rOtring 600 Mechanical Pencil, 0.5 mm, Silver Barrel (1904445)

This is the best mechanical pencil I have ever had and even started my passion in drawing, the design is sleek the graphite is always sharp, it has a nice feel but does get pretty hard to hold for long periods of time. The pencil is very durable but i do have a problem with the tip bending when I dropped it once but I easily bent it right back into place. My handwriting has improved a lot too due to the always great writing quality of this amazing German product.

Words can not even begin to describe just how beautiful this is, you would not think something as mundane as a mechanical pencil could make your jaw drop in awe, but this sure does.I wasn't sure if I would be as blown away on first impressions as many of the other reviews implied, but as soon as I opened the Amazon envelope and saw the packaging I was in love. Very, *very* few products can completely amaze you before you even open the box it comes in, but I almost did not want to open it. Sure it is just a paper triangle, but the finish and printing is impeccable, everything is flawlessly aligned and the ink is raised for that incredible high quality feel. Opening the box you are greeted by two leaflets detailing the other rOtring models and a short paragraph in German with the history of the company.After you lift up the pencil you receive the same text in English and simply do not want to set it down. Looking over it as closely as I can, there is not a single imperfection that I can complain about. The lead grade indicator being knurled metal like the grip is also simply an amazing detail. Hell, the eraser cap is made of metal as well, almost any other company would make it out of plastic to save a few pennies, but it even has the same sparkly black finish to it and just resonates with beauty.Even the eraser retainer is made of metal, and unscrewing it and opening it up you find that quite a bit of the internals are made of metal as well. It is genuinely a marvel to behold.I purchased a Pentel GraphGear 1000 at the same time, and while it is a very nice pencil on its own, it just is not even in the same league. The rOtring just makes all of its small imperfections you would not otherwise notice standout like a sore thumb.This pencil just speaks volumes towards good engineering and design. Just because something is highly functional and well built does not mean it can not be absolutely gorgeous as well, I want to go back and lower everything else I've rated 5 stars down just because nothing can compare to the perfection that this is. Does spending over $20 on a mechanical pencil sound insane? It did before I held this in my hand, and I would pay double and still feel as though that were too cheap.

As far as I can tell, it's all metal and there's nothing that could break except maybe the tip if you dropped it off a cliff. Simple and elegant design. The weight, length, diameter, and balance are all perfect. It's not so expensive that you are afraid to use it in fear that it may get lost. It's a great value even at full price.It just feels premium without screaming bling. I find myself looking for excuses to use it even if it's just a simple note. Inexpensive, long lasting, simple pleasures like this are rare in our crazy modern world.

I'm not sure why it took me so long to purchase a mechanical pencil. I got this pencil because I had an upcoming standardized exam which required me to use pencils. I must say, this pencil performed flawlessly.The Rotring 600 is all-metal (I believe brass) construction, with a knurled/textured grip made out of metal. This is actually surprisingly comfortable, because intuitively, you would figure that something soft would be more comfortable than textured metal. In actuality, I found the grip very comfortable, but it might not be for everyone -- for example, if like to rub against the grip, it's not very comfortable to rub against (it IS textured metal...). On the other hand, if you want to play with your pencil, the barrel is great for that; it's a hexagonal barrel with a matte finish.The top of the pencil has a knurled knob, for you to turn a little viewfinder-type thing at the top. Printed on the pencil beneath this is 4H, 2H, H, F, HB, B, 2B (I'm going off my memory, but I think this is correct). When you turn the viewfinder/knob, you can set the pencil to display one of these designations, so you know which type of lead your pencil is currently filled with.Above this is the clicky button for you to dispense lead. If you pull off this cap, there is the proprietary eraser unit underneath. If you pull out the eraser unit, you can fill the pencil with quite a number of pencil leads. The one flaw here is the eraser. I didn't use it much, but I imagine it would be difficult to use. To use it, you have to take off the normal clicky button cap, thereby making it prone to be lost. I also think (again, don't have the pencil with me) that it might be prone to click the lead if you use the eraser. Finally, since it's proprietary, you will have some difficulty (and expense) obtaining replacements.The other potential issue I found is that the tip of the pencil is a hollow tube. When you click the top, lead comes out of the thin tube. However, it seems pretty unprotected. For example, I don't know what would happen if you dropped the pencil directly on its front tip. I suppose it could actually be very sturdy, but I was a bit nervous that I might drop it and bend the tip, breaking the pencil. (Rotring also makes the Model 800 which retracts the tip to avoid this situation completely).Overall, I really liked this pencil. It's got a really solid feel to it and seems to have great build quality. If you want a high quality mechanical pencil that will last you for a long time, I recommend this.

This pencil is awesome, totally worth what I paid for it. Its a little heavy compared to other pencils but it's still comfortable to write with, even with my large hands. It's also very sturdy feeling and I have no doubt that this pencil will last a long time. Plus, it looks super cool with the matte black metal finish.