KURUTOGA Uni Kuru Toga Dive Mechanical Pencil High Performance Model Auto Lead Rotation 0.5mm Abyss Blue M5-50001PA.33 With Original Stylus Ballpoint Touch Pen, Ｍ550001PA.33

Nobody should ever spend close to $100 dollars for a mechanical pencil - if you're looking for a daily driver, there are far, FAR cheaper and more robust pencils out there. Pentel's "GraphGear 1000" series remains an absolute favorite and at an estimated $20, much more sensible of a purchase. Same with the Rotring 600 / 800 series - those are also models I love using and with all-metal bodies, I can attest to their durability having dropped these countless times off a desk. The Mitsubishi Pencil Co. / Uni-ball Kuru Toga Dive is primarily constructed of plastic, not metal. Its body finish isn't protected by some space-age clear coat wonder material. It doesn't have a built-in LED flashlight, GPS, Radio or Music player. It doesn't serve double-duty as a Wacom or touch-screen stylus. So why did I spend close to $100 dollars on it? Simply because it's one of the most over-engineered crazy things I've ever encountered - and I am admittedly a fan of engineering and "outside of the box" thinking. Uni's "Kuru Toga" series of mechanical pencils all feature their patented mechanism to automatically rotate the pencil lead as you write. This is achieved via a ratcheting clutch that rotates the lead as you press down and lift up on the lead itself as you write. This "rotation engine" is pretty impressive all on its own and multiple variations of it appear throughout the range of Uni's Kuru Toga line of mechanical pencils. Hailing from Japan, the quality of these pencils I can rate as all being above average. I own several from the Kuru Toga catalogue - the Advance model, Rubber grip models, even a Hello Kitty branded model - they've all seen pretty heavy use and still going strong without any issues. Beyond the rotation engine featured in all of the Kuru Toga lineups, the Dive model adds a couple other features that I have not seen combined in any other pencil. The first is not needing a metal "lead pipe" to touch the surface of the paper you are writing on to activate the automatic feed of the lead from the tip of the pencil. Most other "self-feeding" mechanical pencils work in this manner - the small, thin metal sleeve (or pipe) that the lead protrudes through is spring-loaded so when it ends up eventually hitting the paper you're writing on as the lead wears down, it feeds out a predetermined amount of lead on the next lift of the pencil tip. It works - yes, but it gets a little annoying as you feel that scratchy drag of the metal pipe hitting your paper as you go along. The Dive does away with this mechanism - instead feeding out the lead in conjunction with the rotation engine, so you never should feel that sudden drag on the paper surface when a metal sleeve makes contact. It's a nice experience once you get it all dialed in right - that dial being located nearest the tip of the pencil, with 5 settings marked as "MIN * MID * MAX". This dial nearest the tip of the pencil you can adjust depending on the hardness of the lead you're using, and compensate for how much lead the Dive will automatically feed as you are writing. The MIN setting is best for harder leads the don't need to be fed outwards as often, while the MAX setting is best for softer leads that wear down faster as you write. This same level of lead feed control is nice to have when you're writing on different surfaces. Smoother paper will require less lead feed, rougher paper might require more. Honestly, I've never encountered a mechanical pencil that includes such a level of control over the lead feed with 5 different possible settings. I don't even want to know how many sleepless nights and cups of coffee it must have taken engineers to pull off a mechanism that not only rotates the lead, but allows for customization of feed advancement like this. Ridiculous. But that's why I love this nutty thing. The back rear black end button of the Dive works as a traditional lead starter-feed once you have pulled that button-cap off along with the tiny eraser to expose the lead chamber of the pencil. Drop a few new leads into the pencil, replace the eraser and the back cap and click a few times to begin feeding the new lead through. Once you've done that, you shouldn't really have to click on much else for the duration of that lead to use the pencil. The cover-cap of the Dive deserves special mention as it has its own trick. It is magnetic and snaps into place when either removing and placing on the back end of the pencil or when replacing it to protect the pencil tip. I think that's a nice feature of the Dive in of itself: having a cap to cover and protect the tip and that complex engine that rotates and feeds the lead. The wow-factor is that if you have the lead fully retracted into the pencil after writing, as many of us habitually do, removing the cap will automatically extend the lead out so you may begin writing straight away as soon as you remove the cap. No starter-click necessary on the back button. Just remove the cap and begin writing. It's such a simple idea, but again: I've never seen this in any other mechanical pencil. With automatic rotation and lead feed, along with automatic lead-starting whenever you remove the magnetic pencil cap, I think Mitsubishi / Uni-ball really tried to make the Kuru Toga Diva as "click-free" an automatic pencil experience as possible. I have used this pencil on and off again through several writing sessions, and it is very enjoyable indeed to write with. DISLIKES: Well, the price for one. $98 U.S. dollars for a mechanical mostly-made-of-plastic pencil isn't a great buy no matter how you try and justify it. Truthfully, I bought this more as a love of the engineering exercise involved then anything else. It's mostly going to sit in its box and I break it out randomly as an example of some truly crazy engineering people did with a PENCIL. I also would NOT recommend this as a sketching / drawing pencil. The rotation-engine / lead feed really depends on the user lifting and touching down on the paper to get it all to function correctly. Such as when writing characters and words. Sketching and shading with this type of pencil where you hold down steadily on the lead and stroke back and forth, completely goes around what the intended idea behind this pencil represents. SO no, if you're looking for a mechanical pencil that can be used for drawing tasks - the aforementioned Pentel GraphGear or Rotring pencils I would recommend as they've proven quite capable at that. The "FEEL" of a pen or pencil is something you'll see a lot of reviewers mention. Is the pencil too light, does it have a "proper weight balance" - is the pencil "grippy" or does it feel cheap? I find these to be mostly subjective to the individual user. I've had pencils that people told me had a wonderful feel to them that I straight-up hated using for a variety of reasons (creaky plastic, annoying grip, etc.), and I've let people borrow pencils I enjoy using only to be told they disliked them. That said, if I had to quibble about a couple of things - it would be these, for me personally: The Pencil really does feel "Plasticky". Not in a cheap, junky way. It's decent feeling, nicely finished plastic. But it's still plastic. If you like a heavier-feeling brass-bodied pencil, this probably won't impress you. I personally DO like a weightier writing tool - but other people like a lighter-feeling pencil, so again - it's subjective. I don't MIND the plastic... but I kind of do wish they had made the body at least out of metal. Aluminum. Something. The rubberized grip is again, something I'm not swooning over. It's an okay grip. As far as mechanical pencil grips are concerned, it's decent. Serves its purpose. It's there. There isn't a great amount of flex to it... it's not Gel-feeling, it's a rubberized surface that allows purchase of the pencil to write with. It doesn't get uncomfortable over the longest I've written with it, which was about a couple of hours. It feels like it'd hold up about as well as any other number of rubberized grips on mechanical pencils I've used. That said, the same could be mentioned about a $3 dollar Bic pencil grip. I think that's the thing about the Kuru Toga Dive. It's not an exceptional pencil in its construction. It doesn't use finely machined knurled metal grips, nor does it have a body cut from a single piece of brass or titanium. The internals work in sync with fine tolerances, but much of the mechanisms are all manufactured with plastic components instead of more durable materials. The uniqueness of the engineering is what you're paying for, because the rest of the pencil is in no way close in cost to what was used to build it. I still really like this absurd pencil. It's the kind of thing you'd expect from some Japanese engineers who went crazy with ideas that ultimately had to be made with cheaper materials in order to make it cost-effective enough to manufacture. I will note that when the Kuru Toga Dive was first released in Japan, it cost about 5000 Yen - or close to $38 U.S. Dollars. That is not a BAD price for this pencil... more in keeping with the realism of what it IS. If you can find one of these for $40 bucks (good luck), and if its worth it to you, go for it. I cannot in good conscience recommend the Kuru Toga Dive to *anyone* at $98 dollars. I will say I enjoy using it, happy to have it in my collection, it's still a bonkers pencil. It's an odd beast. Totally not worth what people are charging for it currently. If you like weird or outrageous engineering, it's maybe a consideration if you have the desire to purchase one tempered by the reality of what you will actually receive in the box. This was not an immediate buy for me. I mulled it over for a while. My suggestion to anyone is do the same.

If you like over engineered mechanical pencils like me, this is for you. Yes, it’s mostly plastic, it’s expensive and not needed but is very cool if you like this kind of stuff. The orenz Nero feels more solid but this Dive is more comfortable to write with as the barrel is larger and slightly cushionEd. I find that the auto feed and auto rotation work well for me. I only hit the lead feed when loading a new lead. Lastly, I was hesitant about this purple color from the pictures. Looked like bright purple but this material or the coating on it is very cool - it is pitch shifting meaning it changes color depending on the angle from a dark metallic olive gray to a very deep purple. It’s not bright purple like in the photos which I was extremely happy about. They must have taken the stock photos with a bright flash. It is much cooler than the orange one (which I also have). Check out the pictures.

has a good feel in the hand

Amazing pencil…I absolutely love it.

This is a costly mechanical pencil which works perfectly It would have been better it was made of more solid materials like aluminum

5 stars that it does what it says it does, it does it perfectly! advances the lead and rotates it. I write cursive so I put it on high and it works really well! I deducted 2 stars for the price. like why 100$???? BTW something I like is that is not wobbly like the orenz Nero by pentel, but that pen is $15 so it is fine XD

This is a PLASTIC mechanical pencil. The feed out function doesn't work 100% because it's plastic. The mechanical concept is disappointing because the final product is poorly executed.

I purchased this on the kuru toga website id say its the best pencil i have 100% but its is NOT worth 110 dollars fo a cheap plastic