Best Mechanical Pencils

[sweetpea3829]

Seriously folks...I am SO tired of mechanical pencils that jam, break, the eraser erases to a nub, making it impossible to refill, lead that breaks, etc.

 

Regular #2 pencils were a colossal pain too, and mechanical has proven to be less of a pain, but still a pain nonetheless.

 

If you use mechanical pencils, what's your favorite, kid-friendly pencil that doesn't cost an arm and a leg (ie...if it's lost, I'm not out big bucks for a single pencil).

 

 

[ondreeuh]

Kuru toga pencils automatically rotate the lead as you write, and they come with good lead. You can buy a starter kit (pencil, extra lead, and extra erasers) for about $5 on Amazon. uni-ball KuruToga 0.5mm Mechanical Pencil Starter Set https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0026ICM1E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Fhobyb2FWXX82

[SilverMoon]

We've had good luck with this brand. I usually get a big package once a year at Costco, for six kids who are lousy at keeping track of their pencils. They get crushed under chairs, lost in every room of the house, but somehow that package reliably lasts us a year. The erasers and lead are super easy to replace and it comes with plenty of reloads. I do keep a container of classic pink pearl erasers on the school supplies shelf though.

[LEK]

I have been using the same papermate infinite lead pencil for about 18 months now and it is still going strong, I usually go through a mechanical pencil at least once a month if not every couple of weeks, what is it with the terrible quality? Anyway, love this one, it holds so much lead that you rarely have to refill it and the eraser is big and is yet to run out at all.
It has jammed twice in that time but only at the tip which is easy to remove and fix in seconds; I unscrew the tip and poke a pin through the hole and it unjams.

[ondreeuh]

Another thought - you might try upgrading the lead you use to a more durable kind. Uni's NanoDia is very nice. I use the 0.5 mm lead and don't have problems with it breaking, and it's a nice, dark color. Some of our cheap drugstore mechanical pencils have terrible waxy, gray lead that breaks easily even at 0.9 mm.

[RootAnn]

We have lots of mechanical pencils, but no one can ever find them when they want to use one! I assigned colors to the girls, so they usually can find theirs. (I had to get eldest extras because she lost hers and was always borrowing dd#2's pencils.) The boys just use whatever they can find.

 

We have two sets of these Pentel Twist-Erase Clicks. We also get more erasers in bulk. The erasers last a long time & the .7 mm lead is good for my older kids. (I have .9 mm pencils for my boys.) The Twist-Erase-Express ones are cheaper, but seem to use the same erasers.

 

We have some BIC Velocities, but the erasers are really small, so I can't recommend them. 

 

[HomeMum]

I'm such a pencil snob, I looooove these: https://www.amazon.com/Zebra-Steel-Mechanical-Pencil-Erasers/dp/B00RHET9ZE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1476758000&sr=8-2&keywords=zebra+mechanical+pencil

Edited October 18, 2016 by HomeMum

[lailasmum]

Uniball Shalaku are our favourite and I can usually bulk buy them for for what works out to be just over a £1 each.

[Bambam]

I second the uni-ball KuruToga. Recommendation. I purchased a couple about a year ago. We did lose one (sadness), but the other is still going strong. We press hard when we write too, and I've been impressed I haven't broken the lead. We have the .5, but I used to have to use a .9 so the lead would not break all the time.

 

We do use the separate eraser - click and erase, I think. A little plastic cube with a long eraser inside of you that you can advance as needed.

Edited October 19, 2016 by Bambam