Customer Reviews

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!