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Customer Review
- Reviewed in Canada on November 10, 2013First off, I suppose, is the auto lead rotation. It uses 2 gears spring loaded in such a way that when the pencil in pressed then lifted (as when writing), the lead is rotated on the lift; fairly simple and works well, except when drawing extended lines of course. If you want to see how the mechanism works, the internals are identical to the $5 clear plastic version.
On the lead breaks that some people are reporting, this seems to be the result of a) using a very cheap plastic lead tube (think of the ones used in cheap pens), and b) poor/lack of support for the tube (the internal chamber is rather wide). As it stands, the lead no doubt being slightly bent as the force is carried directly from the push button through tube when using the ratchet-advance.
Though the clear version has a slightly different spring placement for the ratchet-advance, the lead rotation mechanism is completely identical, so I'm not sure where differences in lead rotation are coming from. As for leads, any 0.5 mm will work - there's no need to buy the branded Kuru Toga leads that Uni markets; I use Uni NanoDia Low-Wear Pencil Lead.
The last item to cover would then be the external casing/weight. As others have noted, everything from the middle silver ring and upwards is plastic, so is the tip. This makes the pencil fairly light, with the centre of gravity being slightly below that ring - not particularly base heavy, but light enough for extended use. For example, a bit more heft might be better on a drafting pencil (a rOtring 600 is my go to drafting pencil). Certainly though, weighting is a personal preference.
Some quick comments:
The base of the pencil also has a knurled grip which is somewhat rougher than what you might expect for a non-drafting pencil. It can be a bit jarring at first - sometimes I end up knurling the side of my own fingers! A testament to how grippy it is perhaps.
Over time, I've also found that the twist tip gets worn down, particularly on the internal teeth(? - not sure what it's called); a result of the auto lead rotation and plastic-on-plastic probably. The tip can occasionally get loose after prolonged use.
The eraser under the cap is in a metal holder, which makes it so that, when the eraser wears down, you can manually expose the eraser a bit more. Just re-position the eraser in the metal piece, and while holding the metal, put the two back in. Saves a few early eraser replacements.
Overall, the lead rotation works as advertised, but it would be nice if they improved the internals as well - perhaps for ~$5-$10 more. Would give this 3.5 stars if possible: 3 stars for function, 1/2 a star for visual appeal.
