Thursday, July 12, 2007

Mars Micro Comment

OK, I recently received the comment reprinted below.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Staedtler Mars Micro 775 Mechanical Pencil Review": Retractable sleeve is usually a sliding sleeve i.e. it slides upwards during usage. This is good for normal writing. But when it is used against a ruler (or template), the sliding sleeve may be pushed upwards, exposing too much lead and causing a snap. Thus retractable sleeve is usually not the best choice for drafting works.But this is not the case for Mars Micro 775. The sleeve is unique. It is fully retractable and sliding; but once it is fully extended, it will lock into its position. It then behaves exactly like a fixed sleeve that does not slide, which is perfect for drafting works. This is a pocket safe retractable pencil with a "fixed sleeve".I think this is the reason why some strength is needed to have the sleeve "fixed" and un-"fixed".For normal writing, there is no need to fully extend the sleeve. Extending the sleeve 3/4 ways is more than enough, and the sleeve slides while you write.

So, comments and thoughts please. I hadn’t really picked up on this in relation to the Mars Micro. I’ve had a very quick play with my Mars Micro. The Pentel PS315 has a different but somewhat similar sliding fixed sleeve. Anyway, just at the moment I haven’t got time to really get into this matter, so I’m throwing it out to you lot in the hope some of you will check, comment, etc. I’d ask you to put your comments on the original review rather than here on this posting.