Alvin DM05 Draft-Matic Mechanical Pencil 5mm by Alvin

My boss is a structural engineer, and he requests this pencil all the time for his work.

Be aware that the design has changed from the classic Draft/Matic, still pictured here on Amazon, and even on Alvin's website. The knurling for the grip is still there. The barrel material has changes from some type of rubber to hard plastic, and for the 0.5 mm pencil, the color has changed from black to grey. The clip has been reworked, and is now more integrated with the pencil. My only quibble is that the inner lead holder rattles against the outer barrel, which takes away from the overall feeling of quality.It feels lighter in the hand, but the weight has actually gone up from about 15 to 18 grams. I suspected the weight has shifted from the clip down towards the grip, so the new design has less moment of inertia, even though it is heavier.

I have been using the Pentel P207 for years, and decided I wanted something different and a little better. The P207 is a very good pencil. I really didn't have any complaints about it... until now!The Alvin Draftmatic 0.5 is less fatiguing to use than the P207. The straight barrel grip is more comfortable to me than the tapered grip. So now that is my only complaint about the P207.I acquired several different mechanical pencils to get a feel for what other people thought were good pencils.I bought the following:Graphgear 500 (was actually a gift to me)Rotring 600 in both .5 and .7Staedtler 925 35 in both .5 and .7Alvin Draftmatic in both .5 and .7After owning and using all of these pencils, I discovered that the one that most often ended up in my hand was the Alvin Draftmatic 0.5. (the knurl on the .7 was a bit aggressive for me - but I only have the one, so it may be a fluke).Nothing says this is the best of the bunch quite like the evidence that it is the one I end up using the most often. I think I am done looking!Durability has not been a problem for me. I have been using my 0.5 and 0.7 for over a year now, and don't have any problems with them. Admittedly, the 0.5 is getting the lions share of the work.Hope this helps!

I like that they stay sharp. They are perfect.

Great pencil. For some reason I've decided to buy pretty much every mechanical pencil available to try them out, pick the best and buy a few more of each type so I don't end up unable to buy a pencil that goes out of production as writing with mechanical pencils is getting as rare as manual transmissions. Pencils walk away from my desk ... what I mean is that students steal my nice pens. I leave my office door open (well, I used to) when I run down the hall, so the fault is mine for being a trusting small town hick (growing up we never locked our house). Heck, I've had somebody steal a Seiko diver watch off my desk before. When I bought an exact replacement and wore it to class the next week, the eyes on one student 'bout came out of his head when he looked at my watch. Heh ... I wonder if we went home and looked in his drawer after class.Anyhow, this particular pencil is fantastic, with the sole limitation that the tip is not retractable, something I obviously knew before buying but does limit this one as a carry in your pocket pencil (better on desk duty or carried in a pencil tote). Oh, the eraser is that tiny pretty much useless type, and the shaft and lead guides are plastic, but that doesn't detract from performance, and the price point is icing on the cake.Oh, there is one last problem. Its name. Alvin. Who names a mechanical pencil Alvin? This is a Pete if I ever saw one.Pete, the pencil. Duh.