Paper MateMirado Pencil, Classic Pencil № 2, 6-Carded, HB (5860)

As a teacher with 29 years of experience, I have been loyal to another brand of pencils for most of my career—until I discovered the Paper Mate Mirado Classic № 2 a few months ago. I can confidently say this is the best pencil I’ve ever used!The quality is outstanding. The graphite writes smoothly and effortlessly, creating crisp, dark lines without smudging. Sharpening is a breeze—no splintering or breakage, just a clean, sharp point that lasts. The wood feels sturdy and well-crafted, making it comfortable to hold for long periods, whether grading papers or jotting down notes.I never thought I’d switch from my old favorite, but this pencil has completely won me over. If you’re looking for a high-quality, reliable pencil, look no further. The Mirado Classic № 2 is a game-changer!

Whereas a competitor says “soft No. 2,” these just say “No. 2” which is a good thing. These have a firmer lead that doesn’t wear down as fast but with the trade off of a slightly lighter line. Still perfectly legible and they feel good in the hand. They also have a classic red-banded ferrule and pink eraser. I would get these again.

Its a good sturdy pencil

These pencils are really smooth! I use pencils a lot. From sketching to Sudoku. My husband is also a Sudoku fanatic and my granddaughter sketches and draws quite frequently. So pencils, in my house, are always in demand. I love having 72 brand new pencils show up at my door. I have been a die-hard Ticonderoga fan for years, but lately they just don't seem to write as dark as they used to. So I thought I would give these a try. I compared a Ticonderoga, these pencils and a Eberhard Faber, all #2 pencils. The Eberhard Faber was the scratchiest pencil and the Ticonderoga and the Mirado pencils were both extremely smooth. Hard to tell if one was any smoother than the other. The Mirado pencils were a little darker though and that was the issue I wanted to solve. These are my pencils now! Love 'em!

These Mirado Classic pencils are decent pencils. They are a rich yellow color, with a nice metallic gold stamping saying "PAPERMATE Mirado Classic HB 2" along the side. I like the font that "Mirado Classic" is in; sort of small caps with a big swash on the leading "M". The ferule is a weirdly dull gold, as though some cheap coating on aluminum instead of gold anodizing or actual brass. There is a nice ruby red stripe, and the eraser itself is pink but a bit on the reddish side.They write ok, the claim that they are smooth is perhaps overstated, the writing is fairly average to me. The pencil lines are darker than Ticonderoga and the point wears down a good bit faster than Ticonderogas as well. The wood is nice, and the leads sharpen well for me in a standard wall mounted crank pencil sharpener. After using many of these pencils down to little nubs, I can say with reliability that I have never had one of those scratchy bits come up in the lead, which is maybe why they refer to them as "smooth".For the price, these are awesome. I prefer the darkness of the writing from these to that of Ticonderoga pencils, which overall are of almost exactly the same quality as these. I would say that these are like Pepsi to Ticonderoga's Coke, if that analogy makes sense. Cost and quality wise, I'd recommend these pencils. Fairly standard grade, better than the cheapest ones, but not as nice as General's Semi-Hex or Musgrave 100 Test Scoring pencils.

I'm picky about my pencils. I've tried Paper Mate Classics, Paper Mate Americans, Paper Mate Black Warriors, USA Gold, Dixon Classic, and Dixon Ticonderoga, among others. These are the most balanced pencils that I've gotten, with no bad attributes that I can find. Unlike the Dixon Classics, the Paper Mate Mirado erasers don't fall off. They write better than the USA Golds and certainly better than the Ticonderogas.When sharpening these, they give an even sharpen all the way around, unlike some pencils that tend to sharpen on certain sides. The gold writing on the side looks classy, and the eraser doesn't leave smudges. I love the Paper Mate Black Warrior pencils too, but these have the added bonus of looking traditional enough to not be questioned when using them on tests. Both kinds, though, are #2, as required on Scantrons and other such tests.

When I find a product I like, I stick with it. So, this is my pencil.It's a pencil, not a pen, so I can erase, and this one is easy to erase.It writes nice and dark. I can see what I write.Isn't it a necessary consequence that a pencil that writes dark has soft "lead"? And that soft lead is more prone to break than hard lead? Yes, as other reviewers have pointed out, if you give this pencil a sharp point, and then bear down on it, the lead will break. So, when I sharpen this pencil, I just give it a couple of cranks. I don't want the sharpest point anyhow because it's not as dark.When I need more pencils, this is what I will buy.

Love the graphite and the eraser works really well.Sharpening it is easy, and it sits comfortable in my hands.Been using these pencils since 2011. Never want another type of pencil again.