While I didn’t mind the Pentel 120, the Mars micro was not to my taste. Drafting tools are supposed to be Staedtler’s turf, so I thought I would try something else from them. A little bit of research indicated that the 925 95 series is highly regarded, though sometimes tricky to find.
The inner workings of Staedtler Inc. aren’t known to me, but it’s clear that their division in Japan seems to produce some good stuff – like the 925 95.
The entire pencil, except for a plastic end-cap indicating lead diameter, is metal. A push advance drafting pencil, it is suitable for many tasks.
It is a ferocious and scary instrument. Never mind pocket-safe. It’s not safe, period. At 21g (approximately), with an untapered tip (as well as sleeve), it could be used for nefarious purposes.
The pencil has two special features: A lead degree indicator, and the capability to adjust the lead advance mechanism.
The lead degree indicator is okay, with the window changed by holding the metal cap portion, and rotating the plastic portion. But, if you ever find that you fiddle with the cap, the setting is easily lost.
The advance adjustment is a rotating ring below the cap. From the point of view of the cap, clockwise rotation causes the lead to be dispensed in decreasing amounts. The range seems to from about 1.5mm (counterclockwise extreme) to too small for me to measure (clockwise extreme). If you care about how much lead is advanced per click, you may like this feature.
The clip is looser than I might expect – though while clipping the pencil to documents, it was the easily removed cap that I feared might become lost.
The grip felt very comfortable to me. While always a personal preference, the 925 95 seems to offer a very nice fine milled knurl.
The weight is in the grip, and this somehow makes sense.
The best recommendation I have is to replace the default lead with the Lead Cup winning Ain. That really made the pencil excel, producing rich, dark lines.
So where can I get the 0.7mm version?
This pencil seems very similar to the Pentel GraphGear 1000. The GraphGear’s have an advantage of a retractible tip!
Thanks for the comment, Kieffer. Yes, I’d like to compare it to a GraphGear 1000. (Maybe soon.)
Oh this looks nice! I like the red accent to the gray stainless steel.
Similar too to the Rotring 600.
I like the description of a pencil being “ferocious and scary”.
I haven’t had the chance to try the 925 95, it might not even be sold here, but I did try the regular 925 (black plastic) and it feels great. I was more a fan of thick pencils for writing (like the Pilot G2 and the Zebra Airfirt). I’ll probably grab a few more to have here, same with the Pentel 120, they are good cheap pencils. But I definitely need to find a 925 95. BTW, the regular 925 is available as 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9
By the way: The design of the 925 has been changed not so long ago. The new one is shorter, has a larger diameter and more plastic than the old one.
Besides the 925 95 there are/were two other mechanical pencils with an adjustable lead adavence, namely the Staedtler 925 85 and the Ohto Super Promecha. Does anybody know of more models with that feature?
The 925 85 seems to be in production in Japan. ?1,400 or about $15 for one.
I purchased one of these from Andrey’s Pencils in Russia. I expected it to be very heavy, like a Rotring, but it isn’t. It feels strangely light. While I like it, I do wish that it had just a bit more weight.
I agree with adair : I own the 925 85 that is very similar to this one (except the tip, and I prefer the appearance of the 85), and I would have appreciated if the Staedtler had been heavier… I really disagree with some of the comments above, in fact when I refer to the 925 85 : although the Staedtler is pleasant to use, the grip is really different from what you get with a Pentel Graphgear 1000 (definitely not the best mp for the grip) and really less abrasive than what you obtain with the Rotring 600. Globally, the simplest model remains the best for me, and it is almost always the Rotring 600, or other “simpler” mechanical pencils like the Graph 1000 or the Graphgear 500 (I won’t talk about the Staedtler Retro that nobody knows nowadays…). Surely a good pen, but too much expensive (on eBay) for what it really is. Concerning the mechanism to screw/unscrew to set the lead advance, finally, the Super Promecha really lets a feeling of “excess”, with too much settings most users will never use or just one time I suppose… One more time, with this last model you will be far from the simplicity and the efficiency of a Rotring 600. ;)
emailbox: On the contrary – I know the Staedtler retro :-) By the way, I also prefer the 85 over the 95.
Where can I get a 0.9 mm ALL METAL mechanical pencil, NO PLASTIC parts, at all! I need it for cabinetmaking work. It needs to last more than 6 months.
J.S., do you include the interior of the pencil in your requirements?
Even the Rotring 600 uses plastic as part of the internal pencil mechanism.
Yes, the innards should be metal, as well. I had a Graph Gear 1000, I had it for less than 6 months, and somehow the inner workings (plastic) broke.
J.S.
I had the same problem with the plastic part of the Pentel 1000 Graphgear breaking. It could not handle solving equations!. I like the Ohto Super Promecha. All the moving threaded parts seem to be metal (I have not taken the innards apart, however the internal lead sleeve is plastic). Try jetpens.com or jstationery.com (not connected but very sstisfied customer). Or better yet stick to Pentel Sharp plastic P205/209, etc. the engineering workhorse.
A (very) late answer to Gunther’s question from 2008-03-01: Tombow Variable.
I would like to buy “STAEDTLER 925 95”, Can you sell it to me? How much money? I live in Taiwan, if you can , I can pay money for you by “PayPal”, please sell it to me!! I miss it every night! Help me! Thanks! My email is “chiastanley@live.com”