Customer Reviews

(3 customer reviews)

  MUCH CHEAPER AND MUCH..., December 9, 2010

By bomccravy

MUCH CHEAPER AND MUCH BETTER THAN OTHER LEADS
seriously if you have a 2 mm lead holder this is definitely the way to go without any hesitation. the lead is perfect

  After reading some of..., May 11, 2009

By xiaomage

After reading some of Alberto's reviews about the Uni, praising it compared to the Staedtler, Faber-Castell, Koh-I-Noor, etc. alternatives, I decided to give them a shot, since I hoped for a dark, smooth lead that would compare with my high-end pencils (Hi-Uni, Palomino, Craft Design Technology).

I was a bit reluctant at first since Mitsubishi also had marketed a Hi-Uni lead alongside the standard Uni, and also for a brief time sold a variety called the "Uni Artis". Both were higher-priced and supposedly came with correspondingly higher performance, but now both are discontinued and becoming rare. I lucked out and sourced some of all three offerings, and spent some time comparing them to discern differences.

While there were some slight differences between the leads, I think that much of it is negated through the use of a substantial leadholder (I use a Staedtler 925-25). The Uni holds its own pretty well, and in HB is quite good. This was a bit of a relief, since I don't know how my luck will be in sourcing the discontinued offerings.

That said, I would still prefer the Hi-Uni or Uni Artis leads if they were readily available and cheaper, but since the Uni is much cheaper, much easier to get, and very very nearly as good as the "premium" versions, it seems to be a no-brainer for anyone who wants to use high-end tools without fear of suddenly running out (Blackwing 602 lovers know what I'm talking about).

  6 pieces for $3.50 is..., October 1, 2008

By william.miller

6 pieces for $3.50 is quite a deal, at least for where I live. (10 pieces of Faber-Castell cost me $9.25.) The lead is all I could ask for: it writes smooth and consistently, and leaves a nice dark line. Compared to Faber-Castell and Staedtler lead of the same hardness it's noticeably darker, and consequently it wears down a little faster, but not by much. The lead can fit with the stopper in my Staedtler Mars 780 and my Rotring 300, though it has to be modified to fit into a Caran d'Ache Fixpencil 22. Compared to Caran d'Ache's lead, which isn't easy to find and costs quite a bit when found, the Uni lead costs about half as much for the same amount and of the same quality.