Stationery: Zebra DelGuard 0.5 mechanical pencil review
First things first: I don't own a nice camera for pictures, so I used images from JetPens.com, all credit goes to them.
The Zebra DelGuards I bought for my niece and I just arrived. I chose the black model because the bright colors of my school days are gone, I need to think in terms of a future workplace.
Onto the first impressions. It's the standard model so I was expecting what I saw in the reviews: a light plastic pencil for when my hands gets cramped from other pencils and a pencil with a neat mechanism to protect the lead from breaking during accidental excessive pressure.
Now, I get it, it's a plastic pencil, but my goodness, the plastic of the pocket clip is so brittle. It feels like it's going to break if I look at it in the wrong way for a second longer. I must remember to treat the clip carefully.
The finish of the body is faceted, the black color is not perfectly uniform. It didn't show so much from the pictures and videos online. The light blue finish of my niece's model doesn't have this characteristic. I'm still debating whether I like it or not.
The grip section is made of plastic, with no outer metal nor separate plastic end cap, it's a one-piece grip section down to the lead sleeve. However, it's a bit wider than, say, the Kuru Toga Roulette, making it slightly more comfortable for hands with RSI like mine. Also, this grip section is slightly faceted with indented rings, which is a nice feature that prevents slippering. Granted, my hands are not sweaty today since the temperatures are turning around for autumn, but these slight indentations promise well.
The lead sleeve delivers the promised DelGuard system. I tried to press on the paper at several angles and yes, the sleeve slides down thanks to the double spring mechanism and protects the lead from breaking. Full marks for this. I wished I could disassemble the pencil to take a closer look at it, but the body and the grip section are not budging one millimeter for now.
One major detraction goes to the clicking mechanism. It's so stiff! For comparison, I have my old Pilot Supergrip, the Kuru Toga Roulette and the DelGuard. The Supergrip and the Roulette have a slight tactile bump mid-way through the downstroke of the click, but the button goes down very smoothly and lightly. There is no tactile bump in the clicking mechanism of the DelGuard, it simply resists going down until you force it, and the travel is so short that you're left with a thumb that is still putting pressure on the button while the lead is already extended.
In other words, it's too stiff from the get-go, and it remains stiff during the press down, AND it's way way too short of a travel to be in any way comfortable, at least for me. My cramped fingers are no match for this absurdity, so I click the pencil by rotating it upside down, pushing the button against the surface that I'm writing on.
Overall, it's a very light pencil with a neat, well-design lead-guard mechanism, but I need to remember to click it by turning the pencil upside down on the table every time.
The Zebra DelGuards I bought for my niece and I just arrived. I chose the black model because the bright colors of my school days are gone, I need to think in terms of a future workplace.
Onto the first impressions. It's the standard model so I was expecting what I saw in the reviews: a light plastic pencil for when my hands gets cramped from other pencils and a pencil with a neat mechanism to protect the lead from breaking during accidental excessive pressure.
Now, I get it, it's a plastic pencil, but my goodness, the plastic of the pocket clip is so brittle. It feels like it's going to break if I look at it in the wrong way for a second longer. I must remember to treat the clip carefully.
The finish of the body is faceted, the black color is not perfectly uniform. It didn't show so much from the pictures and videos online. The light blue finish of my niece's model doesn't have this characteristic. I'm still debating whether I like it or not.
The grip section is made of plastic, with no outer metal nor separate plastic end cap, it's a one-piece grip section down to the lead sleeve. However, it's a bit wider than, say, the Kuru Toga Roulette, making it slightly more comfortable for hands with RSI like mine. Also, this grip section is slightly faceted with indented rings, which is a nice feature that prevents slippering. Granted, my hands are not sweaty today since the temperatures are turning around for autumn, but these slight indentations promise well.
The lead sleeve delivers the promised DelGuard system. I tried to press on the paper at several angles and yes, the sleeve slides down thanks to the double spring mechanism and protects the lead from breaking. Full marks for this. I wished I could disassemble the pencil to take a closer look at it, but the body and the grip section are not budging one millimeter for now.
One major detraction goes to the clicking mechanism. It's so stiff! For comparison, I have my old Pilot Supergrip, the Kuru Toga Roulette and the DelGuard. The Supergrip and the Roulette have a slight tactile bump mid-way through the downstroke of the click, but the button goes down very smoothly and lightly. There is no tactile bump in the clicking mechanism of the DelGuard, it simply resists going down until you force it, and the travel is so short that you're left with a thumb that is still putting pressure on the button while the lead is already extended.
In other words, it's too stiff from the get-go, and it remains stiff during the press down, AND it's way way too short of a travel to be in any way comfortable, at least for me. My cramped fingers are no match for this absurdity, so I click the pencil by rotating it upside down, pushing the button against the surface that I'm writing on.
Overall, it's a very light pencil with a neat, well-design lead-guard mechanism, but I need to remember to click it by turning the pencil upside down on the table every time.