I will give a quick review about the lead which I purchased at Daiso Japan for $1.50. I personally think that it is a good deal because when you purchase 90 pieces from big box stores, it costs around $4-5 or more whereas at Daiso, you get 100 pieces for $1.50. Yes, it is indeed a good deal, except my problem with the lead is that with certain pencils, it tends to break every centimeter or so. It depends on the pencil I use, if I use my Pentel P205 with a metal lead mechanical part, which gips hard, then the lead keeps breaking, but with a plastic mechanism it won’t break. But here is a general overview of the lead.
Name Brand Lead
- More expensive (quite expensive)
- Does not break easily when writing
- Writes quite smooth
Daiso Lead
- Cheap, more pieces per package
- Tends to break ALOT, especially with higher end pencils
- Writes equally as smooth as the name brand lead.
In the end, I choose the Daiso lead over the name brand because it writes equally as smooth and it is much cheaper so I can afford for it to break a lot. Think about it, if I pay $4 for 90 pieces of lead, at Daiso, I can get about 300 pieces which even if it breaks and I loose some pieces, it still is worth it as I use the pencil a lot.
I do understand that lead breaking is inconvenient during exams, but Daiso lead hasn’t failed me during tests, only occasionally breaking. But I do carry an extra pencil with name brand lead incase the Daiso lead fails on me.
*It comes with 2 cases of lead, I took one out, thus one is pictured.