There are two groups of people when it comes to the Kuru Toga: folks like me who like the rotating lead because it solves the frustration we've had for years with chisel shaped lead and then the folks like you who think "this doesn't matter". The latter group wonders why the first group is paying $5+ for a rotating pencil lead that doesn't matter. And why we're willing to put up with the sponginess of the mechanism to get a rotating pencil lead that doesn't matter. The former group though is on a evangelical mission to tell the world about the good news: the problem of chisel shaped lead has finally been fixed.
Besides, he mentions that it “wouldn’t work” with a cursive writing style, and that’s simply untrue. In fact it may help us even more because of the the more slanted writing style we tend to adopt. There most certainly are enough variations in pressure to interact with the mechanism.
I own both the Rotring and many Uniball Kuru Togas, and let's just say my Rotring is collecting dust. It's heavy and my hand is tired after a lecture class. The Uniball Kuru Toga is light and the "gimmick", or lead rotating system, is a great engineering feature. I agree that writing in cursive won't be a problem since it doesn't require much lifting of the pencil but the lead rotating system is a big help with math courses such as algebra and calculus.
One of the issues with mechanical pencils is that as you draw, the line gets wider and wider till the far edge of the lead becomes very thin and breaks off, leaving an inconsistent line and a tiny piece of ‘lead’ and a collection on dust which can cause a mess on your draft. In the old days, 40+ years ago, I used to use 6H pencils and would re-profile the lead before each line on a piece of fine sand paper. But then I was a child, my thoughts, my words, my deeds were those of a child. Now I am full grown, I put away those childish things! Life’s too short.
Exactly the thing I was thinking about. The automatic rotation of the lead prevents it from breaking. Always when I use pencils, the lead always breaks all the time. That's both frustrating and expensive (you wast lead). Now I use regular wooden HB pencils and they never break off, if you sharpen them correctly. You need to sharpen the point all the time, but that's a compromise I'm willing to live with. Maybe the: *Kuru* *Toga* *M5-1017* , is the next logical step for me, who knows? But why change something that works?
I've used these exclusively for almost a decade. They really shine when doing mathematics, you'll notice the difference after a few equations with softer leads. The lead also breaks less due to the rotation, there is always have a good amount of material behind the tip. The little eraser is perfect for tiny mistakes where you want to erase accurately. For large mistakes you should just use a block eraser or start a new page if you care about neatness (still just talking about mathematics). They have started to become popular with my students.
@@NickShabazz they have a different version ( kuru toga advance) that rotates faster, which is much better for English writing. I also have the roulette and prefer it to my Zebra Delguard for EE schematics on exams and homework. Several friends bought the advance on my recommendation and like it well. I plan to get the faster one (the advance) if I have to write any words. I use a knock eraser since I do a significant amount of erasers. They also have a ""starter kit" that comes with extra consumables.
I've used many mechanical pencils. One thing I notice is that as I am writing I wear down one side of the lead. While it doesn't necessarily lead to poor writing quality, it impacts the structural integrity of the lead, causing it to break. I broke the lead on my kuru toga maybe once in the 5 years I used it for(not including dropping it multiple times...). For me that was a huge benefit, but not something your going to notice if you only picked it up for 30 seconds to review it.
@@yyylt I used the one he reviewed (in black model# M510171P.43) and I got 3 all plastic ones as well. One blue one(M54521P.33), and 2 of the black ones that now sell in wal mart(1751934)
Nice to see you reviewing mechnical pencils. I don't use pens at all, I prefer pencils because they can be erased and won't ruin your clothes if you leave them in your pocket when you do your laundry. Also, I watched your review of the Rotring 600, and you said that "an $18 mechanical pencil is definitely a luxury item that nobody really needs". I would argue otherwise. A good mechanical pencil can feel and perform much better than a cheap mechanical pencil, and is also much more durable. To me, the logic you used in that video seems to be the same as saying "why buy a Spyderco Delica when you can buy 10 Tac-Force knives for the same price"?
As somebody who used to do engineering drawing with pencils this is a great idea. I learned how to rotate my pencil as I was drawing. Unfortunate that it doesn't seem to work for that situation.
I have a very heavy hand when writing which necessitates me using a thicker graphite or I am just breaking the tip constantly. I could see this gimmick to be much more applicable there. With the 0.9mm pencils I usually use, the angling of the lead becomes much more noticeable. Not sure if it's a necessary complication, but it just doesn't make any sense at all with the fine lead you got it in.
Even when you join letters together (cursive or whatever) you still lift the pen between words and punctuation. With a 0.7 lead this will make a difference.
Have had it for ~2 years, it works well with short, frequent strokes that are mostly straight, not so well for interconnected letters. I suppose it'd be good for japanese and chinese letters, but it loses that advantage in drawing technical design/graphs and writing normally. I still do like it^^
I just like LISTENING TO YOU. You remind me of a comedian I loved watching JERY LEWIS. For that reason alone I started watching you. Enjoy your videos.
Been using the kuru toga way back during college and i can attest that the rotating mechanism is not a gimick. And since rotating your pencil ever so often while in use is an advice given to us in drafting class.
The rotating lead feature would probably be more impactful or noticeable with .7mm, but I'll never know because I hate .7mm and not even this rotating feature will make me use anything but .5mm! Thanks for the vid.
Quick tip: The performance of this mechanism relies heavily on how the lead wears down and the pressure you exert while writing. Therefore, striking the right balance is essential. As someone who writes with a light touch, I encountered similar outcomes using HB and 2H leads. However, switching to a 2B lead has significantly enhanced my writing experience.
Your accent is so cool! Are you from New York? I quite like this pencil for drawing technical drawings, I still need to upload a video where I use it but I like it so much that I'm going to be selling these on my website. I am looking forward to trying one of the Rotrings some time.
I have had many mechanical pencils since the late eighties, and none of them had erasers that were any bigger. You are supposed to have a separate eraser, so you don't' really need one in the pencil at all.
Interesting, but eh. I use a pentel graphgear 500 for all of my sketching and I've never once thought "I wish the tip was rotating!" like you said, I'm sure there is a solid use case for this but to me it's just more mechanisms that can potentially fail with regular use. Graph gear is fine for me! Great review as always Nick!
Good draftsmen naturally rotate their pencils. I found that after a couple decades of CAD only drafting, I still rotate my pencil I discovered this when I had attached a string to the clip one time and I noticed it was wrapping around the pencil. Pentel P205 or P225 for me.
Aaahh, the P225... I've used and loved the P225 for years (maybe 30 years?). Unfortunately I think they quit making them, but I stocked up on them. Hopefully 6 or 7 of them will last me for the rest of my life. :)
I have this pencil and it's fine, but for actual use I love my Pentel Twist-Erase 0.7mm. Cheap pencil, but still one of my favourites I've ever used. Great eraser, comfortable, simple mechanism.
Kuru Toga isn't bad, but as a pencil nerd, is not what I would recommend to anyone belonging to the EDC crowd. If anyone is still perusing the comments, (late comment I know). I'd recommend something more like the Rotring 800, TWSBI Precision RT (my favorite) , Rotring Rapid Pro, or even Pentel Graphgear 1000. Also, those tiny erasers are pretty much par for the course in nicer pencils. They expect you to be using a dedicated eraser.
the uniball Kuru Toga Rotating Mechanical Pencil is great but have you tried buying the pencil erasers for use at home or office and save the Kuru Toga Rotating Mechanical Pencil eraser for when your on the go so you don't wear it out as fast cause that's what I did
I keep score for several baseball and basketball teams. I still use paper, though I sometimes put the result on line with a program. I am not sure this is the exact pencil I use. Mine is a black plastic, clear plastic at the point. It works great for me. The eraser is no big deal. I usually have a Pentel click eraser handy. It just feels right. Honestly the most important part of mechanical pencil use is a high quality lead. The uni leads are excellent.
Nice. I’m user of mechanical pencils. Looking forward to more reviews. Looking for a metal cased one that can take abuse. Always a pleasure to watch pal thanks for sharing your thoughts
It matters a lot for drawing (though usually if I'm drawing I use a 2mm lead holder and sharpen it, but that's a whole other thing) Also I'm pretty sure this was designed for writing Hanzi/Kanji where it also makes a pretty substantial difference.
When drawing lines for art, drawings, or drafting you want the same width line. As the graphite flattens, the line width changes. For writing it's not as much of an issue.
It's a nice pencil. The problem is with my writing style I don't raise and lower it often to actually use the mechanism so in a way it doesn't work for me. Though thinking since this is a Japanese item it'll work for their writing and some use it for drawing purposes like architects and artists. I still like the astetics of my pencil since I got the black one and it's weighty enough (tip heavy though) and the clip is alright. Eraser sucks though for sure, I don't use it.
You must not write regularly with a 0.5mm mechanical pencil. Hard not to break lead on a standard non-rotating 0.5mm pencil. This one does not break or develop chisel point, at least for those of us who print.
If they gave you extra erasers where would you leave them? And would you remember where they are when you need them?... P.s: really? Mechanical pencil reviews?
Nice I'll need to check this out if it comes in 9mm. Just to try. I just picked up the Uni M91010.26 Shift Pipe Lock Drafting . Uni makes some nice stuff. Whats differant about the pipe lock is the lower shaft will slip down around the lead holder protecting it. I like to carry my pencill attached to my jopurnal and so far this seems to be a great idea.
If you’re getting into mech pencils you should check out the graph gear 1000. They typically cost $9 - $10 and I really like mine. I have the Steadtler 925-25 05 coming soon. It’s another $9 - $10 pencil that is highly thought of. Nice review!
w-wait, did the man that buys $200 pens just say mechanical pencils are a solved problem and its better to buy 7-$1 pencils than a $7 pencil
qtpie senpai it’s a £10 mechanical pencil on amozan great for its price
There are two groups of people when it comes to the Kuru Toga: folks like me who like the rotating lead because it solves the frustration we've had for years with chisel shaped lead and then the folks like you who think "this doesn't matter".
The latter group wonders why the first group is paying $5+ for a rotating pencil lead that doesn't matter. And why we're willing to put up with the sponginess of the mechanism to get a rotating pencil lead that doesn't matter. The former group though is on a evangelical mission to tell the world about the good news: the problem of chisel shaped lead has finally been fixed.
Besides, he mentions that it “wouldn’t work” with a cursive writing style, and that’s simply untrue. In fact it may help us even more because of the the more slanted writing style we tend to adopt. There most certainly are enough variations in pressure to interact with the mechanism.
@@chrispycryptic Yeah I write in cursive and I love the kuru toga (as I'm sure you could tell from my comment)
@@traviswrigg5158 same bro. I got the advance upgrade ❤
I own both the Rotring and many Uniball Kuru Togas, and let's just say my Rotring is collecting dust. It's heavy and my hand is tired after a lecture class. The Uniball Kuru Toga is light and the "gimmick", or lead rotating system, is a great engineering feature. I agree that writing in cursive won't be a problem since it doesn't require much lifting of the pencil but the lead rotating system is a big help with math courses such as algebra and calculus.
I have both and like both for it's own features
I never use the erasers on my nice mechanical pencils! always have a real eraser on hand!
Same
Oh yeah. Tombow Mono Black Plastic Eraser for the win.
Yuppp
Same
It fucks me up when I let someone borrow my pencil and they use the back eraser which I myself have never used.
One of the issues with mechanical pencils is that as you draw, the line gets wider and wider till the far edge of the lead becomes very thin and breaks off, leaving an inconsistent line and a tiny piece of ‘lead’ and a collection on dust which can cause a mess on your draft. In the old days, 40+ years ago, I used to use 6H pencils and would re-profile the lead before each line on a piece of fine sand paper. But then I was a child, my thoughts, my words, my deeds were those of a child. Now I am full grown, I put away those childish things! Life’s too short.
you should buy the proper kuru toga lead
Exactly the thing I was thinking about. The automatic rotation of the lead prevents it from breaking. Always when I use pencils, the lead always breaks all the time. That's both frustrating and expensive (you wast lead).
Now I use regular wooden HB pencils and they never break off, if you sharpen them correctly. You need to sharpen the point all the time, but that's a compromise I'm willing to live with.
Maybe the: *Kuru* *Toga* *M5-1017* , is the next logical step for me, who knows? But why change something that works?
it was made for the japanese market where finer and more cosistent lines are needed for their language
That could be helpful, sure. But still, even using small lines, it doesn't seem to help much!
I've used these exclusively for almost a decade. They really shine when doing mathematics, you'll notice the difference after a few equations with softer leads. The lead also breaks less due to the rotation, there is always have a good amount of material behind the tip. The little eraser is perfect for tiny mistakes where you want to erase accurately. For large mistakes you should just use a block eraser or start a new page if you care about neatness (still just talking about mathematics). They have started to become popular with my students.
@@biggblu52 I use it for math too! I second this lol 👍
@@NickShabazz they have a different version ( kuru toga advance) that rotates faster, which is much better for English writing. I also have the roulette and prefer it to my Zebra Delguard for EE schematics on exams and homework. Several friends bought the advance on my recommendation and like it well. I plan to get the faster one (the advance) if I have to write any words. I use a knock eraser since I do a significant amount of erasers. They also have a ""starter kit" that comes with extra consumables.
Thank you
I've used many mechanical pencils. One thing I notice is that as I am writing I wear down one side of the lead. While it doesn't necessarily lead to poor writing quality, it impacts the structural integrity of the lead, causing it to break. I broke the lead on my kuru toga maybe once in the 5 years I used it for(not including dropping it multiple times...).
For me that was a huge benefit, but not something your going to notice if you only picked it up for 30 seconds to review it.
I agree with you. I own man Uniball Kuru and they are my to go pencils.
Which model did you use for 5 years?
@@yyylt I used the one he reviewed (in black model# M510171P.43) and I got 3 all plastic ones as well. One blue one(M54521P.33), and 2 of the black ones that now sell in wal mart(1751934)
well any other pencils having the retractable needle that the lead comes out to return as the lead gets shorter will save the lead from breaking
“this k is exceptional” 3:14
Nice to see you reviewing mechnical pencils. I don't use pens at all, I prefer pencils because they can be erased and won't ruin your clothes if you leave them in your pocket when you do your laundry. Also, I watched your review of the Rotring 600, and you said that "an $18 mechanical pencil is definitely a luxury item that nobody really needs". I would argue otherwise. A good mechanical pencil can feel and perform much better than a cheap mechanical pencil, and is also much more durable. To me, the logic you used in that video seems to be the same as saying "why buy a Spyderco Delica when you can buy 10 Tac-Force knives for the same price"?
- Sell me this pencil
-- ughhh... this pencil have a 'gimmic'
- SOLD!
I think I missed it but may I ask, is the whole pencil metal or plastic material?
As somebody who used to do engineering drawing with pencils this is a great idea. I learned how to rotate my pencil as I was drawing. Unfortunate that it doesn't seem to work for that situation.
I have a very heavy hand when writing which necessitates me using a thicker graphite or I am just breaking the tip constantly. I could see this gimmick to be much more applicable there. With the 0.9mm pencils I usually use, the angling of the lead becomes much more noticeable. Not sure if it's a necessary complication, but it just doesn't make any sense at all with the fine lead you got it in.
I love mechanical pencils. I sketch a ton so this is right in my wheel house.
Even when you join letters together (cursive or whatever) you still lift the pen between words and punctuation. With a 0.7 lead this will make a difference.
Have had it for ~2 years, it works well with short, frequent strokes that are mostly straight, not so well for interconnected letters. I suppose it'd be good for japanese and chinese letters, but it loses that advantage in drawing technical design/graphs and writing normally.
I still do like it^^
I just like LISTENING TO YOU. You remind me of a comedian I loved watching JERY LEWIS. For that reason alone I started watching you. Enjoy your videos.
That's one of the Nick's picks.
Cuz it’s meant for drawing not writing
Been using the kuru toga way back during college and i can attest that the rotating mechanism is not a gimick. And since rotating your pencil ever so often while in use is an advice given to us in drafting class.
Italian-American man rants about mechanical pencils for an entire video.
I rotate my pencil to achieve that... Some people do appreciate that spining mode.
Oh yes i want one of those kuru toga's
The rotating lead feature would probably be more impactful or noticeable with .7mm, but I'll never know because I hate .7mm and not even this rotating feature will make me use anything but .5mm! Thanks for the vid.
Quick tip: The performance of this mechanism relies heavily on how the lead wears down and the pressure you exert while writing. Therefore, striking the right balance is essential. As someone who writes with a light touch, I encountered similar outcomes using HB and 2H leads. However, switching to a 2B lead has significantly enhanced my writing experience.
Is the grip section metal or plastic?
Your accent is so cool! Are you from New York? I quite like this pencil for drawing technical drawings, I still need to upload a video where I use it but I like it so much that I'm going to be selling these on my website. I am looking forward to trying one of the Rotrings some time.
I'm not expecting to get a Nick Shabazz review for this little guy 🤣🤣
0.5 mm, yes.
I have had many mechanical pencils since the late eighties, and none of them had erasers that were any bigger. You are supposed to have a separate eraser, so you don't' really need one in the pencil at all.
Nice edc pen review!!!
Interesting, but eh. I use a pentel graphgear 500 for all of my sketching and I've never once thought "I wish the tip was rotating!" like you said, I'm sure there is a solid use case for this but to me it's just more mechanisms that can potentially fail with regular use. Graph gear is fine for me! Great review as always Nick!
Good draftsmen naturally rotate their pencils. I found that after a couple decades of CAD only drafting, I still rotate my pencil I discovered this when I had attached a string to the clip one time and I noticed it was wrapping around the pencil. Pentel P205 or P225 for me.
Aaahh, the P225... I've used and loved the P225 for years (maybe 30 years?). Unfortunately I think they quit making them, but I stocked up on them. Hopefully 6 or 7 of them will last me for the rest of my life. :)
Rotring 600 is one of the best mechanical pencil out there
Came here to suggest this. Glad someone else already did.
Review coming soon!
Why?
I have this pencil and it's fine, but for actual use I love my Pentel Twist-Erase 0.7mm. Cheap pencil, but still one of my favourites I've ever used. Great eraser, comfortable, simple mechanism.
Cool looking pencil, tactical, I agree pulling the cap off every time you reach for pencil would drive me crazy! 😝
Kuru Toga isn't bad, but as a pencil nerd, is not what I would recommend to anyone belonging to the EDC crowd. If anyone is still perusing the comments, (late comment I know). I'd recommend something more like the Rotring 800, TWSBI Precision RT (my favorite) , Rotring Rapid Pro, or even Pentel Graphgear 1000.
Also, those tiny erasers are pretty much par for the course in nicer pencils. They expect you to be using a dedicated eraser.
your voice reminds me of Barry Kripke :) owh.. but that was one great review by the way!
the uniball Kuru Toga Rotating Mechanical Pencil is great but have you tried buying the pencil erasers for use at home or office and save the Kuru Toga Rotating Mechanical Pencil eraser for when your on the go so you don't wear it out as fast cause that's what I did
My dad said he watches your knife videos
I'm sorry, I'd hope he has better taste in TH-camrs.
I love your accent bro
Screw cursive?...Blasphemy!!!
I keep score for several baseball and basketball teams. I still use paper, though I sometimes put the result on line with a program. I am not sure this is the exact pencil I use. Mine is a black plastic, clear plastic at the point. It works great for me. The eraser is no big deal. I usually have a Pentel click eraser handy. It just feels right. Honestly the most important part of mechanical pencil use is a high quality lead. The uni leads are excellent.
Nice. I’m user of mechanical pencils. Looking forward to more reviews. Looking for a metal cased one that can take abuse. Always a pleasure to watch pal thanks for sharing your thoughts
Hooper45 Graphgear 1000 by Pentel is really nice. Metal body.
So your sending me a pencil??
The angle of my mechanical pencil lead has literally never been a concern for me.
It's mainly for drawing and graphing, whenever I'm using a pencil to draw that's one thing that's always annoying is the lead changing shape
Seems like you would have more consistent drawing lines
It matters a lot for drawing (though usually if I'm drawing I use a 2mm lead holder and sharpen it, but that's a whole other thing) Also I'm pretty sure this was designed for writing Hanzi/Kanji where it also makes a pretty substantial difference.
When drawing lines for art, drawings, or drafting you want the same width line. As the graphite flattens, the line width changes. For writing it's not as much of an issue.
@Steve Jones That's what she said.....lol!
Ayy I've never thought about a new mechanical pencil but now I am for some reason.
No delica size comparison
It's a nice pencil. The problem is with my writing style I don't raise and lower it often to actually use the mechanism so in a way it doesn't work for me. Though thinking since this is a Japanese item it'll work for their writing and some use it for drawing purposes like architects and artists. I still like the astetics of my pencil since I got the black one and it's weighty enough (tip heavy though) and the clip is alright. Eraser sucks though for sure, I don't use it.
How much does it weigh?
12/2023 Mine came with 4 spare erasers. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What happens if you never lift your pencil up
I’ll put you on the no-fly list.
Love to sketch also, mechanical pencils are a most when one does designs with lots of small details!
0.5 inch for lead. Haha haha I’m dying😂
I have this one and I see it as a gimmick too.
You must not write regularly with a 0.5mm mechanical pencil. Hard not to break lead on a standard non-rotating 0.5mm pencil. This one does not break or develop chisel point, at least for those of us who print.
You wrote 'Shibazz' at 7:12, I'm not surprised you're unhappy with how they spell "Ruike"
Would this pencil be good for drawing/sketching?
It´s pretty much the standard for comic book pencilers
thanks for this, i thought mine was broken, turns out it's not ideal for drawing lighter lines.... go figure....
Who even uses pencil tip erasers?
He sounds like doc from Radiant
He reminds me of digit from cyberchase
You sound exactly like Ted Kennedy
mm??? what strange magic is that??? seriously, mate this with the zebra delguard and then we're talking
Toga in name, Togo in video title
This is for drawing
what ever happen to knives cry
If they gave you extra erasers where would you leave them? And would you remember where they are when you need them?...
P.s: really? Mechanical pencil reviews?
Slow down!
That logo disappearing in the window would mess up my OCD, I'd probably click it on paper until it's aligned...
I've been waiting for a pencil review. I much prefer them. Try the Pentel Graphgear 1000 if you want to try another.
Nice I'll need to check this out if it comes in 9mm. Just to try. I just picked up the Uni M91010.26 Shift Pipe Lock Drafting . Uni makes some nice stuff. Whats differant about the pipe lock is the lower shaft will slip down around the lead holder protecting it. I like to carry my pencill attached to my jopurnal and so far this seems to be a great idea.
If you’re getting into mech pencils you should check out the graph gear 1000. They typically cost $9 - $10 and I really like mine. I have the Steadtler 925-25 05 coming soon. It’s another $9 - $10 pencil that is highly thought of. Nice review!
Lmfao how TF so you write on that table
Amazing voice.
I found one on the floor of my high school this year and have been using it since. Never going back.
I have the blue plastic kuru toga
Pentel P207
I love it if you're doing pencils now. It's affordable and a significant step up from your Bic deals.
It is a step down in my opinion