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Rotring 600 Ballpoint Pen

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Re: Rotring 600 Ballpoint Pen

#131

Post by kstrauser »

jmhammond wrote: post #106
kstrauser wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven’t! Tell me what you think about it.

Imagine writing smoothly like butter as clouds part and angels sing. Unfortunately, it’s not water safe, but it’s great. My favorite feature is that it dries REALLY quickly, so I can left-hand without smudging.

The water safety is what nudged me off fountain pens and back to ballpoints. I use a bullet journal and don’t want water to wash it all away.

I know you can get fountain inks that are more resistant, but at that level of finickiness, I’d rather just carry a lower maintenance ballpoint, and the Jetstream is good enough that I don’t miss my other lovely pens.

PS: One time a reporter asked me what I thought of a particular food, and I described it as snacking on the wings of angels sent to earth for our dining pleasure, and they quoted me. My wife reminds me of this often.

Edit: Here’s the quote: https://www.removepaywall.com/search?url=https://omaha.com/m...

Re: Rotring 600 Ballpoint Pen

#132

Post by kps »

0x_rs wrote: post #121

There's no mention of this in the article, so be aware there's multiple posts online about QC issues. Rotring quality has been going down over the years, or their name outgrew the actual quality of the product. Current generation of 600s especially suffer from: cracking of the body (0, 1); but most importantly for pens, the joint part that screws into the bottom and upper part of the pen is extremely susceptible to w…

The original Rotring is gone; Rotring was bought by Newell Brands and is now just a label on copies made elsewhere. (They did the same with Parker and Waterman.) 20th-century Rotring is the real thing.

Re: Rotring 600 Ballpoint Pen

#133

Post by kps »

avian wrote: post #31
ktzar wrote: post #24

I still think that fountain pens are the pinnacle of writing stationery. One lasts generations and there's no consumables that need recycling or disposing of, if you use a rechargeable cartridge and buy ink bottles.

> One lasts generations Multiple Parker Vectors I had typically lasted a few years of use each before the plastic windings between the pen head and the holder wore out or broke. My Pilot Metropolitan did the same just a few months back. I still have the high-end pens my grandfather used that, while mechanically still sound, I am unable to get the ink flowing through them. I love writing with fountain pens, but long l…

Parker, Waterman, Rotring were all bought by Newell (Rubbermaid) and gutted. You have to go back to 20th-century production to get the real thing.

Re: Rotring 600 Ballpoint Pen

#134

Post by jscheel »

I've had a Lamy Swift (palladium) for about 8 years now. It's a great pen with a unique clip mechanism. The Lamy rollerball refills are really nice, but they don't have a fine point version, so be ready for thick lines. I actually like the broad tip though. I just checked the Lamy website, and it looks like this pen has basically doubled in price since I bought it... yikes.

Re: Rotring 600 Ballpoint Pen

#135

Post by Nickersf »

I've had my Rotring 600 mechanical pencil for 10 years and I might need to add the ballpoint variant soon. I see some people mentioning that the new Rotrings aren't as good, which is a shame.

Re: Rotring 600 Ballpoint Pen

#136

Post by bicx »

cosiiine wrote: post #118
bicx wrote: post #116

As a regular user of the Rotring 600, I recommend getting the EasyFlow 9000 refill for super smooth writing. It’s true that a ballpoint pen is just a vehicle for the refill, but the Rotring 600 is a pretty nice vehicle. All that said, I reach for my Lamy Safari first. I also have a Pilot Vanishing Point as my “grail pen”, and while it’s a cool fountain pen, I don’t love the feel on paper.

I too have gone with fountain pens as my every day pen. There's zero waste with a bottle of ink and a cartridge. I find that the variety of inks to be superior too.

True! I specifically use Noodler's Bernanke Black ink because it's fast-drying. I'm left-handed, and I can easily smear ink as I write if it doesn't dry quickly. Left-to-right writing definitely favors right-handed people.

Re: Rotring 600 Ballpoint Pen

#137

Post by mamonoleechi »

orlp wrote: post #60

My favorite pens are the Frixxion pens. You can erase them, and it actually works well.

the erasing part is what frightens me ; putting your document near a heating device erases your writings (the heat produced by the friction of the eraser is what remove the ink when you do it manually)

Re: Rotring 600 Ballpoint Pen

#138

Post by bicx »

throwanem wrote: post #123
bicx wrote: post #116

As a regular user of the Rotring 600, I recommend getting the EasyFlow 9000 refill for super smooth writing. It’s true that a ballpoint pen is just a vehicle for the refill, but the Rotring 600 is a pretty nice vehicle. All that said, I reach for my Lamy Safari first. I also have a Pilot Vanishing Point as my “grail pen”, and while it’s a cool fountain pen, I don’t love the feel on paper.

I don't like the EasyFlow 9000 very well, because even on Clairefontaine paper it doesn't live up to its name. I have one in an Ohto Rays for the retro vibe, but it's the pen I keep in my bag to have something nice I won't mind giving away. Even compared to Ohto's stock gel refill, the EasyFlow just writes lousy. Try moving one nib size up with the Vanishing Point, especially if you're used to Western pens. Pilot's E…

I'll check out the Decimo! And maybe I should just size up my Vanishing Point nib. I've had it for a few years and it's just too scratchy.

I have a few other fun (relatively) cheap fountain pens I like: brass Kaweko Sport, Muji fountain pen, other random finds. However, the downside of fountain pens if that if you don't use them, you end up with a bunch of clogged nibs.

Re: Rotring 600 Ballpoint Pen

#139

Post by criddell »

bayindirh wrote: post #46
avian wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One lasts generations Multiple Parker Vectors I had typically lasted a few years of use each before the plastic windings between the pen head and the holder wore out or broke. My Pilot Metropolitan did the same just a few months back. I still have the high-end pens my grandfather used that, while mechanically still sound, I am unable to get the ink flowing through them. I love writing with fountain pens, but long l…

I have multiple pens which are a decade old, incl. a Metropolitan and Safari, and write like day one despite being used frequently. I also have a couple ones older than 50. They also work. Clogged ones generally need a good flush with a fountain pen flush.

I have a Metropolitan and the only reason I don't use it is because the cap doesn't seal well and the ink evaporates quickly.

Re: Rotring 600 Ballpoint Pen

#140

Post by kstrauser »

_verandaguy wrote: post #114
asymmetric wrote: post #113

Along these lines, does anyone have recommendations for a nice (as in: overpriced and pretty, just like with OP) setup for drawing/sketching diagrams, as a programmer might need to to do map out a problem? I'm thinking ~pencils~ (edit: felt-tip pens) in various colors, and good paper.

I can't speak for variously-coloured pencils, but I've had a lot of success with a grid-ruled moleskine (I usually went for hardcover, but after accidentally ordering a soft cover, I'm warming up to it) and a Rotring 0.5mm mechanical pencil with Pentel 2H leads. For colours, I tend to use the Bic 4-in-one coloured pen (the one with the blue bottom and white top), though I don't bring that out often.

I mentioned in another post, but you need to try the Uni version of that Bic. I got a 3 color. I feels only slightly larger than a regular pen, and writes vastly better than the Bic. They’re more expensive in absolutely terms but still around $6.
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