Jinhao 500

[dogpoet]

You're welcome.

[vans4444]

As a collector of JINHAO&BAOER {SAME COMPANY} FOUNTAIN PENS I am delighted to once again have the opportunity to praise everything about them, I would say without fear of contradiction that they have the best nibs in the world, they are just so smoooooooth to write with. I now own more than 40 of thesepens and have never had a problem with one of them, they are well made, well priced, come complete with a Convertor for ease of use, and what's more important is as I have said on these pages many times, they are very affordable.I have seen mentioned on a couple of times how users have had issues with the Convertors, as simple trick is to thoroughly wash it out with detergent that should fix the problem.I buy all of mine from gotoschool888 on ebay they have never let me down, the postage is good and they will respond to any problems almost immediately.A most magnificent example of the manufacturing skill of this company is to be found in their latest offering the Abalone Fountain pen which is just to die for.Take my tip these pens will attract a great price from collectors in the years to come. By the way I DONT HAVE ANY AFFILIATION with the company but I love their products.

 

I agree that Jinhao nibs tend to be very smooth, but the are often stiff and I prefer a little more flex. I don't have as many Jinhao pens as you but in my limited experience they tend to be heavy.

 

It would be good to swap the nib over to another pen, I don't know if this has been successfully done? I thought about trying one of my old Indian ED.

[nicholasyeo]

Classic! Great review and photography.

[susustra]

I am on my third Jinhao pen and love each one. I discovered a post here in this forum and I decided to take a chance on one these pens and boy am I glad that I did. Affordable - especially through ebay, substantial and I have had none of the works for a while then stops issues.

 

My next purchace will calligraphy pen.

[driglaz]

Jinhao 500

 

This is just a short review.

 

Yet another cheap Chinese pen bought on the spur of the moment from eBay.

 

http://i700.photobucket.com/albums/ww3/vans4444/Pens/Jinhao5001.jpg

 

First Impression

 

Just what I have grown to expect from Jinhao, a well made heavy pen that is a little on the showy side. It came in a nice little pink cardboard box with a little pink ribbon that my young daughter immediately acquired for her hair clips.

 

 

Appearance and Finish

 

More of a tube than a cigar shape with gloss finish. Most of the barrel has a grey/brown marbled design. The cap is black as is the base of the barrel where the cap is posted. The clip and other fittings are gold coloured.

 

http://i700.photobucket.com/albums/ww3/vans4444/Pens/Jinhao5002.jpg

 

Design/Size/Weight

 

Many Chinese pens are much too showy for my simple tastes, but this one is just about acceptable, although I have since discovered a simple black and gold 500 which is more to my liking. Jinhao also make a 500 with a black and white checker board design.

 

The barrel seems to be made of brass making this a heavy pen, heavier than the Jinhao X750 and X450

 

The cap takes quite a push to click in place and also quite a push to post the cap, but once posted it is very firm.

 

The 500 is 138mm capped, 13mm in diameter and 163mm posted, which is almost identical to the Book Worm Filigree I recently reviewed. Capped it is also almost exactly the same size as the much lighter (and better) Lamy Al-Star and the Jinhao X750 and X450 pictured below

 

As with the Book Worm, posted, the balance of the pen is towards the back, pressing in to the hand.

 

http://i700.photobucket.com/albums/ww3/vans4444/Pens/Jinhao5003.jpg

 

http://i700.photobucket.com/albums/ww3/vans4444/Pens/Jinhao500plustwo.jpg

 

Top to bottom, Jinhao 500, X750, X450

 

 

 

Nib

 

This is the best part of the pen. It has a buttery smooth two tone steel nib, stamped Jinhao. I read a FPN post that said it also writes well upside down, which is true. It is a great nib for the money.

 

The seller did not mention the size of the nib. It is not wider than a Lamy 2000 EF but wider than a Sailor EF so perhaps a Chinese F.

 

The nib is stiff but not quite a nail. Ink flow is perfect

 

 

Filling System

 

The pen is supplied with a cheap converter that looks like it takes about the same amount of ink as a short international cartridge.

 

Cost/Value

 

It cost $7.50 including postage from China. This is good value for money compared to pens made in any other country but perhaps a more helpful comparison is against other Chinese pens? I have a number of Jinhao pens and they all cost about the same.

 

The seller labelled it as a “Special Edition” but I assume this does not really add anything to the pen.

 

 

Overall

 

It is not a bad pen, worth the money but I would have preferred the simple black design.

 

The Jinhao X750 is my favourite Chinese pen. The nib on the 500 may be a tad smoother than the X750 but I prefer the balance of the X750. The combination of weight and poor balance means the 500 will be tiring for extended periods of writing. Therefore I personally think the X750 offers better value for money.

 

The Jinhao seem to be a good quality Pen, reminds me of America in the 1900's how some of these Chinese Pen companies are producing new pens...

[HappyCat]

I just bought a Jnhao 216 from ebay, anyone got one of those? It hasn't arrived yet but I'll post a review when I test it out

[saketb]

Well written review. Thanks for showing the pictures.

[JimB]

Jinhao 500

The Jinhao X750 is my favourite Chinese pen. The nib on the 500 may be a tad smoother than the X750 but I prefer the balance of the X750. The combination of weight and poor balance means the 500 will be tiring for extended periods of writing. Therefore I personally think the X750 offers better value for money.

+1 on the x750! Dollar for dollar, my best pen.

[dbranam]

Thanks for the review. I 'accidentally' purchased one on eBay. My first eBay purchase ever, and I was fumbling around. I haven't even inked it yet; at $0.98 for pen, plus shipping, I have had low expectations, and have not gotten around to trying it out.

 

You review however puts things in a whole new light for me, and I'll be getting out the ink this evening :-)

 

Thanks!

[notimetoulouse]

As a collector of JINHAO&BAOER {SAME COMPANY} FOUNTAIN PENS I am delighted to once again have the opportunity to praise everything about them, I would say without fear of contradiction that they have the best nibs in the world, they are just so smoooooooth to write with. I now own more than 40 of thesepens and have never had a problem with one of them, they are well made, well priced, come complete with a Convertor for ease of use, and what's more important is as I have said on these pages many times, they are very affordable.I have seen mentioned on a couple of times how users have had issues with the Convertors, as simple trick is to thoroughly wash it out with detergent that should fix the problem.I buy all of mine from gotoschool888 on ebay they have never let me down, the postage is good and they will respond to any problems almost immediately.A most magnificent example of the manufacturing skill of this company is to be found in their latest offering the Abalone Fountain pen which is just to die for.Take my tip these pens will attract a great price from collectors in the years to come. By the way I DONT HAVE ANY AFFILIATION with the company but I love their products.

 

Thanks so much for this in depth info...I went straight over to ebdotcom to find that gotoschool888 now has no stock whatsoever in his shop and no feedback left since June 8th. Shame really.

[PR Wright]

I have four or five Chinese pens and they are smooth writers. I love using them.

[richardandtracy]

Thanks so much for this in depth info...I went straight over to ebdotcom to find that gotoschool888 now has no stock whatsoever in his shop and no feedback left since June 8th. Shame really.

 

There are other Jinhao 500's though. They can currently be got through sindy_shop_88 ( http://stores.ebay.co.uk/sindy-shop-88?_trksid=p4340.l2563 ), EpochMakingShop ( http://stores.ebay.co.uk/epochmakingshop?_trksid=p4340.l2563 ) or saricosarico ( http://stores.ebay.co.uk/saricosarico?_trksid=p4340.l2563 ).

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[Jamesbmorley]

Ordered a Jinhao 500 in blue 'celluloid' for FP day

[chadden42]

Ordered a Jinhao 500 in blue 'celluloid' for FP day

 

From where??

[Jamesbmorley]

@chadden42 from eBay (.co.uk) there were a couple of Chinese sellers with them, one also had the rollerball version too. I think I also saw a cream FP version too. I started by doing an eBay search for Jinhao 500 then ploughed through the standard, non-screw cap versions for the celluloid ones (about 4 listings in the end). As SBRE Brown observes in his YouTube review "I'm not sure it is really celluloid but..."

 

Total cost was £10.50 inc shipping. Seller was 98.8 positive status.

 

James

Edited November 3, 2012 by Jamesbmorley

[humsin]

I got a Jinhao 500 for $4.99, shipped and no tax. Quality control is simply awful. There was a spring inside the converter! I actually had to disassemble the converter to get it out. Nib. The nib simply did not work. No inkflow at all. I disassembled it and found the feed extremely badly cut. I recut the feed and remounted the nib. I then had to realign the tines and smooth out the tip.

 

Now?

 

By God this pen writes beautifully! The nib is now wonderful to write with and is definitely comparable with pens 10x its price.

[richardandtracy]

The spring convertor does the same job as a ball and breaks the meniscus. It's meant to be there.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[humsin]

The spring convertor does the same job as a ball and breaks the meniscus. It's meant to be there.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

 

Oops. Threw it away.

 

I also got a Bookworm but that converter didn't have the spring inside...

[richardandtracy]

The springs or balls in convertors help, but if you shake the ink down to the bottom of the c/c every now & again they aren't really needed.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[UK Mike]

My Jinhao pen is definitely on my favourite pens list at the moment, filled with Diamine Ancient Copper. When you pay less for the pen than for a bottle of ink you don't have the right to expect a decent pen but the Jinhao excels for a pen of any price.

The nib is smooth, without much in the way of flex but the feed is good and reliable. The finish of the pen is excellent and at least from a normal distance passes well for a premium brand.

 

I have recently bought quite a number of Chinese pens and not one has failed to write smoothly straight out of the package. This is in contrast to a number of European and Japanese pens that have skipped, failed to start and scratched their way across my paper in recent months. I normally buy Medium nibs which could account for the smoothness but I can recommend Hero, Duke, Baoer and Jinhao pens for VERY cheap inexpensive everyday carry pens.

Edited December 31, 2012 by UK Mike