Uni Kuru Toga Roulette Model Auto Lead Rotation Mechanical Pencil - 0.5 mm - Gun Metallic Body

As someone who has a degree in Industrial Design, I just love highly technical pencils. So I bought two of these (black and silver), and they are now my preferred pencils out of my collection (more than 30, mostly contemporary, with some NOS vintage ones). These are very handsome pencils, especially in black (the silver version is a little less slick looking, just because of the color).

The lead really rotates, and you indeed end up with more even lines and a cleaner writing as a result of the mechanism. The grip area is really well made, out of high quality and precisely machined aluminum, with very precise tolerances; the genuine attention to quality shines! A little window in the the grip area is open to (barely) show a (very) small part of the inner mechanism; on this orange plastic part of the mechanism, there is a printed Kuru Toga logo that wheels past by, while you use the pencil and the mechanism become active.

There is a slightest 'floating point' feeling to the lead, as the little black part on the tip, to which the lead rod is attached (see the close up picture of the nib), is directly mounted to the internal 'Kuru Toga Engine', which is a spring-loaded clutch. That black part hence 'moves' inside the pencil for a fraction of a millimeter (you barely see it) each time you hit the paper, activating the spring-loaded clutch, which rotates the lead. But in all honesty, if you don't concentrate to see it and feel it, you don't really notice. I hope this internal engine is made of wear-proof plastic (such as Polyamide-imides - check it out on Wikipedia), and has been rated to write for a long time, as I sometimes wonder what will happen if the internal clutch's ratchet teeth become dull.

Two things I regret on this pencil: I wish the upper part of the body was also made of the same nicely machined aluminum, and I wish they had put a more, I don't know, "hi-tech" looking clip. Then this pencil would be the p-e-r-f-e-c-t mechanical pencil!

As it is, at the price, this is the best value out there, as far as mechanical pencils are concerned. I plan to buy several more, as I am too afraid that Uni will either stop making this particular model (aluminum is expensive!), or lower the quality of the inner components in the next iteration of the pencils.

I just bought this, as well as the Pipe Shift Uni pencil. I actually like the Pipe shift better kind of, it's really close tie.

This pencil is more evenly balanced, and the mechanism that gives a straight line is really cool. I had to write and pay attention to notice the feature though, some may not notice it. But you can see the lines are more consistent etc...

The ONLY reason I give it 4 starts instead of 5 is because it's not 100% metal body, only the bottom half is. And the "nib" is not retractable, though I know that would be difficult to do since it already has the other mechanism in it.

This is an incredibly solid pencil, and annihilates any other pencil you would find in the USA (I'm from Indiana) or wal-mart Etc...

I do prefer the Pipe shift for some odd reason though; i think it's a different concept and I like the fact that I don't have to worry about breaking the nib.

You really can't go wrong with any of these pencils from Uni. I plan to get some more in different colors, and maybe try out the Pentel graphgear

Very high quality mechanical pencil at a good price compared to what I have seen. What I love about these pencils that have the Kuru Toga engine, and it actually works! I have been collecting pencils for a while and this pencil has been standing out quite well. It has a nice weight to it and it has pretty good balance. I just wish that this had a full metal (aluminum, I guess,) body. I don't know if anybody else is experiencing the same thing, but my only complaint is that the eraser cap, after some time, gets kind of loose and even to the point that sometimes when you are flipping it over to use the eraser it would just fly off.

This pencil is Wonderful. I would so give it a five, but there are certain no-no's but it's not that big of a deal. Tbh, i would give it a 4.5, not a 4, but since the rating system only have whole numbers...
Well I remember that someone had already address the issue about the mechanism's function. True that it's an amazing mechanism; i use it and it certain did the work, but like when putting at an angle and that you don't press the pencil down for the mechanism to move, the pencil's lead will get somewhat dull until you lift the pencil up. Still, i kinda write things and put pressure on the pencil, so this isn't a bad thing for me, but something i write lightly, so this happens. Still, it's a wonderful pencil, it works the way it suppose to work, i've been writing with this pencil ever since i got it from the mail. i didn't have to turn my pencils around all the time.
The appearance of this pencil is very nice, slick, cool, slim, and really smooth. Some people say that it's not different from high grade version, to me I don't have that, but from the look of it, this design was made for people that want a better grip of the pencil. I've heard elsewhere that the high grade was made of silicon materials, and some people lost the grip while holding the pencil.
To me, i like the grip, i slip my pencils a lot so i was glad i ordered this version. And also, I like the look of this version better. The high grade one isn't aesthetically appealing to me... (lol).
Imo, you should really take care of the pencil. The price isn't a cheap price for a pencil, but it was worth it (for me and for those who likes to write nicely and neatly). The technology of this pencil is top notch, and it's also a beautiful pencil. Nobody want to lose their $ right? :]

Overhyped

Auto lead rotation is a great concept and I decided to give the Kuru Toga Roulette a try. Upon using it, however, I've realized it's not for me.

I write in small block letters and try to be very neat and precise. The slight movement of the tip (about 1 mm) that triggers the lead rotation might sound insignificant, but it's enough to give the pencil a spongy, slightly unstable feeling in use. This makes it harder to write precisely and it's tiring as the hand tries to compensate for the sponginess by varying downward pressure. If they came up with a way to rotate the lead with no tip movement, that could be a winner, but as it is now, it's somewhat of a gimmick IMHO.

For different writing styles, it may work well. It's probably well suited to writing in Chinese or Japanese characters (flowing, angular strokes) or cursive.

The pencil does what it was designed to do. Lines are indeed a bit sharper and more consistent in thickness with this pencil. Whether this is worth the awkward feel depends on the user. Most people have a habit of rotating the pencil anyway, when it feels like the tip of the lead has flattened out. Fit and finish are nice, but could be better (for example an all metal barrel) for the price.

My order also included a Uni-ball Shift Pipe and a Uni-ball Alpha Gel Slim, both of which I much prefer over the Roulette (they're also priced similarly). If you want to try a Toga, I'd suggest going with the cheaper version first.

If anyone wants a Roulette in mint condition, look for my soon-to-be posted listing on ebay!