Customer Reviews

(19 customer reviews)

4 out of 4 people found the following review helpful

  I just bought this, as..., July 11, 2011

By albertopizano

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

3 out of 3 people found the following review helpful

  This pencil is Wonderful...., February 15, 2012

By katykyoukhanh

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? :]

3 out of 3 people found the following review helpful

  I don't get all the hype..., December 3, 2011

By bdeshaies

I don't get all the hype over this pencil, or its "Kuru Toga" mechanism... First off, the pencil's action is kinda sloppy: there a lot of dead play when you push the cap before it engages the clutch and moves the lead out. You feel and hear a cheap spring compressing at the top of the movement. Its *click* sounds thin, cheap and imprecise. You're far from the positive action characteristic of well engineered pencils.

The barrel is not bad, but I wish the top part were also metal. The tiny bit of plastic surrounding the lead pipe looks out of place in a $16 pencil.

As for "Kuru Toga", it's more of a novelty gadget than a useful feature, in my opinion. It's picky about the angle at which you hold the pencil: too shallow and the mechanism won't engage, too steep and the benefits of a rotating lead are negated. It never seems to keep up with my writing and I need to rotate the pencil myself anyway. My particular pencil will also always stop rotating after 3/4 turns, requiring me to push the lead with considerable pressure to restart it. However, I suspect this latter problem is a very rare issue.

I'm giving this one away. On the plus side, the lead this pencil comes loaded with is fantastic. I'll be buying some to use in other pencils.

3 out of 3 people found the following review helpful

  As someone who has a..., November 4, 2011

By razavisdump

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.

2 out of 2 people found the following review helpful

  Very high quality mechanical..., January 4, 2012

By 16RQiu

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.

1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful

  I was really quite excited..., October 29, 2011

By lee

I was really quite excited to test out this mechanical pencil (I consider myself a bit of a connoisseur, having a collection of over 50 of them), but I was very much let down when it arrived.

First off, the build quality left a lot to be desired. Mind you, I wasn't expecting too much for the $, but it just generally felt plasticky and unbalanced. Worse, clicking the pencil to advance the lead results in an awful, jarring metallic "ping" sound, as opposed to a solid click. It's likely due to the clutch mechanism for auto-rotation, but regardless: it's truly, truly awful. Plus, the "squishiness" of the tip (needed to activate the auto rotation) simply makes the pencil unusable for prolonged precise writing.

This one's going back in the mail.

1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful

  It WORKS! As an mechanical..., September 23, 2011

By ike.nagamine

It WORKS! As an mechanical engineer, I was a bit skeptical how effective the spinning lead would work, but even with light (for me -admittedly a hard writer) touches the lead does turn. The little window, as you could guess, is to show that its working properly. As necessary for drawing schematics I was used to turning my pencil manually in my hand - this pencil will eliminate any need for that now. The one drawback I do see is that the threads holding the nib section to the body is plastic - not that plastic is bad, I just expected the entire pencil to be metal. I cross-shopped it against a Rotring 600 (ignored the 500 due to its plastic body) and I although I can't honestly compare it, I am NOT second guessing my choice.

great pencil at a great price.

1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful

  this is an excelent pencil...., September 16, 2011

By nik...

this is an excelent pencil. I use it for mathmatics where I am the most heavy handed and I haven't broken the lead yet. It has nice weight in the lower half of the pencil but is not so heavy that it is cumbersome to write with. it doesn't work well for me as a general writing instrument as I hold it at too low of an angle for the mecanism to operate correctly. Still 5 stars for this great pencil

1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful

  I ordered this the day..., April 15, 2011

By jfm...

I ordered this the day after receiving my two "normal" Kuru Togas. As far as pencils go, this is definitely the nicest pencil I've seen at this price. The construction is very good and it has a very nice weight and balance to it. The Kuru Toga mechanism, put simply, is something that no pencil I buy from now on will be without (unless something better comes along). 100% recommended.

1 out of 2 people found the following review helpful

  This pencil is excellent!..., August 20, 2011

By kno...

This pencil is excellent! The weight feels very good in my hand and the auto-lead rotation system works just as advertised. This will definitely be my pencil of choice from now on.

1 out of 2 people found the following review helpful

  very nice pencil with..., August 11, 2011

By ste...

very nice pencil with a great weight and the grooves feel much better to write with in contrast to the version of this pencil with the smooth barrel.

  This is o.k., but I see..., June 26, 2011

By jin...

This is o.k., but I see no difference from the high grade, but it is really a great pencil.