Uni Kurutoga Advance Upgrade Model 0.5mm Mechanical Pencil, Gun Metallic Body (M510301P.43), Black

I would give four and a half stars if I could, but given the choice between 4 and 5 stars, I'll stand by a 5-star rating. The pencil is well balanced, with a good fit and finish to the parts. Nothing is loose or rattling here. The automatic lead advancement works well too, but it doesn't quite keep up after a couple of pages of writing, needing a quick manual advancement. This is a minor thing, of course, but my impression was that the design of the pencil completely removed the need for advancing the lead whilst writing, rather than simply reducing the frequency. Otherwise, there is little to criticize here. It is comfortable, balanced, easy to use, attractive, and is neither too light nor too heavy.

The media could not be loaded. Japanese stationary is thrilling to explore. I had heard about a mechanical pencil that automatically turns the lead, and I knew I had to try it.Enter the Uni Kurutoga Advance Upgrade Model 0.5mm Mechanical Pencil. This writing instrument is a dream. The body appears to be half plastic, half metal, but it is perfectly balanced. The Uni Kurutoga Advance has a nice weighted feel, that feels solid and well made, but it’s not overly heavy. If you’re a pen person, you’ll appreciate the balance of this pencil. This pencil writes smoothly and doesn’t skip or bump, and the lead is dark and legible. Even better, unlike most mechanical pencils, the eraser stored inside the pencil erased cleanly and smoothly — most mechanical pencil erasers don’t do anything but smear the lead; not so with the Uni Kurutoga Advance. I haven’t broken a lead yet, so the diamond lead might be real.Although I’m not sure the rotating lead really keeps the writing thickness the same, the overall design is so great I have to recommend this pencil. I would be intrigued to try a smaller lead size — 0.3mm for example — and see if the lead thickness remains consistent.Overall functionality: A.

Just received my Kuru Toga Advance Upgrade 0.5 mm mechanical pencil.TL;DR = What an Excellent Pencil! And the W-speed engine makes a big difference.Prior to owning this, my "go to" pencils were: (1) the Pentel GraphGear 1000 0.5mm (limited edition black), (2) the Pentel GraphGear 1000 0.7 mm, and (3) a standard Uni Kuru Toga 0.7mm (black barrel).My standard Uni Kuru Toga *works*, but is a distant 3rd place because of two issues. First, the lead sleeve doesn't retract, leaving it to poke holes in my pockets, digging into me if I move wrongly, and/or accidentally getting broken off on a hard surface. Second, while the Kuru Toga engine *works* (and is awesome), it was designed for writing Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana. Those use MUCH shorter strokes than the Western (Latin) alphabet, so the lead is turned more gradually than I would like.Enter the Kuru Toga Advance Upgrade.PROSIt has the new W-speed engine. (I assume the "W" stands for "Western Scripts.") This rotates the lead roughly TWICE as fast as the standard Kuru Toga engine so that it stays sharper when writing in English. I can confirm this works, and works well.The lead sleeve is retractable. I could wish that it had the niftier mechanism found in the Pentel GraphGear 1000, but it certainly works well enough that I can carry it in a pocket without breaking it or having it stab me.The lead sleeve "rides" up with the lead as you write. This little trick reduces the number of times you have to click to feed the lead, and is a welcome feature. (If you want a true auto-feeding pencil, Uni makes the Kuru Toga "Dive" which advances the lead every time you lift it from the page. It even has a feed speed adjustment!)The color is vivid. Mine is a deep vibrant red and the metal and plastic parts all match without color variation. It is a beautiful, professional looking writing instrument.CONSThe Kuru Toga Advance Upgrade is both shorter and lighter than my GraphGear 1000. This may be a "PRO" to you if you prefer a less-weighty pencil, but I would spend an extra few dollars in a heartbeat if they made a heavier, all-metal version.The sleeve requires pressing on a hard surface to make it retract. This is just a MINOR nit! But I prefer how the GraphGear auto-retracts when I squeeze the top of the pocket clip.Coolness Factor?My standard Kuru Toga has the window that shows the engine. When I pull this out in front of any fellow pen/pencil afficionado, they ALWAYS immediately ask about it! Of course, my "Advance Upgrade" pencil looks a WHOLE lot more professional... but I'd certainly buy a version that had the clear window around the engine. Better yet? Sell a version that has swappable lower barrels -- you could then "dress it up" for professional meetings, or "geek it up" when you want the coolness factor. (Are you listening, Uni?).