My New Pencil. The rOtring 600

Posted on 2013-10-02

Being a math major in school, I've always been partial towards pencils. I always loved using the Dixon Ticonderoga pencils, but I'd never have a sharpener nearby and nothing is worse than trying to write a formula than with dull lead. For most of college, I used a Pentel QE517 which I still carry with me in my bag.

I very rarely write in a physical notebook. All my notes are written in either Byword, MultiMarkdown Composer or NVAlt and synced with Dropbox. Plain text allows me to have my notes everywhere, whether it's online, on my phone or my computer. I've had this recent desire to start writing things down in a notebook. I'm traveling a lot more lately and sometimes want to conserve phone battery or just entirely too lazy to pull out my phone.

To go all out, I did some research on what was considered the "best mechanical pencil." For the most part, rOtring pencils kept coming up as the best pencils out there. I decided to give it a try and go with the rOtring 600 0.5 mm mechanical pencil.

This is an entirely new world for me and I don't claim to be expert when it comes to pencils, but what I can say is that I love this pencil. The first thing that I noticed was the weight. It's definitely heavier than the average pencil (or pen for that matter). No part of the pen is made of plastic, which is also a huge plus and obviously contributes to the weight. So far it's been great to write with. The only complaint I could come up with is that I wish it were a little thicker. Sometimes I feel like I'm stressing my hand to hold on to it.

If anyone has any pencils or pens that they can't live without, I'd love to hear about them. My next test will be on my new Field Notes Expedition series, which are water, tear, burn proof.

I put together a really short video to show the pencil in use.

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