Faber-Castell0.5mm 2B Mechanical Pencil Refills (96 Leads, 4 Tubes of 24 Leads Each)

The media could not be loaded. Long story short. These are fantastic. Definitely glad I bought these.Long story long :~ I had bought like 20 packages of lesser quality leads..."S&E teachers edition". Ridiculously fragile. These cheap leads broke the second I touched the paper with the lead more than 65% of the time. And when they did "work" right-ish, it wasn't long before I had to chamber a new lead that would break. So my hand hurt a lot, cramped from trying to not break the lead. And my drawing and writting was REALLY negatively affected by it. I even opened multiple packages and this was the same cheap quality throught with all the S&E leads I opened. I went through hundreds of leads in only a few short months. If I drew or wrote for a living, I'd have been out of leads within a month probly. And there was over 2000 leads in the package I got. I try not to harp on brands, but I really didn't enjoy using S&E teachers edition leads at all due to their extreme fragility.~ When I got these Faber-Castel leads in the mail, even though I wasn't getting my hopes up, I immediately opened them up, loaded the new leads and recorded myself writing and doodling. That's the video I added and pictures.I pressed hard, so the reason it broke at all, was because I was trying to break it as many times as possible. I could only break it once within normal standards for how I personally write and draw, plus a little added pressure.This is a HUGE relief & difference for me, my wrist didn't hurt trying to hold my pencils so tight to avoid applying too much pressure. I was able to draw and write with ease without pressing too firmly, or having to press ridiculously lightly to protect the lead like I experienced with the S&E brand.~ These may seem to be on the spendy side to some, but the fact that they don't break easily at all,( or cause your hand to cramp from gripping to tight tl protect the lead) saves A LOT of money and pain. And the frustration I'm now saving is worth every penny.~ They write well and draw well. They don't smear like most mechanical pencil leads do when used to draw. I like this feature. Yet they are dark, yet soft enough to do well with shading.~ If you are a heavy handed writer or drawer, these pencil leads will definitely withstand it to a higher degree than any other mechanical 0.5 sized lead I have used before, and not cause you to have to press even harder to get dadker lines. I've used about about 8-10 different brands.~ I was worried they would get fragile from bouncing around in the mail, or the heat outside (92°) making them fragile while sitting on my porch after delivery. Nope! They were fantastic all around. Works best in my "papermate" -clear point- mechanical pencil. Did good in my NicPro, but I prefer the papermate. I have better grip and control.~ I will be using these in my artwork for Christ. John 3:16 Jesus wants to be yours and for you to be His so He can care for you and give you rest and peace.

The lead is amazing, you won’t buy another brand of .5 lead once you try this one. the durability is good just don’t press too hard, it’s .5 so it’s not super strong. The smearing isn’t super bad, as a person who is left handed I smear the lead a lot and it does smear a bit but it’s not super bad. And the price is super good for what it is and how much there is. And the color is amazing i love the darker tone so this is amazing.

I was really worried the .5 2B lead would be fragile but it feels incredibly smooth and haven't had any breaking issues. Only mild complaint is that it smears really easily, but I think that is going to happen no mater what with 2B.

Good product, good quality

Writes nice, smooth, and dark without a lot of pressure. Not too fragile either

Nice to have refills for my mechanical pencils. Darker lead writes clearly.

I’ve never written a review for a product before, but felt the need to give one for this product after using these leads for quite some time now. If you are using these leads for art/drawing purposes, they are the absolute best on the market. I can’t speak for these leads for using them for writing since I’ve never used them for that purpose. I can only speak for using these from an art and drawing standpoint. I’ve been a professional graphite artist for about 5-6 years but have been practicing graphite art for roughly 18 years and I’ve used every brand and type of graphite on the market and can tell you when it comes to graphite, there is not a brand you’ll find that will consistently perform on the lvls Faber Castell does. I’ve seen where some reviews say the leads break too easy which is true in a way, but let’s be honest here. It’s 2B grade and they are meant to be soft so yes they will break easier than a hard grade. But in my experience, if you are using these leads, or any grade leads at that, in a drafting style mechanical pencil that has a metal tube extension or whatever those things are called lol you should have no issues with breaking. They are about as identical as they can be to my Faber Castell 9000 2B wood pencils. They make beautiful smooth marks for being a soft grade as softer grades tend to always show the tooth of the paper regardless of the brand. But even with it being a soft lead I am still able to shade great smooth tones using varying degrees of pressure and control. But, this is what I use to create a majority of my works. And yes they will create dark lines and tones but DO NOT expect these leads to create something as dark or “black” as something an 8B would do. It’s not gonna happen. The paper is what determines how dark or “black” any lead or pencil grade can go. Overall, these are THE best 2B leads on the market for art/drawing, and I wouldn’t use anything other.

This lead is soft and nice for Sudoku books or Crossword and word find puzxle books that use very thin soft paper. Hard leads rip the paper in these books!! It also erases easily with a soft eraser.