Dear Rotring 600 Owners

[flight878]

I've been a member of FPN for a while but now it's time for my first post. I'm on a quest to finding Rotring 600 pens, particularly the steel/lava fountain, ballpoint, and trio pens. There are some questions though and maybe some Rotring 600 owners can help!

 

In looking for Rotring 600 pens with the knurled grip, I'm stuck choosing between the steel and black versions. The black is more discreet, but how is the quality of the black on the pen? Does it peel easily? The new ones for sale on eBay have a matte black finish to them, but there was one photo on these forums of a really beat up Rotring 600 black FP showing the paint peeled off the steel edges and the black paint being more of a polished version than matte.

 

For those who own the Rotring 600 ballpoint pen with the knurled grip, how is the weight balance? I already own a 0.5mm steel drafting pencil variant, but its center of mass leans more towards the clip, and lighter towards the knurled grip. As I write for long periods with this pencil, my hand feels tired. (I'm left-handed btw.) Does the 600 BP have the same weight distribution as the pencil? With my Lamy 2000 mechanical pencil, I never feel hand fatigue, though the weight is evenly more distributed.

 

Thanks for your help!

[rwilsonedn]

I have a black fountain pen, and I believe the matte finish was quite durable. You could scratch through it with something harder than the finish, but it didn't flake off like paint. On the other hand, after a couple of years of use the feed disintegrated and the nib fell out, which made the pen less than ideal for note-taking.

ron

[mholve]

I have a black/gold FP, and it leads a pretty good life. No real issues except where the cap snaps on, at the seam of the section - there's some brassing.

[PaulT00]

I have an original-type 600 in the black finish, complete with knurled grip. It has survived being dropped in the road and I believe being driven over by a car - I retraced my steps as soon as I realised it was missing (fallen out of the pen loop on a Filofax) and it was in the gutter, scratched around the edges but otherwise undamaged. I've used it intermittently since then - it must be around 20 years old now - and the only major issue is that the cap latch is very loose now. The finish never flaked even where it was damaged by the road incident. Definitely built to last!

[Northwoods]

I have an original-type 600 in the black finish, complete with knurled grip. [...] Definitely built to last!

I have the same one and I concur. It's industrial strength, rock solid.

[flight878]

Thank you all for your responses. Now I will give the black family of 600's serious consideration!

[zerobuttons]

.....

Does it peel easily?

.....

 

Yes, certainly. You can´t use it for more than 20 years before it looks like this:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/80095-show-us-your-everyday-writer/page__view__findpost__p__777790

 

Seriously, it does not peel at all, since the surface doesn´t crack or chip, but can only be rubbed or ground away, as in Stani´s example above - I bet he wore it a lot in his shirt or jacket pocket.