Most of the time the general marking pencil stays in my apron because that's what I most often need. It seems like I am always either breaking the lead or having to grab a knife and sharpen the thing. Now that's not the end of the world but what if I didn't have to deal with either of those problems. I would pay a couple bucks for that.
I came across these Dixon Ticonderoga auto feed mechanical pencils on Amazon. The ad said you never had to push a button to feed the lead. That sounded cool, a never dull pencil.They were 10 dollars for a 5 pack. I'm an Amazon prime member so I don't pay shipping and get delivery in two days so I ordered them. In two days they were at my door.
I probably wouldn't even bring this up if they had been crap but I actually like them. I had some reservations about how they would work but so far they work great. I'm working on my Wooden Vases book so I've been in the shop several hours a day so I put the pencils to the test.
These are definitely just general marking pencils. I will still grab my fine point pencil for precision. The lead is .7mm so it basically writes like a #2 pencil. The mechanical feed has been flawless so far. Time will tell how well they hold up.
Another concern that turned in to a good feature was how little of the lead actually sticks out of the pencil. I wondered if this would keep it from writing well but it seems to do fine. The added benefit seems to be that you never break the lead. I'm always breaking the lead on regular mechanical pencils.
Of course the lead and eraser are replaceable. The pencils came with extra of both.
It's not every day that a pencil can make you happy but I'm happy.
