Sun-Star Knock Free Sharp Mechanical Pencil - 0.7 mm - Navy Blue

Putting Lead Through the Front is NOT Possible! (as stated by description)

I just bought one and took me a few minutes to figure it out. I wanted to use blue lead instead of graphite so I bought some 0.7 Blue Eno lead from Pilot also sold in Jet Pens. I will use it for some preliminary draws before I ink or draw on top of. My review is to facilitate people who want to change the leads. It's not as easy as regular mechanical pencils, but it's not too bad. First you have to pull out the lead from the from by pushing back on the grey plastic tip that is suppose to look like the tip of a pencil. The you can pull the lead, but nice and slowly always retracting from the place it's coming out and not simply pulling from the end out (that will snap the lead). The you twist off the eraser holder (not eraser) until you pull out the container that is filled with extra lead (2). I removed them and the one the pencil came with and stored it for another mechanical pencil later. I grabbed the blue leads and unlike how it states you put by the front it's not possible. You can only add 1 lead through the inside. You have to let it slide in the hole (you can see it) and then you basically begin to draw on a scrap piece of paper until it comes out. If you do this for less than a minute it will come out. Once it starts drawing you can simply pull the lead out and pushing the pencil tip in a little to desired length and you are set.

The tip of the pencil pushes in when the lead gets short, and when you lift the pencil it pulls out more lead. It works fine for writing but if you do light sketching it won't work so well.

The eraser part unscrews from the body and unlike normal mechanical pencils there is no lead reservoir. Instead, there is a lead container with a screw-on lid inside the body attached to the eraser end. To change lead, you first eject the current lead by carefully, repeatedly pressing in the tip of the pencil. Then you take off the end and drop in a new lead, make sure the lead falls into the hole, and screw the end on back on. The lead container will push the lead in the pencil down into the mechanism and then you press the tip of the pencil on the paper until the lead comes out the end.

It saves time and trouble from clicking, but putting in a new piece of lead takes much longer.

How I loved this pencil when it first arrived. Now it is next door to useless because coaxing the lead into the proper place is occasionally successful. So it goes into the rubbish bin.

It's taking a little getting used to, but this pencil is great. I typically prefer a thinner line with a mechanical pencil, but the ability to just keep writing without having to manually advance lead is nice, especially for something like taking notes. Even though the eraser is not replaceable it seems a decent size and should last a while for normal erasing duty. I'd like to get a few more of these.

My new favorite pencil! Lays down almost as quickly as a wooden pencil. Has the finish and balance as a Staedtler Mars Lumograph. Get this instead of the rebranded Dixon Ticonderogas on Amazon selling for much more.