Mildly Relevant Reviews – Kaweco Sport Classic Fountain Pen
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Review – Sentry Talk Buds
My earbuds broke a month or so ago, and since I keep breaking them I went out and tried to find the least expensive earbuds possible. This led me to pick up several different inexpensive earbuds. The first was the Sentry Talk-Buds from the crummy shelf of my local store.
Now if you’ll allow me to spoil the review only this far in, (and really, you could guess by the price) these are not a good product. But they don’t seem like that at first. A bit off maybe: the buds themselves are made of metal and give a strange cold feeling in the ear, but that’s just because I’m not used to it. The sound is crap. Nothing is really unbalanced (I’m not a bass person myself so the lack of heavy bass doesn’t bother me)– it’s just fuzzy, like one would expect from inexpensive earbuds. The real problem here, though, is the microphone, more specifically the “answer call” button on it. This button also acts as a play/pause button, and it broke within a week of me owning the thing. But if it just broke in an unobtrusive way that would’ve been fine, since I didn’t want that feature really anyway. But it broke in such a way that it randomly paused and unpaused the music I was listening to, and that was unacceptable. If the button, or even the microphone, was removed I might have liked these (I’m not much of an “Audio Snob”– I just want what I listen to to be recognizable and not make my ears bleed). As it is, though, I’m not a fan. It does seem like it might be a quality control issue and thus hit or miss, but with so many other cheap and better options I wouldn’t bother.
(Also these came with a case, which I was semi-excited about, because I like small containers. But this one has a cheap, plastic hinge I could break with no effort, and came with what seemed to be a type of oil inside, so it was dirty. It might have sold me in the store, but once out of the package it was quite disappointing.)
Review – Uni Kuru Toga Roulette
I’ve previously looked at one of the most liked (and according the to the Wirecutter the best) recent mechanical pencils, the UniBall Kuru Toga; I was under whelmed. Recently I was able to get a hold of the upgraded version, the Roulette. Is it worth the upgrade? Should you skip the regular model and get this one? Let’s take a look.
The back end of the pencil is a plastic and metal lead advancer; it works and doesn’t dig into the skin. There is a rubberized ring around it for reasons I don’t quite understand. Removing the advancer reveals a super tiny eraser that won’t last long but does indeed erase. Below that is a clip, which is fit onto the barrel in a way that would allow removal, but with difficulty. Japan is stamped into the side of the clip, and the name and size of the pencil is written on the barrel just beneath the clip. The barrel is plain until one gets to the section, which is metal and extended, the bottom half is knurled, but not aggressively so; it provides a good grip. There is a small hole in the grip that allows one to see the fact that the pencils mechanism is turning (but no the mechanism itself). Down from that is a tip very similar to the regular Kuru Toga, but extended is some ways. On this model this oddly designed step down cap is still not necessary, but covers up an otherwise ugly portion.
Now on to the part everybody loves, the mechanism. I mentioned that I was under-whelmed by this previously, and I still am, but I know why now. The window in the grip section allowed me to see clearly when the mechanism was turning and when it wasn’t. And while it was possible to do this in the cheaper versions I was a bit harder to see. The mechanism itself by the way, as far as I can tell, is identical in both pencils, but there is no way to open them and find out exactly without possibly rendering them inoperable. But the answer to when the mechanism was turning when I was writing with the pencil was… never. I tested it, the mechanism works, it just never moves when “I” write with it. My writing, and drawing, are much too light to get it to rotate the lead, and thus I never see the affects. The packaging (for the inexpensive one, my roulette came in all Japanese packaging) says that the mechanism helps with the point of the pencil, and to prevent breakage. I really have never had a problem with either of these things, partly because I flail the pencil around compulsively when writing and drawing, and that rotates it such that my lead is always at a point. Now I guess I know that I write far too lightly to have a problem with breakage. But man, if I write lightly, some people must really press down on the things. So yes, it works flawlessly, but if you write like I do it isn’t really a selling point. And finally I wouldn’t worry about the mechanism wearing out, it is extremely well made and there have been no complaints about such a thing occurring, so if it does by that time you’d be able to just get a new one, it’s popularity means it likely isn’t going anywhere.
So, it is a good pencil? Yes. Is it worth the money for the upgraded version? Yes, even without the mechanism. The pencil is solid, well made, and solves the comfort issues I had with the less expensive version. The weight is good, the feel is good, the metal gives one a good grip and the writing is nice and fine. And if one does press hard enough to activate the mechanism I’ve heard nothing but good things. I wouldn’t take it over my Graphgear, but that’s just personal preference. I like the thinner body a little better on that one. So if you write with a lot of pressure, the Kuru Toga is the pencil for you, if you don’t you have other equally good options within the price range in my opinion. Even then it’s definitely worth a look.