I have a Dive I still haven’t taken out of the box. I keep forgetting to dedicate time to check it out.
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I got the purple dive! Tbh I don’t dig the color a lot. I prefer the glossy finish dives.
But I’m happy because I’m back to having the whole colour lineup in my hands! Yay consumerism
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The Abyss Blue does look a lot like that Hell Diver airplane color. 
It’s really nice in person.
But… what annoys me a little is the plastic mold “warping” near the top of the clip, on both sides of the cap. I’d seen suggestions of this in user photos of the Dive earlier… but now that I have it first hand and looked at it under magnification, it’s a depression in the plastic that appears to be a manufacturing side-effect. Here’s a photo montage:
It’s not “awful,” but for anyone a bit OCD on perfection of materials, it’s a bit of a nag.
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I believe it’s a strong hint that they are going to make a metal kurutoga line (and gradually expand), metal pen, metal case… I guess the birth of metal Dive will only be a matter of time, either at some time of UNI or kurutoga’s anniversary or when they can no longer keep the hype, no matter how many limited color plastic model are released
To this day, I still can’t understand the hype which they can maintain high price for months on a production model (through a lottery of purchase qualification)
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i would like to see a metal Dive, but wonder what price point they will set.
I’m still a bit pissed at Uni for not selling directly to US market. 
Let’s say there will be a label ‘1 of 999’ on metal Dive 
Yeah, given the other metal Kuru Toga models, like the Roulette, it’s bound to happen – a metal Dive. But if they pull a 999 limited run… I’m going to ignore it. Because the scalping will be even worse than before.
They priced it originally at ¥5500 and $40 USD, once the first limited edition was done. The JPY price kept up for a long while, through various store outlets. But the USA release? That was such a fiasco. Already dove into that one too much. Instead of fixing the scalping problem, they pumped it up to $99 USD, which was a major slap in the face for consumers.
I’m not sure if it’s an issue with slow production, or with their marketing team… but you’d think with the popularity of the mechanism, they’d make many more. Because a lower price point but amplified many times in sales volumes ultimately delivers higher profits for Uni Ball Co.
Once the metal version comes out, it’ll be interesting to see how that impacts the plastic version.
And what will happen on 29th? Metal Dive? UNI design lab? or one patent becomes an actual new product. The theme of remembrance is mentioned in Fig.2
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There’s 4 features to the Kuru Toga Dive I find noteworthy :
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The dial controls how much lead is delivered by the automatic advance mechanism. “MIN” being the shortest, “MAX” being the longest. There’s not a huge difference between the various settings, so it’s a subtle effect. You may find one suits you and you’ll leave it at that for all time. But it’s nice to have this kind of refined control. “MAX” is not exaggerated. It doesn’t give you a comical length of lead as I’ve seen happen on some pencils (like the rOtring Core).
NOTE: While the dial controls the length of the auto-mechanism, this doesn’t seem to affect the manual mechanism. I clicked 5 times for each setting and the length was always the same. -
The cap has a very special inner design that works in conjunction with the Kuru Toga auto-advance engine. When you remove the cap, a small amount of lead is automatically extended so the pencil is immediately available to write. It’s also about 1 mm in length, not influenced by the selector dial setting. There’s no issue of the lead being extended too long, with uncapping and capping multiple times. The lead remains where it is. Very thoughtful. There’s a 4 mm maximum allowance too. If you have the lead extended at 5 mm or beyond, the cap won’t close. 4 mm is generous. I’d have expected 3mm or less.
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The magnetic feature is very nicely done. I’ve seen some magnetic closures show as too weak or too strong. The closed cap is done just right. And for the rear, the magnetic pull is slightly weaker, because a strong grip is not needed. The cap is basically resting on top, and already gravity assisted. Also, there’s a nice satisfying “click” sound when the magnets secure the cap (closed or posted). Note that Spoke Designs used this same concept on the Roady pen series too. I really appreciate this consideration.
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The grip is a hard plastic with slightly raised rectangles. It’s not tacky in any way, and yet, it feels sufficiently grippy. It won’t be a dust magnet either. I really like it.
As for gripes… as I mentioned before, I’d have appreciated a metal body (plastic cap is OK), and a metal shaft for the lead reservoir. The eraser has no ferrule… it just friction fits into a plastic socket. It looks terribly cheap, the kind of thing you see on disposable mechanical pencils. WTH? For an over $50 USD pencil? Even the Orenz Nero that you can now buy for under $30 has inner metal hardware and a ferrule for the eraser. I really don’t know what Uni Ball Co was thinking, for a “flagship” pencil.
In closing for my “highlight review,” I am glad I bought the Kuru Toga Dive. I probably should’ve bought one earlier last year and paid just a little more so I’d have had this past year to enjoy it. The Kuru Toga Dive engine is really well done. Every mechanical pencil collector / enthusiast should definitely add this one to the collection at some point.
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So nice to see Cytherian finally with a Dive! I was eager to see what he had to say about it.
I think I already said my opinion somewhere in this thread (if not, I probably wrote it somewhere else since I can’t keep my mouth shut about this pencil smh) but I like it in plastic. This is a big and heavy pencil, despite it being all plastic it’s already 19g. Full metal pencils like the TF12 are 22.3g and the Tombow C1 is 21.7. My marvelous wood pencil, which I’ve shown to some friends and family and have said it’s “almost so heavy to be unusable” is 24.7g. A metal version of the dive would be 30g or maybe more. I’m sure some MP enthusiasts would like that but most (particularly the Japanese part) wouldn’t.
Do you know what I’d love to see? a uni 5050 inspired dive. Plastic cap, plastic body and metal grip + tip. Some features of the dive would be lost in the change, like the ability to post the cap, but I think it would be an amazing pencil regardless.
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Shout out to Yoseka Stationery in Brooklyn NY for having facilitated what I’d consider the most reasonable official retailer price for a Dive in the USA. There’s also a new customer discount for 10% off plus free shipping above $50 that sweetens the deal.
It’s a very small shop that has grown in popularity, started by an ambitious couple with roots going back to Taiwan. Neil and Daisy set up shop in 2017.
Included with my purchase was a personalized thank-you note from Laura, who even mentioned the Kuru Toga. It’s touches like this that are really nice. Packaging was excellent. I will buy from them again!
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I agree with Gary’s comments on Yoseka Stationery. I purchased a CDT Kerry from them for around $45 when they were selling elsewhere for over $75.
If you want to buy a Dive from them, here is how I found out they were back in stock:
Get the Shop app. I use it to aggregate online orders from multiple vendors – allows you to track shipments from just about anywhere. There is also a commercial component of the app where you can make purchases, etc. Anyway, install the app and find Yoseka, and then “Like” the Dive. You will get notified when it is back in stock.
Edit: they also have a YouTube channel where they occasionally talk about mechanical pencils
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Prices have come back down again on Mercari Japan. Some new in box examples have now gone down to as low as ¥6500 (about $48 USD).
Out of curiosity I searched for lower priced examples and there have been quite a number of them even down to ¥5000… but sold as junk. The common problem cited? “Lead does not come out” or “lead keeps breaking.” One listing actually sold at that price, cited as not working [HERE]–although that looks to be the first edition blue, so that may be why (someone would likely just swap in a newer mechanism).
Anyway, a bit troubling to see how many have come up with functional problems. I wonder if this is a potential problem that has a higher chance of happening with long term use of the Dive.
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I think that’s just people who messed up trying to open the mechanism or dropped the pen. I personally haven’t had any issues with my Dives
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Oh come on! I just got mine, brand new (2nd gen Abyss Blue), and now turns out these MP’s could be doomed… 
I have to hope that the number of fingers I can cross at the moment will be enough to keep the misfortune away. Knock on wood.
(I also have to consider that I had more than a few pencils with reportedly faulty behaviour, or sold to me as junk, that could be fixed with ease, and stayed fully working if treated gently; let us hope this is the case: the Dive does not seem exactly a “fragile” item, even though the amount of contraptions in its body makes it a reasonable candidate for various issues, not all easy to repair.)
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You do make a good point, Leonov. Lead breakage can happen in any pencil. And there can be multiple causes that aren’t the fault of the pencil itself.
It would be interesting to hear from someone who has bought such a “junk” Dive and then found it was just due to a lead clearing problem. Maybe the mechanism isn’t the best for self-clearing… and some of these people end up selling theirs as junk, when all it needed was a good long wire to thoroughly clear it.
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That’s good to hear, Diego.
Of course, if the issues were very commonplace, the popularity of the pencil would tank. Knowing Uni (formerly Mitsubishi) and their history of perfection, it would surprise me if there were defective models getting out that would be ticking timebombs, waiting to fail after some time. So perhaps it’s just user error.
That one I linked was Moon Night Blue… so even if the mechanism was truly broken, someone got a killer deal–the front section can be easily replaced, cannibalized from another model.
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Could it be possible that the users who had these problems are using very soft lead? Perhaps there is more graphite dust with these leads which causes problems with the mechanism.
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For the sake of completeness: Two patents for the Kuru Toga Dive mechanism.
Lead rotation: https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search?q=pn%3DWO2023002879A1
Automatic lead advance: https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search?q=pn%3DWO2023002878A1
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Awesome, I love these
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