Pentel Graphgear 500 vs Rotring Rapid Pro

The $3.50 price swayed me. And, happily, the leads don’t break more than my 0.5mm pencils

There's a lead cushioning mechanism which slides the lead back a little under pressure and returns it. I find this system to be a bit too soft and easy to trigger. This pencil has a retractable 4 mm sleeve. I find the "retractability" somewhat disappointing

This is a nice pencil for the money. Nice weight towards the writing part of the pencil. Smooth action in advancing the lead. The metal knurled part feels nice in your hand, much better than common cheap mechanical pencils do

The headline says it all. If you want what is possibly the heaviest mechanical pencil on the market, then this is for you. The build is extremely sturdy and the weight of the pencil gives your writing a lot of impact with little effort. Potential buyers be forewarned, this is a rather expensive product and there are reviews of this pencil breaking within a short time frame, so your mileage will vary

None of those worked for me. What did work for me was the Prismacolor Magic Rub erasers and I keep one in my apron. They aren't perfect but they do a good enough job that some light planing or sanding can clean up easily.

But just yesterday, I noticed that the metal tube covering the eraser was loose, and for no apparent reason; It wasn't broken or bent in any way. I had to put a bit of sticky wax on the inside of it and slide it back down over the eraser top in order for it to stay put. It was almost as though the tube's width suddenly expanded -- even though when I received the pencil, the fit was perfectly snug. I'm glad I noticed the looseness before losing the eraser cap altogether