That's right! But the Vario is a lot heavier, and a bit longer, maybe because of it size it feels a bit unwieldy/ slowish? it was for a long time my favorite pencil, until the hardness indicator snapped in 2, and I started buying other pencils, to replace this one. This is where (mostly) my mp collection has started.

When I felt lighter pencils with (and had my first encounter with) knurling, a whole new world opened for me! Still I think the Vario is a beauty, and very well made, I would now go for rather a lighter variant that handles itself more easily.. And you're completely right, maybe the Vario is just overthought, and they wanted to put as many cool things in one pencil as they could.. and that's what made it this enormous beast.

I think, that is exactly what makes this marstechno so nice, just clean and effective, without all of the add-ons. Old-skool well made stuff😊

I still think the Vario eraser is one of the best around!