
"I needed some lead refills for my mechanical pencils and this was more than enough."
"I don't know if you can go wrong with lead refills."
"I know these are 'guaranteed to scan' in Scantron tests, but I still have a lucky wooden pencil for that job, so I can't attest to this lead's ability to do that."
"This lead is smooth and clean for writing, but still dark enough to show up and read easily without putting a lot of pressure on."
"You would't want your mechanical pencil to run out of lead - thank god for refils!"
Best Wooden Colored Pencils
Thick, robust leads resist cracking and chipping making them perfect for adult coloring books.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I bought this 150 set of Prismacolor pencils before about 2 weeks now and did some drawings ."
"This is a great set."
"When I first opens the box, the pencils looked so ordinary that I was a little sad. Here, I added a picture of a black kitty I drew on an A4 size sketch book. It cost me a little more than half an inch of the black color pencil. I will definetly buy a delux of 150 colors later when I have more pocket money."
"Here is what the 72 count set of colors looks like... I only wish that I would have bought one of the larger count sets since I am always looking for additional colors. If you are having challenges with sharpening them there is a you tube video about it and how you should always turn the pencil, not the sharpener, in the same continuous direction. There were even explanations on how many you should put into an electric sharpener and then manually sharpen one because they overheat and break the leads!"
"Having recently purchased a large set for my older daughter on Amazon, I can say with 100% confidence that this brand has declined STEEPLY in quality. Her new set came with SERIOUSLY off-centered leads, wooden shafts that are either cracked or completely different colors from one half to the other, and most concerning, the cores in many of the pencils seems to be waxier and clumps/flakes no matter what we do. I believe that many of the higher reviews for this product are from before the company began cutting corners...a search online will quickly reveal that cracked wood, broken leads, off-centered cores, and other issues have been present for several years now."
Best Woodcase Lead Pencils
More than a writing and art products company, Dixon Ticonderoga empowers people to take conscious and subliminal thoughts, facts, ideas and dreams, and preserve them using tools that are simply extensions of themselves. With a satin-smooth finish for enhanced comfort, the Dixon Ticonderoga Woodcase Yellow Barrel #2 Pencil features an exclusive graphite core formula for smooth writing performance. Exclusive #2 HB graphite core formula provides extra smooth performance.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"To complicate things somewhat, I've seen incense-cedar wood used in both China and Mexico versions of the same pencil, as well as lesser quality non-aromatic basswood or other lower grade wood material that is not readily identifiable. You will see it on their colored erasable/checking pencils, Tri-Conderogas, and their standard issue Ticonderogas in the 12-pack cardboard box, 24-pack hang tab clear plastic boxes, 48-pack hang tab green cardboard boxes, and the 96-pack cello wrapped variety which is in actuality 8 of the 12-pack boxes packaged as a single 96 count unit. I've bought 96-pack Ticonderogas at the large wholesale membership stores before (Costco) that are of the Mexican origin, in the same cello wrapped individually boxed units per dozen, HOWEVER, they are "not marked for individual sale", meaning the bar codes and product code (i.e. 13882) are not imprinted on the individual boxes. - The Costco variety is NOT imprinted as 100% AMERICAN cedar wood, the Amazon variety has the imprint. - The Costco variety is obviously not cedar wood, wood is a pasty white without visible woodgrain patterns. - The Costco variety had very poor paint jobs and the classic green foil lettering and logos are noticeably poorer quality. - There were more curved pencil "bananas" and off-centered leads in the Costco variety. - The Amazon variety had largely well centered leads with mostly straight barrels, and the ferrule yellow paint stripes were clean. This all means that if you are lucky and score a box of the cedar wood variety, you will have a great writing experience. The Mexican Ticonderogas were generally thought to be superior to the Chinese versions, because the Ticonderogas made in China largely used basswood/non-cedar wood, had a smallish eraser head, and the leads were poorly centered, and the ferrules were poorly painted as well."
"I'm not going to deny that there is a chance you may receive a defective product like the hundreds of unfortunate people who did, but I'd say you have a better chance of getting the good ones."
"I've always hated those pencils with hard erasers and preferred the soft erasers of Ticonderoga pencils."
"He says that the lead is made centered in the wood, which makes for a better and stronger pencil."
"I'm a teacher, and so I know first hand the important quality difference between good pencils (like Ticonderoga) and cheap knock-offs. Although this page clearly says that if you order 144 Dixon Ticonderoga #2 pencils you will get 6 24-count boxes, and the graphic shows actual Ticonderoga pencils, THAT IS NOT WHAT THEY SENT."
"The feel of the wood is remeniscant of cheap freebie pencils from a county fair."