Customer Reviews

I bought this pencil to try it out for sketching, as I prefer mechanical pencils for that. As a sketching tool, I found the Kuru Toga mechanism didn't have much effect. While the pressure needed to advance the mechanism is small enough to be well within comfort range for writing, for sketching I tend to prefer a lighter touch, and so the mechanism rarely activates.

The fact that he mechanism is pressure activated gives the tip a bit of "squish" in terms of controlling your line strength via pressure. This combined with the slow/infrequent activation at lower pressures actually serves to promote line width unpredictability rather than consistency.

Ergonomically it's very nice though. The combination of knurling and slightly thicker barrel (1cm) makes for a very comfortable no-slip grip (many drafting pencils I've tried have very skinny barrels that feel awkward in my long-ish fingers). It seems very well constructed over all, and I did not find the plastic sections objectionable.

For writing I'd give it four stars: I can see this being a satisfyingly good tool for that, and that's what most people who are reading these reviews are looking for, it would seem.

For sketching I would give this only two stars. It sits very comfortably in the hand, but the Kura Toga mechanism kinda works against you rather than for you.

As a P.S., this uses size C (3.4mm) erasers. Just putting that out there for folks who want to pick up extras in the same order (like I wanted to, but couldn't because the info wasn't in the description).

This pencil has both good and the bad. Being a high school student, this gets used... Often.
Goods- Writes well. I enjoy the feel. The weight balance, is a little off for me, but to each his own. The Kuru Toga actually works which is something I did not expect. (Itdoesnt rotate as much as I though it would per turn)
Bads- Once you run out of lead (As in a single piece) it is a long drawn out process of getting another to feed out. That is very crucial when it comes to taking notes. The only other bad thing (partially) is the top. I mean really. Could Uni not have raised the price 10 cents and made it metal? It doesn't really fit the design on the pencil as a whole

I would fully recommend it!

This pencil is amazing. The rotating engine really works as it says it does, but the thing that amazes me is all in the details. The metal barrel with the knurled grip is absolutely wonderful and really does mean it won't slip. It has a comfortable balance and weight to it, too. I like the feel of the brushed metal of the rest of the barrel and at the end of the barrel, there is a very thin band of rubber, so even if you like to hold pencils close to the tip there is a bit of something from stopping the slipping. The eraser cap also has this small band of rubber. This is a wonderful fact because it makes it all the more easier to get it off. One of the problems I have with pretty pencils and their eraser caps is that some of them are hard to grip. Not so with this one, all because of that little bit of rubber. This pencil is definitely worth the price.

I just got this pencil in the mail and tested the pencil with Tombo 3B lead and Pentel 0.5 4B.

The lead rotation Just. Works.

No question. This is amazing since the dullness that I get from using mechanical pencil is the most annoying thing. (Having to rotate the pencil manually.) This pencil fixes that completely.

Even with Tombo 3B lead, and the lack of pressure from using a softer lead, rotation works flawlessly.

I love this pencil!
Having to turn the pencil has always annoyed me, but I didn't know someone had invented a solution. It's very nice. Line width is consistent, with no lead scratching the paper like when I had to turn the pencil manually.
It feels great in my hand too. I really like the knurled aluminum grip area. The pencil even has a small o-ring near the grip to keep the grip from scratching the table if it is slid across it.
I use the pencil mainly for doing math homework and printing notes for other subjects. The tip rotates at a perfect rate.
There is just the slightest give to the tip of the pencil, and a very slight ticking sound, but no louder than some other mechanical pencils, and about the same loudness as the lead actually writing on the paper. Nothing to worry about, I'm one of those people that hears everything.
I think this is the best pencil I've ever owned. It would make a great instrument for yourself, or a great gift.

I was skeptical about this pencil until the first time I held it. This Mechanical pencil is truly a joy to hold and use. I enjoy using a softer lead B-2B. B leads are soft enough that they break often. Not in this pencil. The floating mechanism that rotates the lead is amazing! It keeps the lead sharp and centered, as well as holding the lead such that it is more difficult to break. I have not used any of the darker B leads. 3, 4, 5, 6 etc. Use the Uni Diamond infused leads they are pretty cool too. I use the HI-Uni high density 2B lead and I love it!
You must know how this pencil feels to hold. I promise once you handle it you will not want to hold another. The grip is very precise. They cut a pattern into the body that is such a pleasure to hold. Your fingers do not slip not even if wet or after using hand lotion. I would like a larger eraser but I really cannot fault this one even.
This particular Pencil is all Aluminum. It is heavier than most. it feels luxurious in your grip.
I just cannot say too much that is good about this pencil. You cannot possibly go wrong with this purchase.

Lightweight but solid feel, the mechanism works as advertised, a very nice and novel writing utensil, among my favorite mechanical pencils for sure.

Nice pencil...Had the cheaper Kuru Toga then bought this because I like the mechanism and I think it writes well.

I found this pencil to be a little light and flimsy feeling, but it does write well.

Some people may also find the grip to be slightly uncomfortable.

I enjoy it, but wouldn't replace it if I lost it

Stylish but the metal grip is uncomfortable. The older version (which also has a metal grip but isn't as rough) is way more comfortable. Better yet the $10.75 one is super comfy. :)

Having found out about this line of awesome pencils from Jetpen, I decided to give it a try.

The pencil is half metal and half plastic. The Kuru Toga 'engine' itself is made out of plastic (just like all the other Kuru Toga).The clip of the pencil is removable. The top of the pencil has a small eraser and if you remove that, you can see a small hole where you can load one stick of lead at a time. Opening the body will allow you to drop in a greater number of leads.

The grip of this pencil is quite aggressive. It's like a piece of sandpaper! You shouldn't leave it together with other plastic pens or surely it would scratch them up in no time at all!

When I was fumbling around with the pencil, I accidentally twisted open the 'clicky' top and out came a large spring loaded inside. It took me a good 10 minutes to disassemble the pencil, looking through the barrel to find the solution. It turned out that you need to twist the top counter-clockwise after pushing it in, in order for the latch to engage. Whew!

I planned to use this pencil exclusively for note taking and not for drawing with, but I tried to anyway. It didn't work. I tried using the hardest leads I have, 3H, forcing myself to use more pressure but to no avail. The 'engine' simply isn't sensitive enough. The only thing that worked was 'stippling', or drawing with dots or in very short lines. On the other hand, writing with the pencil is just a joy! My notes are so much neater, if not in a print-like quality! Although there is some play with the tip that makes it somewhat more tiring to write with, the end result is just fantastic!

Overall this is a solid pencil that, if you use it to mainly write with, will not disappoint you!

If the “common pencil’s dilemma” didn’t tip you off that this is a writer’s pencil and not a artist pencil then let me try to explain it quickly. The issue this pencil solves is something professional illustrators commonly rely on. The ability to change the point of the lead even at .5mm or .3mm is a common technique artist use to control and vary the width and intensity of their lines. This pencil takes away any control over the lead.

It is a fantastic writing pencil that I would have loved to have in college for taking notes and writing papers but I can’t recommend it as a drawing tool.

This pencil is very cool looking. Its the first uni pencil I have owned. One undesirable thing for me regarding pencil is that the tip gets pressed when you write. I mean the tip kind of pokes inside just a bit when you put pencil on paper to write; which I don't really enjoy. Its almost negligible though and I bet most wouldn't even notice it, and maybe its a reasonable tradeoff for being able to have the rotating tip mechanism. Which actually does work by the way.

This pencil is really neat. Every time you lift the tip off your paper it rotates so that the lead runs smoothly. It feeds really nice to and seems to glide across the paper
Well worth my 17 bucks

I just got this pencil the other day and i had previously owned the lower model and for the most part liked that pencil so i figured i should get the higher model because most of it is metal, it would of been better if the whole thing was metal but its not that big of a problem. I love the rotation of the lead it really makes drawing for me easier versus a normal pencil needing to sharpen all the time. the only real complaint is the rubber ring around the base was shrunk from the lower model, which made writing for long periods more comfortable

Best pencil I have ever owned. Keeps a thin line most times. Nice and weighty. Good looking. The eraser is too small for anything more than removing a stray mark, but that is typical for mechanical pencils.

1. For those who are concerned about the lead sleeve on this and other pencils not retracting, there is a solution:
Find a cheap ball point or roller pen with a cap that fits snugly over the point end of the pencil. Then remove the clip of that cap (f it has one). If you can't find such a cap, there is a solution that probably is better. Go to a hardware, auto supply or plumbing supply store and ask for transparent or translucent VINYL tubing. Bring your pencil with you so you can check to see that the point end of the pencil fits SNUGLY into the tubing. You probably will have to try more than one size. For the silver colored Roulette, tubing with a 3/8" INSIDE diameter works for me. It fits snugly over the end of the pencil so it won,t fall off. To take the tubing off the pencil end, I wiggle the tubing. You will want vinyl tubing that is pretty sturdy so that it won't fold over the pencil end.

2. This pencil could be made with a retractable (e.g. "double knock") tip. It no doubt would require a slightly larger diameter barrel.

This is a fantastic pencil. The all-metal construction is solid, with no wobble in the tip. The lead-rotation works exactly as advertised and has ended my days of catching, breaking, lead (and faint writing too--lead appears darker). The pencil extends about 0.5mm of lead with each click, which is pleasantly similar to the Pentel P205 and reduces breakages caused by 2-3mm advance rates (I'm looking at you BIC).

This would be a five-star pencil except for the plastic "button" on the top. I'm not exactly sure why Uni couldn't have made that metal (like pencils 1/3rd the price). The overall aesthetic is somewhat broken up by this, but it is forgivable given the pencil's excellent performance

It is good, just the same as high grade

The knurl on the grip will never allow the pencil to slip while writing. Thinking back to my days of having to write exams, this would have been perfect as those time limits and resulting pressure can sometimes leave your hands slightly slippery towards the end! This is the pencil I'd want in that situation... Very good price, build quality, and a very good looking pen!!

Love it so far! I'm no mechanical pencil connoisseur, I just needed a pencil (rather than a pen) for math work so I didn't have to sacrifice half a page worth of work if I made a simple mistake somewhere in the middle of the problem.

The "kuru toga engine" doesn't require much pressure at all to work, which is something I was worried about. It does a great job of keeping a uniform tip to the lead, as advertised. This was the selling point for me, since I love the benefits of gel pens (easy writing, same line thickness/darkness every time.)

It's pretty light, but feels good in my relatively large hand. I've had no issues with the grip portion being abrasive, personally. The grip is pretty small, though, so if your hands are to get sweaty, it may get a bit slippery depending on how you grip a writing utensil.

The bottom half appears to be plastic (top half is aluminum,) but it feels very sturdy with no flex. I love its simple, striking aesthetics. I realize that sounds silly, but if you are to invest in a quality writing utensil, of course its appearance will come into play!

The only thing I'd change is a retractable tip.

As someone had described in another review, the end towards the eraser is indeed plastic. However, this plastic is very smooth and shiny so it looks metallic and was only able to tell it was plastic because of the part not being as cold to the touch as the metal parts of the pencil.

Regarding the pencil's performance itself, I can see the device working properly but I tend to hold my pencils at an angle slightly lower than 45 degrees from the horizontal making its spin slower than if I were to be holding at 60 degrees. I think this whole lead spinning thing is very bloated and it comes down to being a very fine looking pencil which grip is something to get used to with a weight much lighter than expected.

Long story short, the writing will look exactly the same as when you used to write with a much cheaper pencil but the price will be worth it since you will know you will be writing with an expensive pencil + It'll be a good conversation topic.

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? :]