Uni Kuru Toga Dive Mechanical Pencil Review

My review of the Uni Kuru Toga Dive has been a long time in the making. Why?

1. I was hoping they would be more widely available by the time I posted this.
2. After several months, I’m still not sure what to make of it.

Jacob, from Fudefan and the Tokyo Inklings Podcast, surprised me with the Dive earlier this year, as he happened to catch them at the right time during their very tiny launch window. While monitoring the launch online, it appears that several Japanese retailers received their store displays and inventory, put the pencils out for sale on February 16th, then POOF! They were all snapped up, and have yet to be available again.

Packaging origami.

What makes the Dive so special that there was a mad rush to buy them, and a continued 4-5x markup of them on the secondary market?

For starters, the Kuru Toga mechanism is one of the few technological advances we have seen in mechanical pencils in decades. Designed to rotate the lead as you write so you always have a sharp, consistent point on the graphite, it offers something no other mechanical pencil manufacturer can. And it works. This is no marketing gimmick, or mindless innovation.

With that under the hood, Uni turned it up to 11 with the rest of the design:

Adjustable length auto-advance lead mechanism? Check.

A cap, with a clip? Check.

A magnetic snap-cap, at that? Check.

No-knock writing when uncapping? Check.

Wait, what did I just say? When you uncap the pencil the graphite is “clicked” forward to your preset writing length based on your auto-advance setting. This means if you have a habit of holding the knock and pressing in the lead when done (to avoid breakage, for example,) when you uncap the pencil the lead resets back to the exposed position. Uncap, and write, no matter the status you left the Dive when previously using.

It’s difficult to explain, but it is due to how the cap, and cap magnet, are designed. You aren’t forcing a click every time you cap an uncap the pencil either. If you cap the pencil with the graphite exposed, it doesn’t come out any longer than where you left it previously. But, if the lead is retracted when storing (capping) the pencil, the next time you uncap it, the lead is ready to write without having to press the knock. In short, the Kuru Toga Dive can be used as a complete no-knock mechanical pencil.

There is a knock on the back of the pencil for you luddites out there, but like how the original Kuru Toga broke us from the habit of rotating the pencil in your hand, the Dive is asking you to never use a knock again.

That’s not the only thing the Dive is asking of you. It is also asking you to spend $50 on a plastic-barrel mechanical pencil. While the metallic blue finish on the Dive is beautiful, don’t let that confuse you into thinking there is aluminum underneath the admittedly cool exterior. The list of high-quality mechanical pencils you can buy for a fraction of that price is too long to list here, even Uni’s own upgraded Kuru Toga models.

But I get it. I get the price, and I get the ask. $50 seems right to me with the litany of design elements and engineering in a single package. And-don’t hate me for this-I think an aluminum barrel Dive in the $80-$100 range would be the sweet spot for what Uni has created here.

The Uni Kuru Toga Dive compared to the Rotring 600 (middle) and Pentel Sharp. Gargantuan.

One detail I haven’t discussed yet is how the Dive feels when writing. It’s good, but I’ll stop there. My biggest hangup is the grip diameter, where at 10.7 mm is much wider than other standard grip sections like the Rotring 600, which checks in at 8.1 mm. That’s not the only oversized part of the pencil-the entire thing is gigantic. Posting the cap, while designed to fit properly, turns the pencil into a plank. I only use it unposted. Due to its size, the Dive may be better suited for an 0.7 mm default lead size, if not 0.9 mm.

In the end, the Uni Kuru Toga Dive is another step up in mechanical pencil technology. I’m just not sure it is a step forward. There is no arguing that it got off to a hot start, in part due to great marketing by Uni, plus the scarcity effect. But is it sustainable? That’s the bigger question I have. I like it. It makes me smile. It’s also $50, and asks me to hold a baton while writing with a needle. I’m glad I have one, but I’ll pick up a more classically designed mechanical pencil-even another Kuru Toga-if I plan on doing real work with graphite in hand.

Wingback Mechanical Pencil Review

Wingback is a purveyor of proper pocket pens, so why not pencils? That’s what I’m discussing today, as I have been putting their Stainless Steel Wingback Pencil to the test over the past several months.

When I first tested the Mechanical Pen, I found it to be well made and enjoyable to use. It looked great, too. With a huge amount of design crossover, it’s safe to say I feel the same way about the Mechanical Pencil.

Designed to be shorter and heavier than most mechanical pencils you will find on the market, Wingback places this pencil firmly in the EDC category. And yes, the lead pipe retracts into the barrel when not in use, so don’t hesitate to throw this in a bag, backpack, or pocket at will.

Like their pens, the pencil barrels are made from either Brass or Steel, with various coatings or etchings, depending on the series. The Steel model is perfectly my aesthetic. Heck, all of Wingback’s goods are my aesthetic.

The one kicker with their entire lineup is barrel weight. As you may have surmised by now, these metals make for heavy pens and pencils. This pencil checks in at 40 grams, nearly double the 22 grams of the Rotring 600, for example. Combine that with aggressive knurling, well, let’s just say your hand will be exhausted at the end of a morning leaning over the drafting table.

And I would contend that all day writing is not what these pencils are designed for. Maybe that goes against the marketing of their large capacity, custom-made mechanism, which is designed to hold “up to 40 lead refills – enough to keep you going for over 50km.” This isn’t a novel-writing pencil. It’s an up and down note-taking pencil, which is exactly as I have been using it.

I discovered this when copying a book for my still-in-progess #NaNoCoMo project. After two consecutive A5 pages, around 800 words, my hand was tired! I liked the pencil enough to try long-from writing, but short-form is where it is at. My Wingback Pencil lives on my desk, and is a frequent contributor to notes and planner entires. If I ever decide to leave the house again, it would be a fine pocket companion as well.

Wingback’s writing instruments fall into the premium price category. This Steel Mechanical Pencil runs £95 (approx. $124,) which is the entry point to the lineup. Additional finishes and barrel designs ramp up the price from there.

I’ve been happy with everything I have seen from Wingback so far. Enough so, that I added a Black Steel Pen to the rotation a while back. The Mechanical Pencil is in the rotation as well, and I’ll be keeping an eye on the brand closely to see what they come up with next.

(Wingback provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Uni EMOTT Color Mechanical Pencil Review

I’ll admit to being skeptical when I requested the new Uni EMOTT Color Mechanical Pencils to review from JetPens. As a product reviewer, the entire Uni EMOTT series is intriguing, so from that perspective I was interested. From a personal perspective, though, I’m generally disappointed with color mechanical pencil leads. They tend to be soft, breakable, and light on the page - all features that I don’t want in a color pencil lead.

So, how did the Uni EMOTT Color Mechanical Pencils fare in my testing? Let’s explore!

Before anything else, these pencils need to have good writing performance. That goes for any writing instrument in general, but for color mechanical pencil leads, it is especially important. Remember, These aren’t wide core, wooden barrel, colored pencils, which are a completely different category and feel of pencil.

These thin leads, 0.9 mm in the case of the EMOTT, better be strong, have good color depth even on light colors, and have to give pencil-like feedback on the page. Uni EMOTT leads succeed on all accounts. Impressively, I might add.

Let’s take the lightest color in my set, the No. 2 Tropical four-pack, which is Light Green. In my testing, it is clearly readable on a white-background paper. That means enough of the lead is transferring to the page, while also not being brittle. The color surprised me, as did the feel. It’s almost like a traditional pencil lead!

The other three colors are equally as nice and readable. I assumed the Fuchsia would be the darkest, but I am even more impressed with Orange and Light Pink being so nice and rich.

While the most important part of this pencil is great, the rest of the Uni EMOTT is only average.

Average may be too kind of a word to use for the erasability of the EMOTT lead. Even with heavy erasing, the color is still visible on the page. I had no expectations this would be a good feature, and, unfortunately, that was accurate. That said, color pencil leads usually don't erase at all, so maybe this performance is a plus?

The EMOTT barrels themselves are ok. They are long and slender, and are square in shape to prevent rolling. The cone tip retracts into the barrel when the lead is retraced completely, but I don’t see the need for that. There is no lead pipe that needs protecting, like with some traditional mechanical pencils.

Each barrel has a matching color section right below the cap area to designate the lead color. This helps visually when these pencils are stored in the provided stand, which also has space for the extra lead that ships with the set. The No. 2 Tropical is one of the three sets currently available, with No. 1 Refresh and No. 3 Nostalgic giving you a dozen total color options.

Price-wise, I think the EMOTT sets are reasonable. Each set ships with four pencils barrels, four sticks of each color lead (two in each pencil, two in the lead holder,) plus a stand to hold them all. That puts them at a little less than $3.50 per pencil as a set, with an 8-pack of lead (2 of each color in a set) priced separately at $2.95.

The final question I have is usage, as in, how do I see these being used? Individually, they are perfect for notations and highlights. They are good enough for longer-format writing as well. A set of four provides nice complimentary colors for planning and journaling, while a collection of all 12 may be overkill.

The real winner of the Uni EMOTT Color Mechanical Pencil lineup may be in the individual lead refills themselves. Do you have an 0.9 mm mechanical pencil handy? These would be the perfect choice for a single standout color to your writing. I think that is the route I’m going to take. Now, I have the difficult decision of which color goes first!

(The answer is Orange. It is always Orange.)

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!