Wing Sung 618

[tbfalsename]

I recently bought two pens from the nice people at Cutepens.com. One, a Hero 360 was a present for my father. The other, a Wing Sung 618 was a present for myself. I would recomend anyone looking to buy a chinese pen check out Cutepens.com as their range is ok and the costs are great, especially as they ship anywhere in the world for free....anyway, on with the review. Oh and all the images, except for the comparison with the parkers are courtesy of cutepens.com who I am not affiliated with.

 

 

Wing Sung 618

 

First Impressions (8/10)

Although I knew, roughly, what to expect I found the WS 618 shockingly tiny. It’s barely bigger than some ballpoint and roller ball refills. However its sleek and elegant style impressed me greatly. The only thing which really irked was that, whilst it had been described on the website as ‘Maroon’, it was, in fact, brown.

 

http://gallery.mac.com/tbfalsename/100034/sleekmain/web.jpg

 

 

Appearance (9/10)

Beautifully slender and with an innate understated style that few modern pens match. It is extremely skinny, this pen would make a cocktail stick look fat and ungainly...well maybe not quite that thin, but still the thinnest pen I’ve ever seen.

It also looks good. In fact it looks so good I’ve started using it when out in public, just to show it off, even when a larger pen would be more convenient.

 

http://gallery.mac.com/tbfalsename/100034/sleekenl3/web.jpg

 

 

Design/Size/Weight (8/10)

The overall design is really quite basic, a cylinder which tapers slightly towards the end.

It is, as I said before a very small pen, a mere 4 6/8” long and 1/4” wide tapering to 3/16” at the end. It is, as you can see below, much smaller than a Parker Reflex, a Parker Frontier and is even thinner and only slightly longer than a Parker roller ball refill.

As for weight, a metal, probably brass, construction gives this tiny pen a surprising amount of weight. In fact it weighs more than the Parker Reflex many times it’s size.

 

http://gallery.mac.com/tbfalsename/100034/P1010100/web.jpg

 

 

Nib (8/10)

The stainless-steel nib is, unsurprisingly, a fine, bordering on extra-fine. It is also not too scratchy considering the size of it and the cost of the pen.

In fact, so long as you’re not planning on writing The Great American Novel with it the pen is a decent writer and not too uncomfortable, even with it’s tiny size.

 

http://gallery.mac.com/tbfalsename/100034/sleekenl6/web.jpg

 

 

Filling System (7/10)

Ah, now we come to the filling system. This is the only part of this pen which I felt let down by. The filler its self is a syringe type, like the converters Manuscript include with their pens. However it is built in and, obviously, extremely small.

 

The first time I tried filling the pen it took almost five minutes to get it to fill and stay filled. The ink would drain back out of the filler almost instantly. It took me holding the end of the pen in the ink and repeatedly filling and emptying the filler before it would stay full.

I realised this was because the piston in the filler was not air tight and needed a small amount of ink around it to make a seal and prevent leakage.

However once the pen was filled it stayed filled. but it doesn’t hold a large amount of ink due to the size limitations.

 

http://gallery.mac.com/tbfalsename/100034/sleekenl5/web.jpg

 

 

Cost and Value (10/10)

I paid about 5 GBP for this pen and I consider that to be a fair price when compared to the cost of fountain pens in the local branch of a national stationers. Especially as it’s the only fountain pen I’ve ever seen which will fit in the pencil holder of some of my old notebooks.

Even better was the shipping cost which came to exactly nothing.

 

Conclusion (8/10)

This pen has good points and bad points. Luckily the good points outweigh the bad. Overall this is a nice pen which looks amazing. It’s not going to be comfortable to write with for long periods of time if your hands are larger than those of a child. However it makes an excellent notepad/diary pen and for those little bits of writing we do every day, like signing receipts and so on.

So, if you want a tiny pen or a pen which will surprise people every time you use it then this is certainly worth your consideration and at £5 you can’t go far wrong.

 

 

 

Mike

[tisfortorrey]

Great review! I was wondering, how long did it take the pen to get to you? I recently ordered a Wing Sung myself from cutepens, but never got a confirmation email and have not received any responses to my queries as to whether the pen has shipped. It makes me feel a little bit better that yours seemed to have arrived okay, though Still, I'm nervous!

[shadowsforbars]

Thanks for the review; I am thinking of getting one to keep with my cheque book.

[mmoncur]

I have a few of these and they're great conversation-starters, and great pens too.

 

They're TINY. A standard international ink cartridge is slightly thicker than this pen.

 

My wife used them for journal writing for a while and found them very usable with one problem: the tiny syringe converter only holds enough ink for about 3 pages of (tiny) writing. I don't think there's any way to solve that problem, given the tiny size.

 

Very well made pens, the nibs are nicely tipped, the body is very solid metal, and the cap goes on the pen with a satisfying "click".

 

RE: Cutepens - I've ordered from them about 5 times and they're always quite fast considering the distance. Generally less than a week, although obviously the international mail system is subject to longer delays sometimes. I always get what I ordered and sometimes they throw in an extra pen. They're a great seller.

[tbfalsename]

Well I ordered the pens on a friday, got a confirmation email on the Monday or Tuesday and the pens arrived just over 3 weeks later, which is about right for standard airmail + Royal Mail.

 

 

Mike

[tisfortorrey]

RE: Cutepens - I've ordered from them about 5 times and they're always quite fast considering the distance. Generally less than a week, although obviously the international mail system is subject to longer delays sometimes. I always get what I ordered and sometimes they throw in an extra pen. They're a great seller.

 

Well, that's reassuring, thank you

 

Well I ordered the pens on a friday, got a confirmation email on the Monday or Tuesday and the pens arrived just over 3 weeks later, which is about right for standard airmail + Royal Mail.

 

Hmm, I never got a confirmation email. Oh well, I'm going to hope for the best!

[lovemy51]

nice review mike!

 

i had seen these and wanted to get one for my pocket notebook cases, i think i will buy me one now.

[GreenVelvet]

I finally got my Wing Sung 618 from cutepens. First they sent me a defective, broken pen, and were then unresponsive... but a new pen just arrived yesterday, and this one works just fine. It's really a great writer, and I'm tempted to buy more. I love the tiny size, and it's just a fun pen. I'll echo that it's surprisingly smooth, considering how tiny the nib is.