This is a great lead holder. I've had another one for many years and purchased this one because I wanted to have one in a couple of different places. i.e. purse or pencil cases. Yah ok, so you have adjust the length manually - it's not like a click pencil, but it's no big deal - I find I have to adjust click pencils manually too because it doesn't always click out at the length I like. This one seems to be made the same as my older one except it's a different colour so I expect it to last just as long.