Faber Castell Grip Matic automatic mechanical pencil review

 One of the more budget friendly mechanical pencils from Faber Castell is the Grip Matic 1375/1377, made in China.

The pencil is made entirely out of plastic with the exception of the tip cone which is metallic.

The pencil can be bought with 0.5 or 0.7 lead size. It has a translucent body that comes in several colors and a rubberized grip for comfort and ease of use. Until recently the pencil was available in 3 colors, blue, green and red. Now you can also pick it up in sky blue which is a frosted grey blue look and 

The clip has a nice design but is made out of plastic. I would be careful with it.

As in other pencils Faber Castell implemented a twist eraser, just that in this budged model the eraser is fixed while the sleeve covering it moves up and down as you twist it. Uncovering or covering the eraser.

The main attraction of the pencil besides the price is the automatic lead advancing mechanism.

The plastic sleeve is spring loaded which besides the fact it protects the lead exposing just a little bit, it can advance the lead with each push. When you write and apply a small amount of pressure on the sleeve and release it, the lead will be propelled forward. This makes the pencil great for long writing, note taking. It is a real workhorse, great for school, or writing for longer periods of time. The plastic sleeve slides quite well on paper, so you do not feel much drag. 

You can also fully retract the tip of the pencil thus making it pocket safe (for the pockets and for the tip).

Taken from the Faber Castell website:
"The lead in the Grip Matic mechanical pencil is advanced automatically, no button-pressing necessary. The comfortable rubber grip zone makes writing a pleasure. Choose between two line thicknesses: the 0.7mm lead for particularly break-resistant writing or the 0.5mm lead for fine writing. The Grip Matic is available in 3 attractive translucent colours, each equipped with a twist-out eraser in the end cap. The lead can of course be fully retracted so it can be carried in pocket" 

In the meantime the color range has increased with two new colors the sky blue and black, but the text available on Faber Castell website remained the same. 

 

Here is my farely used blue grip matic next to the new arrival the sky blue

2025 color additions to the Rotring Tikky and Rotring 600 lines

2025 comes with new available colors for rOtring 600 and for rOtring Tikky.

The 600 has very conservative colors, Chocolate Truffle and Dark Stone.

These colors are a reinterpretation of the traditional burgundy and black, which are interesting and a welcomed addition to the line.

Also rOtring launched the 600 gel pen in 2025 for those that prefer gel. But they are available for the moment only in the traditional black and silver color.

While Tikky has as we got accustomed to a bright color pallet. the 2025 colors are Iris, Spidermum, Magenta and Marigold. Even though we are accustomed to the bright and variate colors, the naming is a surprise. Spidermum and Marigold?!

Colorful and Clicky: My Take on the rOtring Visuclick Mechanical Pencil

Rotring Visuclick is one of the cheaper mechanical pencils rOtring is offering. It comes in 4 different colors for the moment (green, blue, pink, orange) and in 2 different lead sizes (0.5 and 0.7 mm). The pencil has a lively look with intense colors and transparent barrel. 

Is this budget conscious pencil for rOtring a decent contender for EDC?

The pencil, made in China, comes with the classic rOtring red ring just above the basic plastic grip, and the barrel is marked with white paint with the rOtring logo the name of the pen and the lead thickness. The grip is triangular in shape, which might not be everyone's cup of tea. To me it seams comfortable enough, even though you won't be able to turn it as freely as you would like sometimes.

It has a retractable tip so it can be easily carried around. The clip is simple, no thrills, bent springy metal but looks and feels sturdy.

The top cap hides a small eraser and the plastic lead reservoir.

The rOtring Visuclick mechanical pencil comes in 4 different colors at this moment. Maybe if it will get enough attention rOtring might create more options, but for now, this is the only ones available.

 This is how rOtring is presenting the pencil on their site

The rOtring Visuclick is a quick click action mechanical pencil ideal for dynamic writing and sketching. Designed with a metal mechanism with retractable lead feed. The triangular grip provides a more relaxed feel when held. Loaded with high polymer leads. 

• Comfort and Durability. Designed with a metal mechanism with retractable lead feed. The triangular grip provides a more relaxed feel when held
• Colorful and Precise. For those who enjoy the satisfying precision of all rOtring products with a wider range of colors

I do not know how durable the pencil will be. The budget mechanical pencil from rOtring looks quite ok. Definitely if you pay attention to details you will see some corners which were cut to save on the cost of production (I payed 2.4 $ or 2.2 eur for this model).

The plastic feels cheaper, more brittle. It is a vague term cheaper plastic but I can feel a difference to the touch and how it looks if I compare it to the Tikky.

For example the pencil comes with only two leads inside, instead of the more standard 3.

One thing that I have to mention is that the lead advancement mechanism is made out of brass, which is a good thing. Plastic doesn't hold very well over time. This on the other hand should offer many years of precise writing.

I was mentioning some corners that were cut in order to make a budget pencil that also is appealing. The retractable tip isn't the smoothest, and the thread on the top cone that threads in the plastic of the barrel is not very precisely done. It feels very cheap and not reliable. But taking into account that I almost never get lead jams in rOtrings or in modern decent mechanical pencils, it means you will probably not need to remove it that often.

With 10 clicks the Visuclick mechanical pencil will advance 7 mm of lead.

In the end even though is not the most sophisticated pencil it will do the job and will look nice as well.

rOtring Tikky Retro (2023) Mechanical Pencil Review: Back to the Roots

rOtring has released in 2023 a new version of the iconic Tikky mechanical pencil. They are going back to the roots with the Tikky Retro.

So far the pencil is available with two led sizes 0.5 mm and 0.7 mm both versions coming in 3 colors: blue metallic, red metallic and grey metallic. The pencil is delivered with 3 2b rOtring leads.

Price of rOtring Tikky Retro is around 3 $/€

Dimensions:

length: 143.00mm and 139 with the tip retracted
diameter: 9.00mm
weight: 12.00g

10 clicks reveals 8 mm of lead

Construction

Tikky retro is an all plastic body with the classic curbed grip section, without the partial rubber coating with which we got used in the previous iteration of the model. The tip is metal with a retractable sleeve that makes it the perfect companion when you are on the go. The barrel has the waved grip similar to the Tikky II and a completely circular body. The clip is inspired or copied from the firs Tikky model. The end cap is the standard Tikky one with a hole in the back, and hides a eraser.

The clip is very strong and has embossed the rOtring logo

The mechanism is a combination of plastic with brass jaws that seem to do what they were designed for. Far from the all metal mechanism of the first generation in terms of robustness but it should do all right for most people.

The lead advance feels a bit scratchy and "hollow" for a lack of a better term to describe the feeling more on the 0.5 mm version. I do not know if the particular one I have is a bad example or this is how all 0.5 mm feel like.

Design

The Rotring Tikky retro is a reinterpretation of the first two generations of the rotring Tikky, borrowing desing elements from both of them. The pencil manages to capture the design that made the Tikky the cult pencil it is today.

For the moment the pencil comes in few colors, all metallic, but I suspect others will be introduced if the pencil is a success. The colors have a satin feel and look., especially the red one is translucent in the right light.

Pentel Graphgear 500 review

Pentel is a big name in the industry but not so common over here, so I am exited to test one of their drafting mechanical pencils. I picked the middle of the range, the Graphgear 500 in 0.5 mm thickness. It is an utilitarian design, with knurled grip and plastic body, with the color of the body being color coded to the thickness of the lead. It feels like a very serious pencil ready to do some drafting. 

The Pentel Graphgear 500 is the quintessential classic designer's best friend, with a fixed 4 mm sleeve for accurate lines, knurled grip for great feel in the hand and the body color coded in the side of the led, so you can pick the correct tool from the arsenal.

The Pentel Graphgear 500 is made in Japan.

The pencil sits well in the hand. The weight feels good, even if the pen is a little bit tip heavy. The balance point of the pencil is just at the end of the grip section. The knurling is fine, grips well without being uncomfortable for longer writing sessions. Due to it's fixed sleeve and long tip the pencil is perfect for precision work, lines with rulers but it can be just as good for writing with it.

The body is made out of plastic with hexagonal shape, while the clip is friction fitted to it. It is a very simple and unrefined clip, rather short and unappealing, but strong and robust offering you the confidence that you will not lose it while clipped.

On the side of the clip it stamped Japan and Pentel. It is a nice touch that sometimes it is missing from more expensive pencils. 

One of the facets of the body is written in white paint Graphgear 500 PG525 0.5 2h.

The cap has a unique look, with it's top part being extruded offering a flat top with a bevel around it. It feels a lot opportunity to use the space available to display with text or in color code the thickness of the pencil. A feature that is very useful for drafting especially when you have several lead sizes.

With the cap removed the small eraser encased is a metal holder is revealed .

Because it's a drafting pencil it doesn't have a retractable sleeve making it more difficult to carry it around without a case. The long expose sleeve might get damaged in a pocket. Also be careful when handling it, the pen is tip heavy due to the metal grip and the plastic body. I managed drop it on the first week of ownership on it's tip. I was lucky that the band wasn't severe and I could restore it to its original state more or less. I mean the pencil is functional and working just fine, even if there might be a slight bend to the tip.

The mechanism is robust, with the jaws made from bronze or some alloy from what I can tell. The clicks are very satisfying and precise.

10 click will advance the lead almost 6 mm (something like 5.7 - 5.8 mm). The pencil has a length of 14 cm, and a 9,6 mm grip width, with a weight of 15 grams. The sleeve is a very standard 4 mm in leangth.

Rotring Tikky colors 2024 edition

 

Rotring Tikky (3rd generaion) just got a color update in 2024 with these 4 colors: Tea Rose, Sea Blue, Opal Blue and Orchid Bloom. Even thoug Opal Blue looks more like a Mint Green to me it's still a nice pallet of colors.

So if you fancy any of these give the pencil a try

The new Rotring Tikky

rOtring Tikky Retro is the brand new mechanical pencil retro inspired from the Tikky lineup. It was launched this year, and for now it comes in just these 3 colors (red, grey and blue).

We do not know for know if the rOtring Tikky Retro is the successor of the Tikky 3rd generation, or is a limited offering.

The new Rotring Tikky Retro comes with a retractable tip making it easier to EDC it. This feature is nothing new to the Tikky line. The first generation had variants that offered this feature, but it was later forgot to the more robust and sturdy fixed sleeve which was better suited for technical work. Nowadays when the pencil will most likely be used for writing, taking notes, homework the retractable nib is a nice thing to have.

From the looks of it based it takes inspiration from all of the previous models. The tip cone and the retractable sleeve are inspired from the original as well as the end of the barre, the wavy grip section without rubber seems to be taken from the rOtring Tikky II, while the clip is from third generation of  Tikky.

The pencil comes with 0.5 and 0.7 lead even though for now 0.5 seems to be the easier version to find.

The features of the pencil taken from rOtring's website

Features

• Lightweight pencil with a rippled grip, just like the much-loved original Tikky
• Retractable tip helps prevents breakage
• Built-in eraser under the push-button cap
• Refillable; loaded with high-polymer 2B leads
• Available in a range of bold retro colours to match your style

Most popular office pencil

 

I went through the pen holders on my colleagues desks, and found that the most popular pencil in the office is ... the Rotring Tikky 3. Four out of seven people, or just a bit over 57% of the people in the office use the Rotring Tikky. Affordable, reliable and available in a multitude of colors, this Rotring is the perfect companion in the office, school or anywhere for that matter.

Starting with my 0.7 mm Light Blue pencil. The color was introduced by Rotring in 2017 (code 2007252 for 0.7 mm and 2007253 for 0.5 mm pencil). It is a pale, almost pastel blue color. To my eyes, it looks a lot like baby blue.

The second pencil is the Rotring Tikky 3 Blue 0.5 mm (code 1904701 for 0.5 mm and 1904508 for 0.7 mm). This shade of blue is much darker and more saturated and vibrant looking. A classic royal blue never gets old.

Third pencil in the lineup is the Tikky 3 Red 0.5 mm (code 1904699 for 0.5 mm and 1904507 for 0.7 mm)

The last one in the bunch is the updated Red 0.7 mm. The updated color was introduced in 2017 (code for the updated version remain the same as for the previous red, 1904699 for 0.5 mm and 1904507 for 0.7 mm). Comparing the updated red to the old red, the new color is a bit brighter and more vibrant. Also, the color of the rubber grip has changed to a darker gray.

The love for 0.5 and 0.7 mm lead is equal, 2 of the pencils being 0.5 mm and the other 2 0.7 mm. The same thing can be said about the colors, half of the pencils being blue and half being red.

Comparing the shades to each other.

All the colors look very nice. It is hard to pick a winner. Both blues are interesting in their own way, and both reds look very nice.

Do you have a favorite color? It doesn't have to be one of these.

 

More on the Rotring Tikky

Fast note taking

Writing with a pen and on a piece of paper is an ability learned at a young age, even though nowadays I think most kids know how to type on a phone before they learn to write by hand.

I do enjoy the speed with which I type, the legibility remains constant even if I type faster, and not to mention the autocorrect feature, which is truly amazing. But writing with a pen is very satisfying. Choosing beautiful writing instruments, is another perk of writing by hand. I am not saying that there are no nice keyboards, custom-made or prebuilt, because there are a lot of them, but that is a subject for another time.

If you have a bit of proficiency using a computer, you will be able to write a lot faster compared to a pen. For starters, you just have to press a key for the computer to register the letter and second you can use all your fingers to press keys really fast, while when you write with a pen you have to create each letter one after the other. There is a caveat though, if for example you are taking notes, and they are graphs or drawings / sketches involved you will probably be able to make them faster the old-fashioned way (or you can use a tablet and a stylus and a keyboard for the plain text)

The most common question among typists is, how fast can you type?  There are dedicated sites where you can practice typing, and also you can compete. 

Starting from this idea, I am curious to know: How fast can I write?. And not only this, but also how will the writing instrument influence the speed with which I am writing by hand.

For this test I took a small text sample as I didn't want to get hand cramps and RSI from all the writing needed. I started with typing to have a reference, as I imagine it will be a lot faster than writing by hand. First time typing, I got 71 words per minute, a total of 14 seconds to type the sentence.

Then I started testing writing instruments. For the test I chose a: fountain pen, pencil, ball point, ink roller, gel pen. I want to see if some writing instruments are slower than others. For example, ball points usually feel slow. I feel each time that they are "sticky", I definitely feel slowed down by the majority of ball points. But that is just a feeling, I wanted to quantify the feeling in seconds. Will a smooth fountain pen be faster?

First thing I noticed is the big difference when I compare typing to writing. If typing the text took me 14 seconds, the writing took me double the time. For a longer text, the difference will be notable.

On the first run, the fountain pen was the slowest but, it was the first time writing the text by hand. So obviously, practice makes perfect. I wrote the text several times with each of the instruments alternating them, and the best results and the worst were very close together.

After a little practice with the text, you can see the differences started to shrink, to just a couple of seconds between the fastest time and the worst time.

To reduce the influence of the order in which I use the pens and pencils and to reduce the impact of mistakes or brain freezes, I wrote the text 3 times and measured the total time needed to complete. Also, to keep the sample size down I did this with 2 different pens

So the fountain pens represented by Faber Castell Loom F nib and Jinhao 51A F nib. Three runs took me 1 min 27:48 seconds using the Faber Castell Loom while the Jinhao 51A took me 1 min 29:71 sec

 

After completing the runs with all the writing instruments, I came back to the Faber Castell Loom and managed a much better time of 1 min 22.94 seconds

 

This tells me that more testing and practice is needed to reach maximum efficiency writing the sentence down, but for the purpose of the test I think this is good enough. I will take in consideration the last run of the Faber Castell Loom as the reference for the fountain pen.

The second head-to-head testing included 2 popular ball points. To be honest, I expected the ballpoints to be the worst in this test. They feel slow, and offer a dragging / sticky sensation when writing. But they felt much better than I imagined, and the times were very, very good and consistent. 1 min 22 seconds for both the Bic Round Stick M and the Parker Urban Premium. I am not saying that Parker Urban is a very popular ball point, but rather that Parker refills are very popular and used by a lot of people.

 

Next were the rollers (ink/gel pens). For this category I chose a Staedtler cool roller with red ink and a generic gel pen Forster. Both were admirable in the speed event, and also they offered very nice feedback, especially the Staedtler cool roller. The Staedtler completed the writing sample in 1 min 15:45 sec while the Forster needed 1 min 18:97 seconds.

 

The last category included 2 mechanical pencils, a Rotring 500 0,7 mm and a Kuru Toga 0,7 mm. Both pencils offered very nice feedback with a great smooth writing. The Rotring completed the run in 1 min 20:79 seconds, while the Kuru Toga needed 1 min 22:38 seconds.

Even though the times between all the writing instruments were very close, they still offered some surprises to me. I expected the pencils and fountain pens to battle for the first place, but instead the ink roller was the fastest in this small sample pool.
From the bunch, I expected the ball point to be the worst performer, feel wise and speed wise. The parker refills are great, smooth and with good flow, but then again so was the Bic Round Stic M which performed admirably for such an inexpensive pen.

The winners of the speed test are, (individual results)

Staedtler roller cool                      1 min 15 sec  (1st place)    - 25 sec/sentence
Forster gel pen                              1 min 18 sec (2nd place)    - 26 sec/sentence
Rotring 500 mechanical pencil     1 min 20 sec  (3rd place)    - 26.7 sec/sentence

 

The winners of the speed test are, (team results)

Rollers                                            1 min 16.5 sec (1st place)  - 25.5 sec/sentence
Pencils                                            1 min 21.6 sec (2nd place) - 27.2 sec/sentence
Ball Point Pens                               1 min 22.5 sec (3rd place) - 27.5 sec/sentence
Fountain pen                                   1 min 22.9 sec (4th place) - 27.6 sec/sentence

I took the best time of the fountain pen 1:22:9 because after a few more runs I managed to get under 1:20 sec with both fountain pens managing a 1:13 time with the Faber Castell and a 1:18 sec with Jinhao, without sacrificing much legibility. I didn't take these times in the consideration, as I think I offered more practice to the fountain pen compared to the rest of the pens and pencils.

Conclusion:

The instrument used doesn't offer a significant speed benefit (except the computer), but all the instruments offer very different writing experiences. Which one you chose is up to you.

Practice and what you regularly use for writing will influence the speed of your writing more than anything else.

If you need to write fast, like note-taking during a class, use a pen, pencil or fountain pen that offers good feedback. Too smooth, and you will lose a lot of legibility, too rough, and it will not be pleasant to use. The Goldilocks is a combination between the paper and pen used, but I find mechanical pencils too be quite good at offering the best of both. Their performance is offered by the lead, which is not specific to the pencil you use. In contrast, the fountain pen's nib will influence the writing experience much more than the ink that is in it.

And if you need to write really fast and keep legibility just use a computer, it is going to be twice as fast as the more traditional way of writing, at least. Of course this is valid for general writing, because if you need to add graphs, drawings, mathematical equations the traditional way of taking notes will probably outpace the computer and keyboard.