2mm Hardtmuth Compact Lead Holder

Very happy with this lead holder; for the price range my absolute favorite. aluminum and stainless construction feels really sturdy, though b/c of the design there is a bit of unavoidable rattle around the button. I've had a bit of trouble with the tip unscrewing a bit in my pocket, but as it's not really ever necessary to remove, i just put a drop of dissoluble glue on the threads and now it's 100% rock solid every time I get it out. the compact size is right in the sweet spot between highly portable and big enough to hold comforably; I have pretty medium-sized hands for a man though so those with very large hands might find this too small for comfort. the mechanism has so far performed very well, very few slips (only when I was applying pretty extreme pressure; I can be pretty heavy-handed when drawing)and no lead breaks. the built in sharpener makes a fairly blunt point (which i actually prefer usually), and I have to say I've been really impressed with how well it works; it's not going to replace my desktop sharpening tools but when I'm out of the house it performs really well. Last thing to note: the short size means not all leads will fit entirely into it. my mitsubishi and UNI drawing leads fit just fine, but the large pacific arc leads from DEW were far too long; i had to snap off a few inches of each. this isn't really a *problem* per se but something to consider.

The lead holder is small to keep, and yet good to use. The lead sharper at the cap is a great feature.