I’ll admit to being skeptical when I requested the new Uni EMOTT Color Mechanical Pencils to review from JetPens. As a product reviewer, the entire Uni EMOTT series is intriguing, so from that perspective I was interested. From a personal perspective, though, I’m generally disappointed with color mechanical pencil leads. They tend to be soft, breakable, and light on the page - all features that I don’t want in a color pencil lead.
So, how did the Uni EMOTT Color Mechanical Pencils fare in my testing? Let’s explore!
Before anything else, these pencils need to have good writing performance. That goes for any writing instrument in general, but for color mechanical pencil leads, it is especially important. Remember, These aren’t wide core, wooden barrel, colored pencils, which are a completely different category and feel of pencil.
These thin leads, 0.9 mm in the case of the EMOTT, better be strong, have good color depth even on light colors, and have to give pencil-like feedback on the page. Uni EMOTT leads succeed on all accounts. Impressively, I might add.
Let’s take the lightest color in my set, the No. 2 Tropical four-pack, which is Light Green. In my testing, it is clearly readable on a white-background paper. That means enough of the lead is transferring to the page, while also not being brittle. The color surprised me, as did the feel. It’s almost like a traditional pencil lead!
The other three colors are equally as nice and readable. I assumed the Fuchsia would be the darkest, but I am even more impressed with Orange and Light Pink being so nice and rich.
While the most important part of this pencil is great, the rest of the Uni EMOTT is only average.
Average may be too kind of a word to use for the erasability of the EMOTT lead. Even with heavy erasing, the color is still visible on the page. I had no expectations this would be a good feature, and, unfortunately, that was accurate. That said, color pencil leads usually don't erase at all, so maybe this performance is a plus?
The EMOTT barrels themselves are ok. They are long and slender, and are square in shape to prevent rolling. The cone tip retracts into the barrel when the lead is retraced completely, but I don’t see the need for that. There is no lead pipe that needs protecting, like with some traditional mechanical pencils.
Each barrel has a matching color section right below the cap area to designate the lead color. This helps visually when these pencils are stored in the provided stand, which also has space for the extra lead that ships with the set. The No. 2 Tropical is one of the three sets currently available, with No. 1 Refresh and No. 3 Nostalgic giving you a dozen total color options.
Price-wise, I think the EMOTT sets are reasonable. Each set ships with four pencils barrels, four sticks of each color lead (two in each pencil, two in the lead holder,) plus a stand to hold them all. That puts them at a little less than $3.50 per pencil as a set, with an 8-pack of lead (2 of each color in a set) priced separately at $2.95.
The final question I have is usage, as in, how do I see these being used? Individually, they are perfect for notations and highlights. They are good enough for longer-format writing as well. A set of four provides nice complimentary colors for planning and journaling, while a collection of all 12 may be overkill.
The real winner of the Uni EMOTT Color Mechanical Pencil lineup may be in the individual lead refills themselves. Do you have an 0.9 mm mechanical pencil handy? These would be the perfect choice for a single standout color to your writing. I think that is the route I’m going to take. Now, I have the difficult decision of which color goes first!
(The answer is Orange. It is always Orange.)
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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