Jiahe then challenged me to do some fade testing (or light fast testing) on the various blue leads that I had, and I reluctantly accepted.So, firstly, the blue leads that I have.
In order, left to right:
Pilot Color Eno
Uni ~ish (“Mint Blue” is the colour selected for this test)
Uni Color
Staedtler Mars Micro Color
Faber-Castell TK Color
Pentel (PPB)
Pentel Ain
Maybe someday a pencil company will spell colour correctly? .i.e. my way.
I scribble-coloured a rectangle of about 5cm long and 1cm wide for each lead, and then cut the paper into three long strips so that they could be stored separately but re-assembled back together. The strips were labelled “sun”, “some” and “dark”, and were exposed as below:“Sun” = taped up in a north facing glass window (remember I’m in the southern hemisphere) to get a good dose of sunlight throughout the day. The window glass is untinted and does not have any anti-UV or other treatments, but it is autumn so some days are nice and sunny, but others overcast or rainy.
“Some” = put on the desk in my office at home. The blinds are mostly closed so there is not a lot of natural light.
“Dark” = kept in a closed cupboard, no exposure to light, but exposed to the air.
The Results (all colour photos below are clickable for high res)
Week 1
Yarrrrr???!!! Where has Pilot Color Eno gone? The “sun” exposure has completely faded and disappeared. At first I did a double take – did I forget to colour in that part? Had I aligned my three test-strips of paper incorrectly? If you look really hard you can see some remnants, but for all intents and purposes Color Eno has completely gone. The “some” exposure has had a little fading, though not much.There is a hint of fading on “sun” for Uni ~ish, but Uni Color has definitely changed. The “sun” exposure getting lighter and greyer, and “some” getting a little lighter. All the other samples are essentially unchanged.
Week 2
Well the sun has done for Uni Color and it’s a goneburger. The “some” exposures for Pilot Color Eno and Uni Color are clearly starting to fade. Note that unlike Uni Color, Uni ~ish Mint Blue is holding up fairly well although the “sun” exposure is starting to show some fading. All the others are looking good.Week 3
Basically more of the same. The “some” exposure for Pilot Color Eno appears to be on its last legs.Week 4 – Final Results
Four of our blue leads showed little to no fading and have completed the lightfastness test with flying colours. Full marks to Staedtler Mars Micro Color, Faber-Castell TK Color, Pentel PPB and Pentel Ain. Fifth out of seven is Uni ~ish Mint Blue which has shown some fading for the ‘sun’ exposure, and a little fading for the ‘some’ exposure. Bringing up the rear, and a long way behind, are Uni Color and Pilot Color Eno. Pilot Color Eno 'sun' disappeared in week 1. Perhaps you artists out there can tell me of some use for special disappearing blue leads. Secret agents?You will need to read my various blue lead postings to choose a lead for you that has the right combination of hue, lightfastness, strength, erasability, etc, but for me personally there is Pentel and then there is…nothing.
No, NO, NO! Don’t ask me to repeat all this for red, green or any other blasted colour. It ain't happen'n.
Office Max are big boys in the world of stationery, and if anyone should be able to get contract designers and manufacturers to produce a good product at a sharp price point then it should be them. Obviously we should expect quite a lot from a TŪL brand writing instrument.
I believe you pronounce TŪL like “tool”, but I prefer to pronounce it like I imagine Ahh-nuld the Terminator would, “I’ll be back. I just have to get my TŪL”. Taking the fun irreverent theme a step forward, you can go to the 
As I said earlier, I don’t really like the look of the eraser cartridge, and the twist out mechanism on mine was a bit of a weak point. Many times the twist action was smooth and easy, but other times it was uneven, sometimes clicking or being hard to twist. The eraser itself is a vinyl or PVC-free type and erases quite well. It is about 5mm diameter with 23mm of usable length. You pull the whole eraser cartridge out to access the lead magazine.
The eraser cartridge is the push top button for the ratchet lead advance mechanism. Ten clicks will get you 8mm of the 0.5mm lead. I believe a 0.7mm lead option is also available. The mechanism feels nice and smooth to operate. The TŪL website says this is a semi-automatic lead advancement system. I'm not really sure what that means, and they don't explain it.
It is retractable for pocket safety. The lead has a lot of spring cushioning to help prevent breakage – you can really push it in and out a long way. There is a small amount of wobble of the lead sleeve within the front tip piece, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Large diameter and ergonomic style mechanical pencils for learner writers seem to be a popular theme these days, with manufacturers offering an increasing array of products. The Staedtler graphite 771 has been around for a while now, and is Staedtler’s main offering in this market segment, although they do not target it exclusively at children, noting it is also for those (adults) who like a larger chunky grip. It is currently called the ‘graphite 771’ (that’s graphite with a lower case ‘g’) on the Staedtler website, but I feel sure that earlier on it was the Noris 771. Still, maybe I was dreaming. Noris is still mentioned in relation to the 771, as it is in the ‘Noris design’ which I take to mean the Noris yellow and black colour scheme. Despite being the sporting colours of an opposing province to mine, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Noris yellow and black scheme as it makes me think of industrious bees, and how much I enjoy the fruits of their labours.
I imagine the bright yellow and black red-topped colour scheme would appeal to many younger users too.
The grip itself is black rubber with grooves moulded into it. Its shape is tapering as it transitions from the triangular body down to the round tip section. The rubber compound is quite hard but does have some grip to it, so overall it does improve the grip.
I personally found the grip tended to fit better in my fingers when the pencil was sloped down at a low angle to the paper, rather than a more upright stance. Of course holding it at a low angle accentuates the chisel point worn on the lead, and being triangular you have limited options for rotating the pencil in your grip. These are further limited by the large pocket clip getting in the way a bit. The pocket clip is plastic and reasonably functional, although it might not last that long at school.
There is a small short metal lead sleeve, which is retractable for pocket safety. I quite liked the lead. Claimed as HB grade, it was nice and smooth and dark, and I would not have thought twice if it was claimed as B rather than HB.
The lead advance is a standard push top ratchet mechanism. Ten clicks will get you about 8mm of lead. The mechanism has a good positive feel.
You pull the whole eraser cartridge out of the body to access the lead refill chamber.
The only obvious markings on the pencil are the large Staedtler name and logo on the pocket clip. The stick on barcode and ID label includes the wording “Made in Japan”.
They are quite good to look at, and I like the idea of linking to their wooden pencils. Why haven’t Staedtler thought of this before? The colours are quite matt compared to the gloss usually found on their wooden cousins.
Some will see Staedtler colour schemes, some will see national colours, some their sporting colours – so many possible interpretations.
The bodies are triangular in cross-section, continuing the ergonomic theme that is so popular these days. They are quite comfortable to hold.
Spare leads are fed in after pulling the top section off.
Anyway, these seem an interesting addition to the pencils priced towards the lower end of the spectrum.
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