rOtring500 Mechanical Pencil | 0.5mmHB Lead | Red hexagonal plastic barrel and non-slip textured metal grip

Lovely Pencil

If you read internet mechanical pencil reviews, as I did, you will read a lot about how great Rotring pencils are. This is not born out by reality as the famed quality is simply not there. The knurling feels unpleasantly abrasive and, looking at it with a loupe, you can see why - it's not very well done and there are many jagged edges and it is markedly poorer than on, say, a Pilot S10 or a Pentel Graphgear 500. Some people say they like sharp knurling but I can only imagine that they are people who have mechanical pencils for reasons other than using them to write with for any period of time. I have nothing against collecting or buying the perceived premium product... but please don't then try and convince people that it's actually good for its purpose.Not only is the knurling poorly done but the finish comes off if you so much as give it a hard stare. After a week in my pencil case with some rivals, the Rotring was looking very second-hand. All the others, including a very old Pentel P205, still looked like new.In use, I found the grip to be narrower than I'd like. Obviously that's not a fault with the pencil and just my preference but this is at the narrow end of the spectrum so bear that in mind before you get one. What IS a fault with the pencil is that the lead wobbles in the guide tube. It only wobbles a little but something I learned from trying a LOT of mechanical pencils is that it is really important for me to have the lead completely precise. There is a great deal of argument about tip/lead wobble online and my conclusion is that one person's "rock solid" is another's "all over the place". So.. if you don't care about a bit of lead wobble, this will appear rock solid. If you do care, then it's not all over the place but it will irritate you until you swap it for a different pencil. (Pentels and Pilots seem reliably solid (apart from retractables like the Graphgear 1000, of course, which is definitely all over the place - others, like Rotring, Tombow, Uni Kuru-Toga & Shift-pipe, Staedtler and Platinum Pro Use all wobble.)At least the 500 is not as bad as the 600 which has all the same problems and adds extra weight and poor balance to make it very unpleasant to use for any length of time.If you like a narrow grip then I'd recommend the classic Pentel P200. Much more precise and much more robust. For a larger knurled metal grip, the Pilot S10 is a much better pencil than the Rotring.

I have been a huge fan of Rotring since I first purchased a Tikky 2. They were simple to use, and great for those of us who prefer writing in pencil! I used the Tikkys for a while before taking the plunge and buying a Rapid Pro in chrome. That is a great pencil but I actually would now say save your money and get a 500 instead! The plastic body makes the pencil a little less straining on the hand (especially if using it for maths problems like I do) than the full metal Rapid Pro or 600 but still retains the quality feel. It looks and feels fantastic. The slight downside is that you don't get the cushioned lead so it is a little more prone to lead breaks, for that reason I went for the 0.7mm instead of the 0.5mm.If you're buying a pencil for sketching or notes, or something where you have time to take a bit of care then the 600 or Rapid Pro is a great choice. If you want something you could write frenetically, for hours, with then go for this. You won't be disappointed.

This is a great pencil. I started using mechanical pencils a few months a go and now use them for everything and don't even carry a pen with me anymore. This pencil is very well weighted with the metal grip and plastic body allowing me to uses it for hours straight with out any fatigue. the mechanism for pushing the lead out is the best i have used in any pencil, and its easy to refill. The twisty bit at the top is a nice addition, especially if you have multiple of these pencils with different types of leads (HB, 2B, F and whatnot).The only problem I've had with it is the lead it came with. its was to gray and it didn't produce writing with good contrast, but that was easily fixed with some Pental super lead.I totally recommend this pencil who is going to be lots of writing for multiple hours with out much break in between.

Great quality nice finish on the metal grip very comfortable

Before this 500 arrived from Japan I bought 2 Rotring 600's from English suppliers.I am very pleased with both pencils. I thought I would be disappointed with the 500 when itarrived but I wasn't. It is as much a quality instrument as the 600. Although I prefer the extraweight of the all metal 600 the plastic barrel of this one does not detract from it's performance.The Knurled metal grip feels identical to the black 600's but the plastic barrel has (only just) slightlyless grip than the black 600 but better grip than the silver model. In case you think I am biased infavour of Rotring's, I enjoy using all of my (20+) mechanical pencils and leadholders, Pentel, Staedtler, Faber-Castell, Koh-I-Noor etc but the 500 stands out because of it's cost to quality ratio. Highly recommended

I used to have one of these years ago and it was solid metal (probably was the 600 model)This looks like metal but is plastic.however good quality for the money

This particular pencil I bought as a present. However, I bought because I have one, and it is excellent.