Pilot Color Eno 0.7mm Mechanical Pencils – Sketch in 8 different colors!

I’m a big fan of sketching with mechanical pencils, and I also love to sketch in more than just monochrome graphite lead colors, and to have them both in one was a pleasant surprise when I discovered the new Pilot Color Eno 0.7mm mechanical pencils. I hadn’t noticed them before, I knew there were blue and red color sketching pencils and leads available to buy. However, when I first laid eyes on a photo of some sketches drawn in purple posted on social media, accompanied by a colored mechanical pencil in the picture, I had to try them out. So I ordered all 8 pencil/lead colors (Red, Pink, Orange, Yellow, Green, Soft Blue, Blue and Violet) and I was a little bit skeptical at first, mainly because these pens are so inexpensive to buy. When they arrived in the post, I was really surprised at the features they have and how how well they performed and they didn’t feel like cheap plastic either. I was impressed, I’ve been using them to sketch with all week and these mechanical pencils are a gem.

Features

0.7mm Colored Leads – The Pilot Color Eno 0.7mm mechanical pencils come in 8 different lead and matching pencil body colors – Red, Pink, Orange, Yellow, Green, Soft Blue, Blue and Violet. With a lead size of 0.7mm, each pencil comes with two lead refills inside (each of their respective pencil color i.e. one red mechanical pencil with two red lead refills). You can also purchase packs of the lead refills separately in either a box of 6 or a box of 10 x 0.7mm Pilot Color Eno leads if you use them a lot.

Replaceable Eraser – Each mechanical pencil has a replaceable eraser within the cap, which is encased in a stylized transparent plastic removable cap with it’s respective pen color at the the top. Just remove the plastic cap, erase and when finished push the plastic cap back on so it clicks into place. You can purchase eraser refills for the Pilot Color Eno here.

Retractable Nib – One feature that I think is a must on most mechanical pencils is a retractable nib, which the Pilot Color Eno can do. Simply press the nib into the paper when pushing down on the cap, like when usually activating the lead, and you can push the nib back inside the pen body. For me this is great as when I’m carrying the pen around, I can avoid puncturing holes in my pockets/bag or sometimes even my pencil case with the metal sleeve of the nib completely retracted inside.

Rubber Grip – Another feature is the soft rubber grip which makes the Pilot Color Eno feel nice and comfortable in your hand.

Clip – You’d expect every mechanical pencil to have a clip for either securing it to your shirt pocket or preventing the pencil from rolling off the desk. Not every pencil has one, but the Pilot Color Eno does. However the clip isn’t removable and it’s made of plastic, so if you break the clip, you can’t replace it.

Performance

Lead Color, Vibrancy & Intensity
Red: This looks similar to the prismacolor col-erase carmine red pencil in terms of color. Not quite a regular red but a light red color, even pressing relatively hard it’s still a light red but noticeable on whitish paper.
Pink: very vibrant, I’d say a light neon pink color and very noticeable on paper also.
Orange: Not a neon orange quite like an ochre yellowish color but still a nice color but lacks a little in intensity.
Yellow: Yellow is never easy to see, especially so bright of a color on white paper. However there is some good news, these leads can also perform relatively decent on coloured paper too, including brown and black paper.
Green: A brilliant green colour which shows nicely on paper.
Soft Blue: A vibrant light neon turquoise blue color, this has to be one of my top favourite colors of this set.
Blue: A darker blue with a color very close to Winsor & Newton’s ‘Winsor Blue’ that looks nice when sketching.
Violet: This vibrant purple/violet colored lead is my second favourite color in the set, close behind the soft blue. This color makes the sketches look amazing, like the soft blue color – not even the photos give an accurate representation of how beautiful it looks on paper.

Lead Texture, Hardness & Durability
The leads have a creamy texture to them, which reminds me a little like the prismacolor premier pencils. The leads feel smooth and soft on paper and doesn’t drag across the page when drawing. But soft they are, so if you use them a lot, you will go through leads fairly fast. One particular subject I want to talk on is the durability of these leads. I have read a few complaints stating that these leads break too easily, I have to strongly disagree with this. I would say that in terms of pencil pressure, I draw, sketch and write at a fairly light to medium pressure and I haven’t had a single lead breakage yet. Anyone who uses mechanical pencils on a regular basis (especially a diameter of 0.7mm and lower) will know that a 0.7mm lead isn’t as strong as your regular wooden pencil with an approx 2mm thick graphite lead. I’d say this was user error as you’d have to be either not used to using mechanical pencils, or be a particularly heavy-handed and ham-fisted brute in order to continuously break the leads.

Erasability
The majority of the leads are completely erasable, especially the lighter colors. The only colors that may still be slightly visible after erasing are the violet and the darker blue, but it’s also dependent on the paper and how much and how hard you layer the color.

Pros

A variety of 8 vibrant and beautiful colors that competing brands don’t have available yet.
Inexpensive – they won’t break the bank only costing a few dollars per mechanical pencil.
Made by Pilot – I consider Pilot to be a decent manufacturer of pens and mechanical pencils alike.
Lightweight and stylish mechanical pencils in nice colors, that have a comfortable rubber grip and the plastic doesn’t feel cheap.
Retractable nib and comes with a replaceable eraser.
The leads are creamy, vibrant, soft, don’t drag on paper and are relatively durable.
You can use any 0.7mm diameter lead in the pencils if you don’t like a particular color.

Cons

They only come in 0.7mm lead diameter.
They’re not really for professional use.
The darker colors don’t fully erase – you can still see very feint lines after erasing.
The leads are relatively soft, so if you like to use them all the time you will need to purchase a box of refill leads every so often.

In retrospect, I absolutely love using the Pilot Color Eno’s for general sketching, and sometimes they can be handy to just sketch in muscle groups in a different color for clarity when learning. I personally prefer to use smaller lead sizes for my sketches i.e. 0.5mm, 0.4mm and the 0.3mm, but these feel very nice regardless and stay fairly sharp. They are probably meant for making annotations for students, however they perform well when using them for sketching and even coloring in. They’re by no means a gimmick, and for the price they are fantastic value for money. I would definitely recommend these to an artist looking for a bit of variety in their sketches.

See larger image

Pilot Color Eno Mechanical Pencil 0.7mm (8 color set)

Pilot Color Eno Mechanical Pencil 0.7mm (8 Color Mechanical Pencil Set)
The 8 Color Set includes Red, Pink, Orange, Yellow, Green, Soft Blue, Blue, Violet Mechanical pencils.
Takes 0.7 mm lead.

Additional images:

Price: $9.80

Buy Now