Earlier this year Japan’s Mitsubishi Pencil Company released their new mechanical pencil leads, Uni Nano Dia. As far as I can tell, basically their claim is that by mixing super small carbon based nano-particles (so called “nano-diamonds”) into the lead formulation, that friction will be reduced thereby creating a strong uniformly dense, dark, smooth writing lead with reduced wear. Diamonds...sounds great. Well then, let’s check these Uni Nano Dia leads out.
Uni Nano Dia leads come in a range of diameters and hardness grades. Currently in 0.5mm they come in 4H through to 4B, including F. I think they only have the one grade of HB, not the other two grades of HB that some Japanese brands offer.
The lead tubes are colour coded by hardness grade in very bright attractive transparent coloured containers. There are 40 x 0.5mm leads per container. The top slides to the side to let you get the leads out.
Right then, time to put lead to paper. Currently Pentel Ain are my reigning champion of leads, so some comparison against them is obviously called for. Please remember that I am testing these leads by hand and by eye, so the results are highly subjective. In order to try and minimise the human factor I am conducting repeat trials, and they are blind tests in that I don’t know which lead is loaded in which pencil. Two Uni Shift 0.5mm mechanical pencils were used for all these tests - oneloaded with Uni Nano Dia 0.5mm HB and the other with Pentel Ain 0.5mm HB
First up, lets try laying down some lead and erasing it. Below is the test card, with Ain and Nano Dia erased by Staedtler Mars Plastic, Pentel Hi-Polymer and Faber-Castell PVC Free erasers. Effectively there’s no significant difference, perhaps the slightest hint of a little smearing with Nano Dia but basically it’s a dead heat.
Next then test for smearing. For some artistic purposes you might want a lead to be smearable, but for normal writing purposes I believe most of use a smear resistant lead. Again, as you can see below it is close, but I think Ain was a fraction more smear resistant.
How about blackness. Well, both are quite similar in their darkness.
As usual, I find there is little difference in darkness between HB and B. Personally I nearly always have to jump two or three lead grades to find a real difference. However I did definitely feel that Nano Dia B felt smoother when writing than did Nano Dia HB. I did not feel there was any real difference in smoothness between Ain and Nano Dia.
OK, well now we have the final two tests. Personally I feel strength is the single most important characteristic of a thin lead, and by clicking out a short length and pressing slowly down on paper to break it, I believe the strength of these two leads is close, but there was a clear winner, and it was not Uni Nano Dia. So, I believe Pentel Ain remains the undefeated champion of strength.
Uni do claim that the Nano Dia formulation results in a low wear lead, i.e. you get to write more letters per stick of lead. So, that’s my last test. I clicked out a length of lead and drew ruled lines, as you can see. First with Nano Dia, then with Ain, repeat over and over, each time counting how many lines I could draw before the lead wore down and I hit the sleeve. Clearly this was a very subjective test as there was almost a 100% difference between the number of lines with the same brand of lead. One time I drew only 15 lines, another time 30, both with the same brand of lead. My procedure was to do the tests in pairs - I would draw a set of lines with one lead, swap pencils and draw another set with the other brand of lead. Now, here’s the thing, despite the huge variability, Uni Nano Dia never won a single match. Every pair of sets of lines was won by Pentel Ain. Sure, sometimes it was close, and sometimes it was a thrashing, but Nano Dia never won once. As subjective and imprecise as my test was I think the result was clear.So, where does this leave me? Uni Nano Dia is clearly a good high quality lead, exactly what one would expect from a respectable Japanese brand, but I don’t think the hype matches the result and I will still be loading my mechanical pencils with Pentel Ain.
Let the controversy begin.
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7 comments:
No controversy here Dave – I come with peace. I’m just delighted to see the Royal Danish family (or most of it anyway - Joachim, the other prince is missing) as background for something connected with diamonds. Nice going! As for the leads, nice work – not quite as mad as the unforgettable MAD’s lead tests but close.:-) Thanks.
Regards
Henrik
Excellent review. I have only tried the Nano Dia HB leads that came with my Kuru Toga and Uni-Shift so far, but I think I will stick wih Ain for any future refills after reading the results of your lead tests.
Excellent review, as usual. I must admit I also tried these new Uni leads but my tests were in no way as scientific as yours (specifically, I didnt't do any blind tests).
I used 0,3 mm 2B leads and what I tried to compare was blackness, erasability and smoothness - with blackness and smoothness being two most important factors. That's because I like the pencil to write with minimal pressure (so the lead should have good blackness or the writing will be too light) and with a feeling comparable to that of fountain pen (the lead should glide across the paper without feeling harsh or scratchy).
What I found is:
0,3 mm 2B Ain and Nano Dia are virtually indistinguishable when it comes to blackness and erasability.
The feeling of writing is different when using Ain and Nano Dia. Nano Dia lead seems to glide a little bit "above the paper" - it seems like it requires less strength to move pencil across the paper but at the same time Nano Dia is a little bit "scratchy". With Ain you can feel the paper "drag" more but the writing is smoother overall.
After several hours I decided I liked the Ain better because the smoothness is important to me. Nano Dia was however very good and if I hadn't Ain already I might use Nano Dia as well.
BTW: The first 0,3 mm 2B lead I had used was Pilot Eno but I switched to Ain as I found Eno had better blackness than Ain, but Ain was so much smoother when writing.
I can't believe that you have a site dedicated to mechanical pencils. You come up second in a Google search on that phrase. I can't believe you have an article dedicated to the comparision of a new type of lead vs the reigning champion. Mostly, though, I can't believe how professional it all looks! Good job.
I don't care one whit about mechanical pencils and I read the whole article because it was so well done. It was succint and well organized. The pictures added interest or clarity and they were reasonable well done.
Hopefully other sites learn from you. Great work!
Dear Dave, where did the musical example used in your review of the Uni leads come from? I am looking for something like that exercise for some students. Thanks.
"Mrs Dave" has decide she wants to learn to play the piano.
Trinity Guildhall "Theory of Music Workbook", Grade 1.
I too have tried out the NanoDia stuff, hoping to find an ideal lead with darkness and smoothness and smear resistance. I had pretty high hopes because I've got some fabulous Mitsubishi 2mm lead that I use easily as often as I use my Hi-Uni wooden pencils.
For the most part, I agree with Dave's findings and never quite found the supposed superiority of NanoDia. I was a bit disappointed really, even though it's a good lead.
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