Staedtler Regulator Drafting Pencil - 0.5 mm

Very durable pencil for drawing or taking notes. The grip is very well made because it's a knurled grip but it's been smoothed out so it's not hard on your hand but yet the grip works amazing. Also the regulator is a great addition for the pencil.

I just received my regulator .5 and a previous review was right. It's like the BMW M3 of drafting pencils. Top of the line...and probably the best mid-range drafting pencil out there. I was looking to by the best and I'm pretty sure that I found it.

Pros:
- All metal. Feels great and looks super sick :D
- Best looking drafting pencil on this site and other sites.
- The clip looks way better than the graphgear pencils.
- The top of the pencil (where it says .5) looks awesome
- The grip is really nice. I use alpha gels a lot, but they've been stuck in my pencil case ever since I got this. ^^
-The regulator functions exactly how Jetpens said it would.
- Nice weight. Actually, wait...never mind. AWESOME weight.

Cons
- There's a little nub on the clip that's super strong. Therefore, it's impossible to clip sheets of paper. While the clip looks nicer than the graphgear clip, the graphgear clip is much more useful whereas this clip is just for looks and so the pencil doens't roll down your desk.
-There's a rattling sound when you write. I'm not sure where it's from though. I assume it's coming from the regulator part of the pencil.
- The tip doesn't retract. :/ This is a concern because i don't want it to get bent in my backpack or anything. (Thinking of buying a separate case that only holds 1 pencil)
- The visual appeal of the regulator isn't as nice as I thought it would be. I thought there would be a plastic window or something over it and that the black "tank" was filled with a liquid or something. No such luck. When you turn the regulator, the painted metal piece inside simply turns and "fills" the tank/window. Oh well.
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Got the pencil today, to be honest a little disappointed. The click isn't smooth and if you shake it the top part of the pencil moves. Other then that its a fine pencil.

Awesome looking pencil. Really like the look of it, especially the cap.
I haven't had the lead breakage problem yet, but it's just in it's first week.
The grip isn't as firm/rugged as the 925-25 series grips.

I am very happy with this pencil. The grip is comfortable, it feels nice while writing, and it looks like something you would find in the hands of an engineer or architect. Overall I give it 5/5, but one minor annoyance keeps it from being perfect.

My only concern is that if you shake it, the regulator wheel assembly rattles against the barrel of the pencil. I feel like Staedtler could have sized the diameter of the regulator wheel a bit larger so that it did not rattle, while still keeping it loose enough to rotate freely. Perhaps this is just a tolerance issue, who knows. This problem is not apparent when writing, it just takes away from the 'solid feel'. I am curious if other people notice this.

To address problems previously mentioned- as far as the lead grade indicator nut, I cant imagine it will unscrew over time if you tighten it well; I don't see this being a problem. Regarding the snapped leads- as long as you don't constantly change the regulator level, you shouldn't have problems with breaking leads.

Good job Staedtler on the nice design, if you fix the rattle problem this pencil would be perfect!