rOtring Rapid Pro Mechanical Pencil, 0.5 mm, Silver

This pencil is built extremely well, and I would recommend it to anyone. If you do the math, this pencil will cost less over a period of 10 years than buying 24 packs of BIC Mechanical Pencil with Colorful Barrels, Fine Point (0.5 mm), 24 Pencils . Over 10 years, the average student will go through 10-20 BIC pencils a year(not counting time out of school). This means that over 10 years, it will cost you from $27-$55 to use BIC pencils, whereas the Rotring will cost you from $20-$40(as long as you don't lose it!), meanwhile the Rotring looks extremely nice and expensive. Now for the actual review- The Rotring Rapid PRO feels very well balanced in your hand. Many people I have talked to think that it would be very heavy, and hard to maneuver, but that is not the case. Rotring has done a great job of balancing the pencil by placing more weight towards the writing end, so that when you write, you are moving the lighter end. Personally, I like the heavier feel anyway. Compared to its siblings, the Rapid PRO is a great compromise. The Rotring 600 is a few dollars cheaper, but you will miss out on the retractable lead sleeve. I think that this feature is extremely important, for one reason -without it I might have already bent the tip in the first week of using it! I retract the tip every time I'm not writing with it to be safe. As far as looks go, I think that it looks awesome. The smoothed edges on the barrel look great. I thought that the chrome accents might look cheesy, but they really make the pencil look even more sleek. This pencil is not hard to hold at all, which is an aspect that other reviewers have discouraged. The knurled grip is very comfortable, and also slightly larger than that of the 600 or the much more expensive 800. If you are having trouble deciding whether to purchase this pencil, especially if you are a student, go ahead! Even if you do not use pencils very much, or if you prefer pens, I am sure you will love using this one.

This is a great product with excellent characteristics. I chose this model over the Rotring 600 because of the retractable tip, and the wider, more defined grip. Don't be fooled, there is plenty of grippiness to it! The matte finish is high quality, with an equally high quality chrome finish. This pencil cringingly fell out of my shirt pocket when I bent over because I did not clip it in - it fell about half a metre but there was no damage or even visible scratches! I honestly don't have a better explanation. It fell - it hit the ground - and it's fine! As an architectural student, I use the 0.5mm model with 2B lead for sketches and quick notes, but the heft is no problem for extended writing - I just do everything on the laptop though. (Well, I actually use a Microsoft Surface ;) My only gripe with this is the price + shipping. It's a bit too expensive considering there are still plastic components used internally, but with the low Australian dollar and shipping rates, I paid about $50au for it. $30au would be much more reasonable... in a perfect world. I'll have this for a lifetime, if I don't lose it before! :P

Excelente.

Love the weight and feel of this in the hand. Due to the extended lead tube, I don't extend as much lead at a time and thereby don't break points as often (zero breaks so far, but only had it for a few days. I'm sure a break is coming some time). Would say that this is one of the best mechanical pencils I've used.

I searched for several days to find a replacement for the mechanical pencil I lost recently, after having the previous one for 17+ years! I mainly look at the reviews to determine if an item I'm interested in is a good enough risk to invest in. And, with this pencil being $40+ I wanted to be as sure as possible. Well, I am happy to report that it is a great investment! Pros: I love the heft and feel, it's not too thick for my hand and the knurled grip is aggressive enough to keep it from slipping out of my fingers without biting into them. I really like the retractable sleeve and it's a great looking writing instrument! Cons: The only negative aspect of my overall experience with this pencil is that there were no instructions in the box. It took a little while to figure out how to activate the "retract" function of the lead sleeve. But, i didn't figure this was enough of a detraction to reduce the number of stars! Being 57 years old, this one should last me the rest of my life!

I am a long time engineering student, and I usually use a mechanical 0.5 lead pencil, almost all time. I have been using the Pilot Shaker H1010 for many years, it is an excellent well balanced pencil, but I want something better because the H1010 begun to working bad due to something wrong in its lead clutch. So, I bought the rotring rapid pro pencil and also I bought the uni kuru toga pencil. This rotring pencil, has an excellent quality in its materials, the design is so well also, it has the retractable point (as the H1010), so it is normal for me, but in my opinion, this pencil is not well balanced, because you feel it as more heavier in the clip area (backwards) when you are writing. I have compared it with the uni kuru toga pencil, and for me the Uni is better balanced for writing. In resume, the rapid pro would be a perfect pencil if it feels as the kuru toga, in my opinión. So, if you compares both prices, the kuru toga is more cheaper, but I certanly do not know which is the realiability of te kuru toga rotating system for people that is using it, all the time. I recommend the rotring, if you want a excellent pencil, great quality product, for long time. I hope it could be useful.

I was a little bit skeptical about buying this pencil. Since I have started school I have bought about 6 or so to try. There are several reviews with there being a little bit of play in the tip due to it being retractable. If you take it by the tip with you fingers you can to a very small degree wiggle the tip. However I do not notice this while writing at all. There have been others that mention the eraser cap being loose and falling off. My eraser cap is very snug and will in no way fall off. The knurling texture is amazing. It reminds me of the Graph Gear 500 0.7mm only way better. This pencil has to me the perfect weight balance. I think it feels perfectly balanced. Given the tip has a safety system to prevent lead breakage by the implementation of a spring give system this pencil is extremely smooth writing. So far I have no complaints about this pencil.

Excelente producto

facile , pratique et efficace .

Viniendo de un portaminas técnico Staedtler 925-25 (el mejor portaminas que he tenido en los últimos 18 años) que murió debido a una punta doblada en una caída (y enderezada de manera precaria), buscaba un portaminas que tuviese lo mismo pero añadiendo más cosas: * Punta retráctil para que no moleste en los bolsillos de la camisa al moverlo de un lado para otro, y además para reducir el riesgo de tener una punta doblada si se produce una caída. Novedad. No sería importante si el nuevo portaminas fuese a vivir sin salir de la misma mesa, pero el mío tendrá que viajar :-) * Punta alargada para poder trazar lineas con exactitud, confortablemente con una regla mientras veo la trazada que estoy haciendo. Ya lo tenía el viejo. * Que tuviese un cierto peso y calidad de construcción. Ya lo tenía el viejo. * Que la zona de agarre fuese moleteada, nada de gomas que al cabo de los años se puedan degradar. El acabado de la zona de agarre en el metal hace que este portaminas dure todo lo que se le quiera echar. Ya lo tenía el viejo. * Opcionalmente que la sección del cuerpo no sea redonda para impedir que se ponga a rodar (a pesar de tener un clip, al viejo Staedtler había que dejarlo con cuidado en una mesa inclinada si no quería uno sorpresas). Novedad. (*) Que a ser posible indique la dureza de la mina que estoy usando, pero no lo vi esencial ya que no tengo tantos portaminas que acabe perdiendo la cuenta de qué mina está en qué portaminas. Lo tenía el viejo pero el nuevo no. Esta función la pierdo. En resumen, esta es una compra meditada y cumple mis expectativas de manera notable. Estuve sopesando varios Pentel, Staedtler, Rotring y otras marcas conocidas y en su surtido no tenían una o más de las características que buscaba, así que me quedo satisfecho con esta versión actualizada y mejorada del Rotring 600, que era lo que busqué en primer lugar antes de encontrar este Rotring Rapid Pro. La versión negra me parece atractiva también, pero pensando en los años por venir y la posibilidad de que el recubrimiento negro mate se desprenda por el uso o por los posibles golpes, me decidí por este plateado que no tiene ningún recubrimiento susceptible de desprenderse.

スライドパイプ式が欲しかったので購入。一見低重心に見えるが、ほぼ中心（rotringのoのところ）なので、持った時若干上部が重く感じる。 口金はグリップ一体径で接合部のネジ部は樹脂製。グリップのローレット加工は、痛くもなく太さもちょうど良い感じ。 ノック感は、最初のスライドパイプを出す時に擦れするような音がする。芯を出す予期は普通にカチカチという音。 スプリングが固めなので親指が痛く感じる。 芯を補充するパイプは、上部は金属製だが、チャックの方は樹脂製。 書きごごちは、スライドパイプがぐらつくこともなく、カチッとした感じだがノックキャップと本体の隙間がカタカタと音がするので気にする人はキャップにテープを巻いて対策すると良い。 スライドパイプは筆記中ぺんてるのオレンズの様にスムーズに引っ込んでくれないので、かなり引っ掛かりを感じるので常に芯は出して使うタイプだがクッション機能があり、芯が減ってきたら、紙面へペン先を押すと芯とスライドパイプが引っ込んで、離す時に芯がワンノック分位出てくれるのでノックせずに筆記が可能なのは便利だと感じた。ただし、これを繰り返すとどんどんスライドパイプが短くなるのでいずれはノックが必要。私はオレンズよりこちらの方が良いと感じたが、好みの問題だと思う。 600シリーズより若干質感が劣ると感じたが、概ね満足。大事に使用していきたいです。

Splendid purchase. The weight is balanced for a product that is all metal bodied. The knurled grip just makes the difference because there's no slipping or sliding down the body as one continues to write. The look is very smooth and sexy for a pencil. It does not roll away when laid down. The quality of the entire product is phenomenal. The size of the body is perfect as I have tried quite a few other metal bodied metallic mechanical pencils before taking the leap to purchase this. My old rotring tikky pencil is still intact after 9 years of constant use but because the grip is melting I decided on this models grip design and as mentioned before fantastic knurled grip and support area. It looks so sharp, slick and sexy that I am very happy with my purchase. As I have only got it today, I might review this review in a few years time or sooner if things go awry but don't expect to see me anytime soon if my last rotring is anything to go by. Definitely recommend this product.

Costs less for a reason. Disappointing in appearance and look and feel.