Rotring 500 review

The Rotring 500 is the little brother of the 600 series. It shares the same looks but has a plastic barrel instead of metal. The grip is made from metal and has knurlings the same as the lead hardness indicator. It comes in sizes 0.35 (not available on Rotring's site), 0.5 and 0.7 only in black while the Rotring 600 can be found in silver as well but only in size 0.5 and 0.7 mm.

The first appearance of the rOtring 500 is around 1989 - 1990, the same time the rOtring 600 appeared on the market. 

When it came out, the pencil was available in 0.3 mm, 0.5 mm, 0.7 mm, 0.9 mm and the grip and lead harness indicator sections were silver while the rest of the pencil was black 

The codes for the pencil were:

502 503 (0.3 mm)

502 505 (0.5 mm)

502 507 (0.7 mm)

502 509 (0.9 mm)

Notice that Rotring was using lead size notations 0.3 mm and 0.9 mm. Nowadays, the 0.3 mm became 0.35 mm and the 0.9 mm became 1.0 mm.

This looks like a very serious drafting pencil, and it is. It has a Rotring classic design, it is built very well with precision and comfort in mind, but the times have changed. As in the past, you could buy this serious tool in all drafting sizes, now it is available only in 0.35 (not available on Rotring's site or in their catalog), 0.5 mm and 0.7 mm while the bigger brother the 600 only comes in 0.5 and 0.7. These are the most common sizes used nowadays for general writing. So even the most die-hard drafting pencils are becoming regular mechanical pencils with a  peculiar design.

Getting back to the pencil. 1904725 and 1904727 are the new product codes for Rotring 500 0.5 mm and for 0.7 mm. 
The 500 is the cheaper version of the 600, but it is not the cheapest in the line. Tthat spot is reserved for the 300 complete plastic build. The 500 is made in Japan and the build seems solid. The grip, lead hardness indicator, and the cap are made out of brass. The clip is made out of stainless steel and the barrel is plastic (ABS) but feels very nice to the touch.

I like the minimalist design, it screams, I was made with a precise purpose in mind. The barrel is hexagonal, so it does not roll off the table, it has on one side of the barrel written with red lettering "rOtring 500 / 0,7 mm". The clip is a very solid one and has the name, rOtring, stamped on it. The lead hardness indicator is a nice touch, it does not move easily, so I do not think there is the risk of accidentally changing it. 

What I like a lot is the repositioning of the red ring right at the end of the pencil. Also, it is not a strip of paint, it is a plastic with a red color. Very nice, because the paints used on the Rotring's tend to get erased with not too much use. 

The end cap is made out of brass and hides a small eraser and the feed system. One thing it misses is the color coding for the size, but as I mentioned before even the drafting pencils seem to move towards general writing instruments, so the lack of size colored marking is not a concern for most people.

This is about 3 times more expensive than a Rotring Tikky, but when you hold it in your hand, you can justify paying the price difference. You could go even higher up the rOtring mechanical pencil leader, by purchasing the 600, but I feel that this is a great deal. You get a great mechanical pencil that is good-looking, is well-built and will cost less than half what a 600 will cost, and will offer almost what a 600 will.Fair to say that the 600 is the iconic pencil, and also it can be baugut of recent in multiple colors, you can check out the 2022 colors here.

Compared to the original 500 series, the modern version comes only in all black with the text and rings in red. The mechanical pencil has a dead serious look to it, it could be part of any minimalist EDC (if you carry it in a case as the tip is not retractable) or it can sit on an office desk. But the sleek look of the pen over the time will change, as the black color is painted rather than anodized. After heavy use, especially the grip section will show the white metal underneath.

Some people might appreciate this and consider it a nice touch making the pencil unique, patina developed after numerous hours of using the pen, but others that like having things look new might be disappointed. For the lather, unfortunately, there is no option to get the rOtring 500 in silver.

I like how on the 2017 Rotring Catalog Cover the Rotring 500 0.5 mm pops up.

Updated May 2022