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The Rotring 600 mechanical pencil is a classic icon in the pantheon of writing instruments. In recent times Rotring released a new pencil which has some similarities to the venerable 600. I refer of course to the Rotring Rapid Pro mechanical pencil. Back in June last year I held a giveaway on this blog for a Rapid Pro, and now it’s time for a review…well actually more than one review, and all three of them are guest reviews…a trifecta of Rotring champions, if you like.
So, here we have the Rotring Rapid Pro family of mechanical pencils - 0.5mm, 0.7mm and 2.0mm, all stylistically the same. The 2mm is a ratchet advance mechanical pencil just like the others. It’s not a clutch pencil.
The winners of my giveaway were Spuddybuddy and Rhonda Eudaly so I present their two reviews here, and the third triumvir is none other than Ovidiu who previously reviewed the mighty Rotring 600 here on this blog. We shall see what he has to say about its new brother, the Rapid Pro.
The Rotring Rapid Pro is the newest release from the Hamburg based company, part of Sanford, who is also part of Newell Rubbermaid Company. And unlike the Rotring 600 or Rotring 800, officially available only in Japan, the Rapid Pro seems to have worldwide availability and also can be seen on Rotring homepage and also Rotring Catalog from 2010. I really commend Rotring for this bold decision to release, after so many years, a high quality mechanical pencil, that is, as they say, “the perfect professional tool for all sketching, writing and drawing applications”. We really needed a comeback from Rotring. There are three versions of Rotring Rapid Pro available, the 0.5mm, 0.7mm and 2mm and there is only one color available so far, silver, for all of them. The nice thing about the 2mm model is that it features an automatic mechanical pencil mechanism, rather than the standard clutch mechanism usually found in the classic leadholders.
The packaging consists from a grey cardboard box that slides into another which has the word “Rotring” embossed on it. You receive a lot more “package” than with the Rotring 600 for example. Of course, no true professional mechanical pencil comes without the mandatory user manual, in fact a folded sheet of paper, which, in this case, doesn’t refer to the Rapid Pro at all, but to it’s Japanese relatives, Rotring 800 and 600. This could be to the fact the pencil was bought from Japan and it’s quite possible that this manual could differ for other countries.
For sure, the Rotring Rapid Pro is a very nice pencil. Almost all the body is made of brushed metal, with some shiny polished surfaces on the tip of the pencil and the pocket clip. I usually don’t like shiny surfaces on pencils, especially on drafting pencils that I always consider should look more “serious” than the regular ones, but on the Rapid Pro, those touches really look good.
The name alone suggests a resemblance with the Rotring Rapid, an interesting, plastic body / rubber grip pencil with a “vanishing point” mechanism and a very long eraser hidden under the cap.
But in the end, these two pencils don’t have too much in common, besides the fact that both are pocket safe. The Rapid Pro looks more like a Rotring 600 relative than Rapid’s one.
The Rapid Pro is a very solid, well-made pencil. Writing with it I didn’t fell any play in the parts of the mechanism, which is quite rare these days, even with “pro” pencils. The grip is standard for a drafting pencil with a laser cut diamond like pattern. As you can see from the picture, the grip’s texture is much denser than the one from Rotring 600 and this really feels in use, especially if your fingers get a little sweaty, the Rapid Pro tends to slip much easier. Unlike the Rotring 600, Rapid Pro uses a so called sliding sleeve, which can be hidden inside the body for pocket safety, when the pencil is not in use. This is in fact not the only advantage of this kind of mechanism, because on long writing sessions the sleeve cushions inside the body while the lead consumes itself so this way you don’t need to push the pencil’s cap that often to advance the lead. The sleeve’s length is around 3mm and seems pretty sturdy, without too much play.
The body is hexagonal, finely brushed, but where the 600’s edges were quite sharp, here are a little rounded. As with the grip, I also find the barrel to be a little too slippery for my liking and since this isn’t a very light pencil, it’s quite a challenge to keep it stable in hand after you write with it for some time. The Rotring trademark, the red ring, is positioned this time between the grip and the barrel. Also, on the barrel the text “Rotring Rapid Pro 0.5” is written in black. There is no indication about the country where it was made anywhere on the pencil.﻿
﻿The pocket clip looks the same as the one found in Rotring 600, only this time it is polished and shiny. It is also removable.
The cap is also polished and has a small hole on top of it. The eraser is probably identical to the one in Rotring 600… small but functional if you have nothing else on hand. It sits on top of the lead magazine, which is made of metal.
The mechanism is a standard, automatic one, pushing the button the lead is advancing in small steps. The click is a quiet but audible one. Ten clicks will give you around 7mm of lead, just like with the Rotring 600. As you can see there is a fair amount of plastic used.
I was writing with the Rapid Pro for about one month and the impressions are mostly positive, but this should be expected since it resembles in many ways the Rotring 600. The grip is just a little thicker which is good, the sliding sleeve is a very nice and useful addition, since it helps you keep up in long writing sessions without the need to push the button to advance the lead. The build quality is as expected – very good, as it should be on an instrument of this kind.
In the end, probably the greatest thing is that Rotring finally re-opened to the world and decided to continue their rich tradition in producing high quality writing instruments.
Not so good points : Rotring was a little overzealous with the grip and barrel, a little too slippery for my liking.
Last then, but not least, we have the third part of our tri-review. It's by Rhonda Eudaly and is posted on her own blog. So, no point in duplicating here, this is the link to Rhonda’s Rotring Rapid Pro mechanical pencil review. Head over for a browse.
Well, that’s about it. I think we are all Rotring Rapid Pro’d out. It’s a fine pencil, a worthy addition to the Rotring stable…but will it reach the status of the 600…time will tell.
Please join with me in thanking all three guest reviewers for their sterling efforts, and wish them many years of Rapid Pro enjoyment.
Hooray for video review! What a great supplement to text and images. Now, if the video had included writing and/or drawing as well...Still, brilliant addition.
I need one of these. Seems like there are no US suppliers. Amazon UK has them. Ebay has them. I may bite the bullet and shell out the $45 plus shipping. I love the Pentel GraphGear 1000. The retacting point is the missing link to carrying a drafting pencil. I wonder if JetPens will get them? They seem like a great company.
By the way I also needed an Ohto Super P until I saw this! Hummmm. Can you say COMPULSION? At least I use a pencil everyday.
Thanks for noticing Jack. I sometimes wonder if tool tips are becoming redundant with with less and less people "reading with a mouse". Still, even though Ovidiu is such a brave guy I had to ask the question :-)
Great review and vid. Ovidiu. I am more than happy with my series 1 Rotring 600 and the chrome highlights don't work as well as a matt finish IMO. Still tossing up about the Rotring 800 though. I also dont like the tapering front tip of the rapid pro -its just not as techy as a cylindrical style R600 or Pentel Graph1000. But congratulations to Rotring for providing yet another high quality instrument.
A tool tip is some pop-up text put in so that if you hover your mouse pointer over it will become visible. I put in a tool tip on the image of the disassembeld Rapid Pro. It should show with all browsers. Various browsers and versions will also show alt tag text on images so you may also see that pop-up text on lots of other images as I usually take the time to put it in, but thats just usually image name information for text browsers, audio readers, etc.
I would like to see a review on the 2mm variant. Does the larger lead work well with the ratchet design? Does it compare well with similarly sized clutches?
Thanks Dave but the tool tips dont work with my version of Mozilla Firefox 3.6.15 - as Seargeant Schulz says - I hear nossing, I see nossing.
Re Tooltips and Mozilla Firefox.I am playing out of my league a bit here but note comments 29 to 31 at this link http://www.petefreitag.com/item/266.cfm. It definitely seems like there is a problem with Tooltips and Mozilla Firefox. Whether this link helps I'm not sure.
Hmmm, my Firefox is displaying title tag text tooltip either. I'll look into it at some stage. I guess its a reason for you to change browsers to the much maligned IE :-)
It appears Firefox is rather fussy. In order to dispaly title tag text it requires there is also alt tag text. IE is far less fussy, and will display title without alt.
When I mouse from outside the picture to inside the picture I get - "Yes, but will it ever work again". This message comes up from any direction mousing from outside the picture to inside. I got the impression from Jack above that there were more messages (tooltips)??. When I hover within the picture area I get zilch - is this just technique??.
Thats how it works. The tooltip will display when you enter the image and then disappear after a short while. Ti display again you have to move out then back in.
There's only 1 tooltip in this review, some others in others, including Ovidius 600 review as I recall. Other browsers may also show different text from alt tags, etc.
Thanks for your explanation Dave - didn't mean to take up your time with naive questions. I'm learning every day.
No problem, and I learned something too, that Firefox requires alt tag for title tag to work, but IE doesn't.
Sorry I didn't mention before. I viewed your picture but didn't notice the distrusted until your second comment. Fantastic stuff! Well spotted. For the record, I can confirm that my Rapid Pro boxes are also untrustworthy, so it's it widespread :-)
Sounds like this pencil is still in the “test” phase. Its older siblings have achieved icon status. I've decided not to buy more drafting pencils, for now, unless they are pocket safe. As much for protection of the instrument as personal safety. I want to be able to show them off. This one catches my attention. I love the portability of my GraphGear 1000 and have ordered a Promecha 1000 (help please with pronunciation) to compliment it. This one seems to be a Cadillac. I'd like to hear a little more about it from the owners who have given it a test drive. It is not widely available so there are not many reviews to read. Please help me justify spending $50 for a pencil. Some of the nick-knacks in my office cost more, so I don't mind the money. In other words, what is the bang for the buck? What others are in the class of this tool? Tell me it is OK to order one!
First of all, the Rapid Pro is a high quality writing instrument. You pay for the quality, you also pay for the brand, for the all-metal construction. I used it for months and I am very happy with it, it's a very solid instrument. It is in the same class with Rotring 600 for example and the Rapid Pro has the advantage of pocket safety.
I'll keep looking. $45 is the cheapest I saw. (plus shipping) I'm not sure if we are supposed to talk shopping here. Any suggestions where to look. At that price I would probably jump.
I have a few of the medium priced $15 -20, drafting pencils. GraphGear, Staedtler, Platinum, Ohto. They are all great. One gets what one pays for. Day to day I carry a P207. I thought $5 was too much when I bought a few of those. They are a bargain. Something like the Rotring would probably stay on my desk at home, where I do a lot of daily writing.
I guess you're right. The yen is strong so even the prices from Japan for a Rapid Pro are above $40. And you have the add the shipping costs. If you ask me, this pencil is worth the money. I'll search more and let you know if I find a good price.
Thanks so much. I'm going to keep looking as well. I am intrigued by the RapidPro because it seems to have a balanced weighting due to the all metal construction. I will need to look at the reviews again to confirm. I'm not real happy with the heavy tip ends of the Ohto Promecha and the Uni-Shift, although I like them both. My favorite so far is the GraphGear 1000 because the weight is more evenly distributed. It is also a tad bit longer which brings more weight to the top end. The Staedtler is also comfortable for the same reason. It is too dangerous to carry, for personal safety and potential damage. It is a very very fine quality tool. I picked up some orthodontic elastics and they soften the metal grip just enough for extended writing.
I bought it because I thought it had the same safety mechanism as the former plastic rapid. Very disappointing... Seems the good Rotring years are really over !
Unfortunately I got doubles of the retractable ones instead of the set of fixed ones. I have to send them back, an extra situation I hate to spend time and handling on.
I was quite disappointed with the rapid pro range as it has no extendable rubber like the older rapid range and missing the .35 version, guess i stick with the older rapid range even though they are plastic.
Ok, meanwhile the right pencils arrived very fast (USA-Germany packages take some time up to weeks at the customs in Frankfurt) - the doubles are sent back.
When I find the time beside shooting new A380s at XFW, I'll take some shots of the TWSBIs to compare with the Rapid Pros and old rotring 600s.
Can someone confirm the construction of the Rapid Pro ISN'T all metal? The internals look plastic to me.
Scratch that, I'm an idiot. But I've still read complaints at JetPens about build quality versus the 600 and 800. Does anyone have input before I shell out 50?
Have you seen the TWSBI Precision mechanical pencil? It seems similar to this Rotring. A review would be great.
I just bought a Rotring Rapid Pro 2.0 mm. It does not fit in my Staedler rotray pointer. Do any of you have the 2.0 mm version? What pointer do you use successfully?
I first became aware of Spoke Design back in July 2012 when they launched a Kickstarter campaign for a mechanical pencil. The campaign was a success with 318 backers funding US $16,782. That was the original Spoke mechanical pencil, Spoke 1, and now they are onto the Spoke 4 mechanical pencil. I have recently been in touch with Brian from Spoke and thought it would be interesting to do an interview with him. Happily, Brian agreed.
I’m a mechanical design engineer and I live in Charlotte, North Carolina USA. I have spent my whole career in new product development. The majority of my career has been working for corporations in various industries (telcom, barcode equipment, security devices). The bulk of my experience is actually in plastic part and product design, but I am a hobby woodworker and a very hobby machinist. I have been working full-time on my own for over a year now. The Spoke brand is a part of the product design and development company I run with my brother Dan… aptly named Conti-Bros, Inc. It’s a small enterprise… it’s just us two and Dan is part-time.
Absolutely… I sketch out ideas constantly, so pencils are my preference for that. I’ve always been a user and fan of the Pentel Sharp pencils… probably because they have been somewhat of a standard throughout the years. I’d say I use .5mm most often… and I prefer 2B lead.
3 - Let’s quickly go through some history. Spoke 1…. Was it a case of one day you were just sitting there and thought “I want to design and make a good mechanical pencil and sell it to some people.” So you did? Perhaps though there was a little bit more to it than that, a long evolutionary process?
Years ago I was browsing online and I ran across a news article about how this new website called Kickstarter had just had their first million dollar project (a machined iphone stand I think). I had never heard of Kickstarter or crowdfunding… when I looked up the site I became fascinated with how it could be used to find, test, or create a market for new unique products. I had to give it a try. My first two submissions were actually rejected by Kickstarter… they were designs for ‘active foot rests’. As I spent so much time at my desk, I had made prototypes of these for myself to allow some ‘fidgeting’ with my feet. Back then, Kickstarter didn’t allow ‘exercise products’ so they rejected my submissions (they have since changed their policy and others have successfully funded several similar products to what I had originally submitted). Undeterred, I noticed a few machined pens really becoming popular on Kickstarter… so I decided I could try to see if there was a similar interest for a machined body mechanical pencil… my preferred sketching instrument.
Many of the pens on Kickstarter are simply ‘minimal’ cylinders… largely indistinguishable from each other. My goal was to make something very distinct and immediately recognizable by its design… after lots of sketching and prototyping… I settled on long slot features to be the signature design element. The Spoke name seemed a natural description of these features. The project was a moderate success on Kickstarter (after all pens are a much bigger market versus mechanical pencils), and that’s how Spoke got started.
4 - Spoke 1 was obviously a success by whatever measures you personally use because you have carried on and now there is Spoke 4. What’s the one big thing you learned from the Spoke 1 campaign? By the way, what do you call the original Spoke mechanical pencil now there’s more than one?
Spoke 1, Spoke Original – I’ve called it both. From the outset, I had planned to do versions of the pencil… the initial pencil is designated by a machined ‘dot’ on its end… so I also refer to it as Spoke Pencil single dot.
First, while I can make various types of prototypes, for production quantities, I had to develop a capable supply chain for my intricately machined and anodized parts. It’s fun creating relationships with machine shops and working together to produce cool parts. It’s always exciting and fulfilling to take something from sketch to physical product, but volume manufacturing has its own set of challenges and learnings as well.
Secondly, the initial project provided an introduction to the Kickstarter system. Crowdfunding is a unique process with lots of things to learn. Since the original Spoke Pencil we’ve used Kickstarter to fund several other products (most notably a brand of magnetic products under the brand of Strong Like Bull Magnets.
The third thing I’ve learned is that selling products online is quite difficult. As a design engineer, I had little experience with e-commerce, marketing, website creation, etc. I’ve since learned quite a bit through the years… and continue to work on this area.
While I’ve learned a lot along the way and have definitely had some missteps… those things were part of the journey so to speak. Overall I’m happy with the path I took.
6 - The wood turning folk have always had pen and pencil mechanisms readily available for their use. One of the intriguing features of Spoke 1 was your use of Pentel P205 mechanisms. I’m imagining you buying a few hundred Pentel’s from a local store, ripping their mechanisms out (sacrilege!) and assembling them into your Spoke bodies. Is that what actually happened? Where are you sourcing your pencil mechanisms from now?
I buy the standard pencils wholesale from a distributor. The great thing about the Pentel P200 series is that they are readily disassemble-able. This makes it easy for me to utilize the mechanism and also easy for customers to get ‘replacement parts’ if ever needed.
7 - Tell us about Spoke 1, 2, 3 and 4. What’s different about them? What did you learn from each and think you would like to try on the next variant? Has feedback from users influenced you much?
Spoke Pencil (single dot)… the original. A one piece pencil body utilizing the P200 series mechanism. The body is machined from aluminium, has a swooping profile with hexagonal cross section and of course the six signature slots. There’s quite a bit of machining going on there. It was funded on Kickstarter and now retired from sale, although I do have a few reworked pencils I sell occasionally.
Spoke Pencil 2 (double dot). Spoke 2 was a follow up design that was more a refinement than new design. The main change was a slightly smaller profile and a bit narrower slots. It was released on my website and not a Kickstarter project. Spoke 2 is now retired from sale, although again, I do have a few reworked pencils I put for sale occasionally.
Then there was Spoke Inverse. The inverse was a shift to a more simple cylindrical design, with the main feature being an inverted taper in the grip area. Inverse was a smaller pencil altogether, using the Pentel P225 mechanism (since discontinued). It was released on my website only. Inverse is retired from sale, although I do have a few reworked pencils I sell occasionally.
Spoke Model 3 (triple dot). The model 3 was a big departure in design and material. I decided to go with Titanium. Design-wise it has a stepped profile with circular cross sections, bevelled edge slots, and a heavily grooved grip. The model 3 proved to be quite difficult to machine… and ultimately only 100 were made. Model 3 was released on my website… and is now sold out.
Spoke 4. By this point I had received a good amount of feedback and requests from customers for various materials, colors, and grip sizes. There’s no one perfect pencil configuration to satisfy everyone, but I thought it would be unique to offer a degree of customization to try and address common requests. The solution was a two piece body design in order to provide a range of material, color, and size options to customers. This level of customization has proven to be popular. The model 4 is an interesting pencil in that depending on configuration it can vary significantly in how it looks and feels… many customers order 2 or 3 and mix up their order configurations a good bit. I’ve decided to make the model 4 a ‘standard’ pencil with no plans to retire it any time soon. In fact, I plan to add some additional colors.
8 - As you have mentioned, the Spoke 4 mechanical pencil is a pick ‘n’ mix of 5 different grips, each in 2 diameters, and 5 different barrels, so that’s 50 combinations. Which combination if your personal favourite? Is there any clear preference from customers for grip diameter, grip material or barrel colour?
I have several pencils on my desk, so I do mix up what I use quite a bit. Overall I probably favour the smaller diameter 8.3mm grip in Titanium with a blue barrel. The titanium moves the balance point closer to the tip while not adding too much overall weight, and the blue provides a nice contrast to the spoke grooves. As for customers, the classic look of Titanium with a black anodized barrel is most popular. Orders are generally split pretty evenly between the 8.3mm and 9.2mm grip diameters. While the dimensional difference seems quite small… the result is a big difference in feel.
9 - You have offered your various Spoke pencils in 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9mm lead sizes. What has been the most popular?
The .5mm is the most popular… I’d say half of all orders are for .5mm with the remainder spilt pretty evenly between .7mm and .9mm.
10 - You have also branched out into some other stationery related items. I guess anything on your desk is fair game?
I have quite a diverse background in the types of products I have developed. Under Spoke, I’ve done a machined ring holder and more recently a machined note holder… both on Kickstarter. While I do enjoy the challenge of working on a variety of product categories, I really enjoy working on writing instruments… and expect to keep releasing new Spoke designs going forward.
11 - Okay, well thanks for telling us this Brian. All the best for the future… so Spoke 5 is already in your thoughts?
Yes, Spoke 5 is coming! I’m at the prototype stage and hopefully it’ll be ready to go in the next month or so! However, the model 5 is more exploration of the spoke design… not a model 4 replacement.