Uni Mechanical Pencil Lead, Nano Dia, 0.5mm, 3B (U05202ND3B)

The 0.5 mm lid fits my mechanical pencil well. It is not easy to break when writing appropriately, writing it is smooth comfortable.

Very nice dark lines!!!! I am now a convert to Uni brand. I use to love the paper mate leads as they seemed to be the smoothest of the pencil leads, but now trying UNI, huge difference. These are also so much stronger, I haven't broken any of the 0.5mm and only broke the 0.3mm twice getting over board on drawing. These are so worth trying, they are beautiful to draw with when you want fine detail or drawing in smaller sketchbooks on the go.

As advertised

It's a bit pricey, but it’s durable, especially since I tend to press down hard when I write. fav pencil n lead brand.

My eyesight has gotten worse and it is difficult to read anything written using the standard HB #2 lead. I ordered this and a pack of 4B lead from 100 Ways. I have been very happy with the darker/softer marks, and has made me a better note taker! These ship from Japan, so be prepared to wait a while for them to arrive. But you won't be disappointed. Uni NanoDia Machanical Pencil 0.5 mm Lead, 3B (U05202ND3B)

If you're not artist, draftsman, or graphic designer, it's quite possible that (like me) you never really knew anything about pencil leads other than that you need a #2 to take all those standardized tests.Your standard #2 pencil is what's also known as an HB lead. This is sort of "medium softness" graphite. As the graphite gets softer (2B, 3B, 4B, etc.) the marks it makes get darker because it leaves more lead on the paper. Consequently, the lead also wears down faster.As someone who had always been frustrated by the faintness of most pencils, I decided to buy this to see if it would make an actual difference in darkness. It certainly does. Compared to an HB (or #2) pencil, it is clearly darker. Also, while I've only used this lead for a little bit, I haven't any any problems with breaks, so the softness doesn't seem to have a big impact on durability.However, it does have a big impact on wear, and this is a potential problem. Since the pencil leaves more graphite on the paper, you get two potentially negative consequences: 1) increased smudginess, 2) decreased sharpness.Smudginess is increased because there's just more graphite on the paper, so when you're hand passes over it, it's more likely to smudge. I haven't seen this as a huge problem. I compared this to a similar HB lead by Uni, and had to strain to notice any difference. On the other hand, compared to a few cheap off-brand pencils (and particularly, any .7mm pencil), this particularly 4B seems less smugdey than those.My biggest complaint is the decreased sharpness. 4B wears very quickly. This means that your lines thicken and "dull" as you write, unless you turn your pencil fairly often. I understand that from an artistic perspective, this can help create soft lines, but from a writing perspective, I found it annoying how fast it happens. With a .5mm pencil, it's not a huge deal, but I do find myself having to turn the pencil significantly more often than I did with HB leads.Overall, the tradeoff of softness was worth it for the for increase in darkness. I don't know if it's because I'm getting old, but the higher contrast of dark graphite on light paper is much more pleasant and readable for me than what I've been getting out of my HB leads. Next, I'll need to buy some 2B and 3B to see if one of them is a perfect compromise.

I was hesitant on purchasing 4B lead because, as an artist, I knew how soft 4B was and how easy it is to break. Not this brand! If you press down on it vertically it is very break-resistant, and I have yet to break a single piece even after using it to shade in mechanical pencil drawings. Didn't have to use a special break-resistant mechanical pencil either. If you're using this for writing, you will notice that you don't have to press down hard to get a nice dark line, and it glides like butter. However, the lead will go down faster than a normal HB lead. Darkness-wise, I personally feel that this is not quite -as- dark as, say, a Staedtler 2mm 4B lead, but it comes pretty darn close, and is definitely much darker than a traditional HB lead.

Finally, a dark lead. It does write smooth as butter, doesn't break easy, and actually didn't smear with a casual touch, like other brands. I am super impressed, but, I am going to go to the .7mm pencils to get an even darker look, but I'm only going to by Uni leads. These leads are awesome. If you want a .5mm lead that is dark, does not smear unless rubbed hard, on regular notebook paper, and writes smooth, this is that lead. If you want an even more vivid lead, go .7mm which is what an artist suggested on another site for people that want really dark writing. Hold on, let me check its erasability, is that a word? .... It leaves only a trace in the places I pressed down harder, but erases very well. I hope this helped someone, because I could have used a review like this too before I purchased them.