The best mechanical pencil. Period.
Hey guys, how are you doing?
Before we start, HUGE thanks to Alvin for sending out A Set of Three Mab Graves Limited Edition Draft/Matic Mechanical Pencils for me to review! Welcome to Day 7 of Holiday Hooligans where we are back to pens and pencils, I received these on Monday last week and have been using and absolutely LOVING them since, let's find out why.
The Draft/Matic has a very "industrial" looking design and it feels solid and nice in the hand. In my testing I found that some people(myself included) really enjoy the metal "ridged" grip, but others do not enjoy it quite as much and prefer a rubber grip instead. So, it really depends on what kind of a person you are. The three colors I received are limited edition, so mind that the actual colors of these pencils are different, although you can still buy the limited edition ones at the time of writing.
The build is all metal which makes for a great feel in the hand and makes it super durable, in the one week that I have had these(I use the 0.5mm most) I have dropped it a bunch of times and it is still as unblemished as it was out of the box on Monday.
Next, there is a little window near the top of the pencil that you can turn to show a bunch of different lead hardnesses(HB, F, 4H, 2H)but, it doesn't actually change the hardness of the lead(that would be CRAZY). It's a really cool little decoration piece that is fun to fiddle with(for example when you're done with a math test or something). It is also there if you own a bunch of these pencils and each one has a different lead hardness, you can easily identify which is which and quickly grab the one you need.
I also want to cover the eraser which is...pretty good. I do wish that it came with some spare erasers like The Pentel Sharp P207 which I reviewed a couple weeks ago. The eraser is a LOT better than that one, it's a little bit bigger but, the REAL reason that it is better is just the quality of the eraser overall, the tube that holds it is made out of metal and it is a little bigger than the eraser itself so that when the eraser is inserted into the lead holder tube the pressure holds it firmly in place so that the eraser doesn't squish in and get stuck in the tube when you're trying to erase something which is really great!
One of the problems I had with this pencil is that sometimes(more than once daily) the lead would get stuck in the metal grip when it was dispensing which would also lead it to break in the grip. I would then have to take the grip off and get the small piece of lead out of the grip via putting another stick through the tip. This is due to the brittle stature of the lead and the malleable stature of the grip, when the two opposites collide, this happens.
The outside build quality is great but, when you take it apart you find that the actual "mechanical" part of this pencil is just a cheap, transparent plastic tube. I wish they could have included something more durable.
Final Verdict - 7.5/10
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The Alvin Draft/Matic Mechanical Drafting Pencil just about checks all the boxes for a good mechanical pencil, it has a good eraser, awesome build quality, and a functional but fashionable design. The "$14.99" price tag (which is on sale now for "$12.99") is a bit much although, if you want a good mechanical pencil that will last you for quite a while, I can't think of any reason not to recommend the Alvin Draft/Matic Mechanical Drafting Pencil.
Thanks for reading guys and I'll see you in the next one!
