Platinum Pro-Use II 05 Drafting Pencil - 0.5 mm

This is only an initial review, as I received the pencil today. However, there are a lot of good things to notice right off the bat. One, this all metal construction is spectacular. It isn't anywhere near as heavy as a rotring 600, but it has all if not more of the solid feel from the build quality. The grip size is great. I usually go for smaller grips, but this one isn't too big like lots of pencils can get to be. I really hate reading 2 and 3 star reviews from people disappointed that when they mistreat their pencil (i.e. DROP IT) that it doesn't stand up better. Of course a pencil with a permanantly protruding lead sleeve is going to be damaged. You should recognize this and do your best to prevent it.

Enough of my rambling. This is one awesome pencil, and as far as drafting AND regular mechanical pencils go, I can honestly say this will be in my top 3 for a long time to come.

All business, no retractable guide tube, no shaky shake mechanism, just meat and potatoes. The less fancy stuff, the less that can go wrong over time. Although the clip is not removable it is thinner and closer to the body's shaft than any other pen/pencil I've seen so it doesn't jab into my hand when drawing and turning the pencil around to get the exact edge I want on the lead. Tiny eraser under the cap and I was able to drop in 10 .5mm pencil leads in the tube and use the pencil just fine. I'm guessing it could probably handle 5 more.

The metal feels great and is very smooth. The grip part of the pencil feels good as well with the rounded ridges allowing multiple height/grip placement of your fingers. The tiny copper lead hardness indicator stays out of the way. Just below it are very lightly engraved pencil lead hardness numbers that include 3H 2H H F HB 2B 3B. Unless you switch leads all the time I find this largely pointless but decently implemented and most importantly kept out of the way near a part of the pencil you never touch.

Upon examining the main body of the pencil originally thinking it was one piece I noticed a faint line just above the grip. I turned the pencil and almost crapped myself when it suddenly began to twist off. Twisting and twisting I finally managed to separate the two pieces. The bottom piece of metal which is the entire grip area comes off and holds the entire lead storage tube with the eraser and metal cap on the end. The upper piece is simply an empty shell that holds the clip. I was impressed by how much unscrewing it took to separate the two. They really made it so when it screws back together it becomes very solid and will remain so over time. Even more impressive was actually seeing the thickness of the pencils metal shaft at a full 1mm thick. This was not simply a rolled metal tube but a solid hunk of aluminum that had been milled out. I started to lightly twist the pencils lead reservoir tube to see if it came out as well then thought better of it and immediately screwed the pencil back together.

The pencil is initially cool to the touch but quickly warms in your hand. It's about one and a half times thicker than your typical mechanical pencil tube and smooth and cool. Like a cigarette without the bad side effects. It is also almost 3/4in shorter than your average size mechanical pencil which again I found to be very nice. I never clip anything to my shirt pockets but I am guessing the reduced height would help as the pencil does not have a retractable tip. From where the pencil would clip on a shirt it is 4 3/8in long. Also take into account some sag in the shirt for the weight of the pencil which weighs about 3 times as much as a solid plastic Pentel Mechanical Pencil.
As for the Platinum's weight balance it has slightly more weight towards the front.

My only initial reservation was what seemed to be the very long amount of space past the grip to the tip since I like to hold my pencils as low as possible. For that reason I was considering Lammy but they don't make a .5mm fat pencil. However it turns out the amount of space is no more than what I was using before so it was no big deal. In the end I love the Pro Use, it sketches absolutely fine, my search for the perfect pencil has ended. In no way shape or form am I curious about other pencils, I am now fully satisfied. If the Platinum Pro Use had a sister I'd marry it and promise to never draw freakin unicorns with it. Good weight, incredibly solid build, short, fat (I'm sorry, "voluptuous"), low profile clip doesn't get in the way or gouge your hand like so many others. I really can't think of anything I'd want to change on it. My former Pentel side click mechanism pencils were good, my black Platinum Pro Use with rubber grip was great but this lethal metal weapon is perfect. Based on that I would highly recommend this for sketching/writing unless you store your pencils in your pocket often. In that case I would look for a retractable tip mechanical pencil or extend your shirt pockets!

Sorry for the long review, I like to be thorough especially for those considering the higher cost of such a pencil.

- Rogers -
http://wightzombie.deviantart.com/

To update the earlier review, I use this thing a lot now. It doesn't grow old and remains very fun - I'd currently rank it quite as highly as the rotring 600, which I thought substantially better previously. Of the pencils I've owned or used and liked, I prefer it to ohto's promecha 1500p and place it just behind my longtime favourites, two pretty ancient faber-castells, the tk-matik and alphamatic. 2c.

This is a very solid, drafting style pencil. My Teacher dropped it today and the cap became very loose. However i was able to pinch it tight and now its fine. The grip is a lot larger than any other pencil i have held and personally, as i have big hands (i can palm a basketball), I really like it. It is not my favorite though, as it is just a little to short for my large hands. Out of my collection of well tested pencils, i'd say that this is 2nd after the Staedtler 925 25 05, although the quality of both is the same. If the tip is taking care of i could see this lasting me a lifetime.

Really solid pencil. 5 stars for the precision and quality.

Fantastic!! Love the fit and feel of this bad boy. I got big hands so i personally like how chubby it is. Super solid, great weight, functions flawlessly (loved it so much I bought 2). The Pentel Smash is the only one that can compete with this pencil mainly because its less expensive, but I absolutely Love both. Worth the money, if you can't get past its chubby feel, then get the Smash.