OHTO Super Promecha PM-1500S vs OHTO Super Promecha PM-1500P

In 1929 The OHTO CO., LTD was born in Japan. The world of pens and pencils would be transformed with the inventions and innovations that the OHTO company would come up with over the years. Unfortunately all I can find out about the company is on their website. And almost all of the info is about pens! So the history lesson that I was going to give about the company has run a rye. Fortunately all I really need to know about the 2 pencils in this review is information that I can glean from the pencils themselves! Such is the nature of a review. So I hauled out my trusty instruments and did a few measurements (including a new one, by request, that will become a standard part of my stats from here on) and manipulated the pencils a bit, tearing them down as gar as I dare, chasing springs and small parts as they succumb to the force of gravity! Finding them on the floor of my computer room I retrieve them and proceed to photograph them, in part and as an entire, fully assembled pencil. Once happy with the photos that I have taken, I put the pencils back, safe and sound. into their place in my Pencil Box, and breath a sigh of relief! My babies are now snuggled safe along with all their brothers and sisters... Whoa! I need a more manly hobby!

Anyway...  At some unknown point in time, unknown to me that is, the OHTO company decided to make mechanical pencils.  Then one proud day for the OHTO company their first drafting pencil is born.  And the rest is history...  I just don't know exactly what that history is!  It's a good thing that the history of the OHTO company is not the subject of this post!...  Getting on with it...  In this post I will look, objectively, at both the old and the new Super Promechas form OHTO, comparing the two in order to see witch is the better pencil.  Just because it's the newest doesn't mean it's the best.  Sometimes great features are dropped from a product in the newer version making it, in my mind, a less useful product.

Let's see, where to start?  STATS! That's a good place to start from.  Stats have pulled my sorry typing fingers out of more than one blog...  Not really.  Stats are stats and are pretty dry.  But I can try to throw some water on them to see if I can make them a bit more palatable.  The PM-1500S measures 150 mm over all, from top of the push button to the tip of the lead sleeve (fully extended).  The PM-1500P beats that my a silly little millimeter at 151 mm long.  Hum...  interesting, but not earth shaking.  The grip of the PM-1500S measures 11 mm in diameter while the grip on the PM-1500P comes in at 10.5 mm.  That doesn't seem like much, but it looks and feels slimmer. Because of the beefier construction and materials used the PM-1500S it is the heavier of the two, weighing in at whopping 28.4 grans compared to the PM-1500Ps' 18.6 grams!  And it's balancing point (measured for the pencils' tip) is only 55 mm while the PM-1500Ps' balance point is 68.5 mm.  Now a new measurement that I am introducing with this comparison is the length from where the grip/tip join/meet to the tip of the pencil.  This is by request.  The info may help some people who write with a very low grip make a more informed decision when buying a pencil.  For the PM-1500S this distance is 19 mm and for the new kid on the block, 18.5 mm. 

Now, what in the world are you going to do with all this raw data?  Beats me!  But for me I'll try and use some of it to show how each pencil not only looks different form the other, but how it makes them perform.  With it's larger diameter grip, it's heavier weight and it's far forward balance, the PM-1500S feels like writing with a Mac truck Talk about throwing your weight around!  Now, for some people this is not only not a disadvantage, but an advantage.  There are those who like the feel of the weight in their hand.  They can and have mastered controlling the weight that this pencil has.  But if you have or want to write with a light touch, then this pencil will give you a work out over time.  The majority of it's weight being so close to the paper it tends to want to bury it's nose into it.  On the other had, the slimmer grip, lighter weight and better balance means that the PM-1500P is far easier to control and less tiring on the hand.  The pencil wants to glide across the paper with a lot less effort than its' elder brother.  In my opinion the PM-1500P is an easier pencil to use.

Now let us examine the physical differences between the two pencils.  The most noticeable difference is the 4 black "O"-rings around the PM-1500Ps' body above the lead increment adjustment wheel.  These appear to be there to aid in gripping the body when adjustments have to be maid in either the lead increment settings and the length of the lead sleeve exposure. The second most blatant difference is the tip of the PM-1500S has an adjustment wheel inside it!  This is used to set the amount of lead sleeve exposure!  Huh?  But that can be set simply by turning the grip until the desired amount of lead sleeve has been exposed!  This is probably why this unneeded feature was dropped on the next generation Super Promecha, the PM-1500P.

 The spring set up in the tip of the 2 pencils are different, of course.  The PM-1500S front end  has the tip with a spring loaded wheel that controls the amount of lead sleeve that is exposed.  right behind the small diameter spring that sets the tension for the wheel is the spring that sets the tension for the grip and it's setting of the amount of lead sleeve that is exposed.  So caution is needed if you ever have to remove the tip of the PM-1500S in order to clear a lead jam.  Remove the tip slowly and set the tip and springs aside as a unit as that is how they will come.  The lead exposure wheel and spring are a captive unit inside the body of the pencil and is not user serviceable. 

The Springs in the front end of the PM-1500P are one less that in the PM-1500S yet both are user accessible.  The first spring, the larger of the two, sets the tension for the amount of lead sleeve exposure and is in the same place as the on PM-1500S.  The second spring sets the tension for the amount of lead that is exposed and can be found under the lead sleeve and is slim enough to fit snuggly against the clutch assembly.

When removing the tips of the pencils, as you will have to do when removing a lead jam, first run the grip all the way down so that the leaf sleeve is folly hidden.  Then slowly unscrew the tip, minding the springs, and set the tip/springs aside in a safe place.  Then run the grip back up the pencil , exposing the lead sleeve.  Carefully unscrew the lead sleeve, minding any springs, setting the spring(s) aside in a safe place. 

To remove a lead jam, remove the push button, then remove the eraser with the clean out rod attached to it, replace the push button, (don't want the lead escaping) then lay the pencil aside.  Next, place the bottom of the lead sleeve on a solid surface and while holding it there with one hand use the COL attached to the eraser to  remove the lead jam by passing the COL all the way through the lead sleeve by inserting it into the lead sleeve at the tip.  Once the jam is clear replace the lead sleeve and tip, along with any associated springs.

All in all I is the bloggers opinion, based on the stats and facts, that the PM-1500P is a superior  pencil to the PM-1500S in every way, except one, the lead grade indicator. 

 

While they may look exactly alike the are not.  The PM-1500S, to me, has a much easier LGI to set than the PM-1500P.  Simply hold the knurled "ring" and loosen the push button top, set the lead designation, then tighten.  To set the LGI on the PM-1500S, You have to unscrew the PB top, rotate the LGI window to the correct setting, then hold the Push button to the window while screwing it in place w/out changing the setting!  

Bottom line? With the one minor exception the OHTO PM-15ooP Super Promecha is the superior over the OHTO PM-1500S Super Promecha.  It's a good thing as this is the current line of OHTO Super Promecha Drafting pencils!  Both old and new Super Promecha comes in 5 different led grade/sizes, 0.3 mm, 0.4 mm, 0.5 mm, o.7 mm and 0.9 mm sizes.

 

Many thanks for JetPen,com for the provision, over several years, of most of the PM-1500P series pencils in this post.  All the current PM-1500P series pencils are available as well as the entire line of OHTO Promecha and Super Promecha drafting pencils are currently available from our friends at Jetpens. com.  Please visit jetpens.com. for all your hard to find Japanese stationary items as well as many other fine Japanese items.