uni-ballKuru Toga Mechanical Pencil with 0.7 mm Lead Refills & Pencil Erasers; HB #2

I lived in Japan for many years and greatly enjoyed buying and using all of the wonderfully engineered tools, cooking implements, knives, consumer electronics, etc. Japanese people love precision and great clean design, and mechanical pencils ("sha-pen" in Japanese) are heavily used. By professionals, captains of industry, artists, and school children. My Japanese teacher turned me onto them, great for precision writing of Kanji. I think the Japanese affinity for them stems from the similarity to sumi-e (charcoal) writing implements traditionally used to write Kanji characters.I don't recall these Kuru Toga pencils from when I was there, I might have been using them all along and didn't realize what I had. Anyway, I just bought this one from Amazon and fell in love with it instantly. For a piece of consumer goods that costs less than $6.00 the engineering and design of this thing is a marvel. Might sound funny but it is beautiful to look at. Smoke translucent high gloss plastic barrel, neon green grip and eraser cap, chome-look tip, ridges molded into the end to make it easier to grip.The auto rotation/ auto advance of the lead works perfectly as expected. To test it I started writing and could not stop. The included HB leads are for me, the perfect balance of darkness and hardness. Silky smooth on the paper and they produce no dust that will smudge. I spent the day today at work, writing with a 0.5 mech pencil (not one of these, just a standard one) and the lead broke every 10 seconds literally. Snap, click to advance. Snap, click to advance. Snap, click to advance. Frustration. Got home, opened this up and just wrote a lot and have not broken the point once.Includes a starter pack of HB 0.7 leads and 3 erasers (one installed and two spares). The pencil itself had about 3 leads pre-installed so get this "starter set" and you'll be good to go for a long time. Amazon sells a 40- pack of the 0.7 leads as an "add-on" item for a couple of dollars if you spend more than $25.Love this sha-pen. Must. Concentrate. On. Not. Losing. It.

This mechanical pencil stands out with its precision-engineered rotating lead mechanism, ensuring a consistently sharp point while reducing breakage. The smoothness of the diamond-infused HB #2 lead provides a comfortable writing experience, making it an excellent choice for students, professionals, and artists alike. The translucent barrel and ergonomic grip add to its appeal, allowing for both functionality and aesthetic pleasure. The inclusion of extra lead refills and erasers is a thoughtful touch, ensuring longevity without immediate additional purchases.Despite its high-quality build, the plastic body is a potential downside, as it may not withstand accidental drops well. Some users have reported cracks or breakage from relatively minor falls, which is something to consider if durability is a priority. Additionally, while the lead rotation mechanism is effective, it works best with print-style writing rather than cursive, as lifting the pencil frequently is required to engage the rotation feature. The eraser size is another minor drawback—while it erases cleanly, frequent users might find themselves needing replacements sooner than expected.Overall, this pencil delivers on its promise of smooth, precise writing, making it a strong contender in its price range. The combination of high-end engineering and practical usability makes it a great investment, especially for those who value a consistent writing experience. However, if you’re prone to dropping your writing tools or prefer a more rugged design, you may want to explore sturdier alternatives.

This pencil is so cool. It shifts the lead around itself so you always have a nice writing edge. No more endless clicking to get a good edge. This means less lead breakage. It's a good standard size and weight, feels nice in the hand. Writes well for long periods of time. The eraser is standard the for mechanical pencils. The only downside is I use it so often I lose it a lot.

Excellent Japanese product,

I just received this pencil and so far it works great, some have complained about it being plastic, yeah it is plastic so if that is a downer for you then go spend more money and get a metal one ( oh, by the way, mine even being plastic feels very sturdy) also someone complained about it being wobbly when they wrote with it, maybe they received a defective one, mine sure doesn't. as for the selling points not being exactly accurate, yeah, do you think this vendor is the only one who embellishes a bit lol, but if you want a mechanical pencil that looks good and writes just fine and is sturdy even though it is made from plastic, this pencil should do just fine. If you just like to complain then I'm sure you can find something to complain about as with any product you purchase. I forgot to mention as far the as the rotation of the lead as you write, keep in mind if you write in cursive you will see little rotation of the lead, the mechanism that rotates it is activated each time you press the lead to the paper, soooo... if you don't lift the pencil often (say in cursive writing) guess what, it's going to rotate very little, if on the other hand you write with the print method it will rotate faster, makes sense right since the pencil is lifted after each letter, so please keep that in mind before you criticize the pencil for that feature, Have a nice day!

This is a nice pencil. It's comfortable to hold. You don't have to sharpen it. It works well mechanically to advance the lead. The lead (0.7mm) has a good point and allows me to draw a nice line using pressure on the point and to write smoothly without the point continually breaking as with some other mechanical pencils. The eraser, unlike erasers now found on many pencils, actually erases without smudging or roughing the paper. It comes with extra lead and replacement erasers. I only wish a small container to store those erasers was included as it was with the leads.