What Chinese Pens Are You Using Today?

[The Blue Knight]

Kaigelu 356

[luvpens]

Hero 382,

 

One of the hidden gems of the fp world.

 

I'd say as well made as my Expert II. Even the finish is durable. It goes to work with me, gets lost and found, chucked in drawers, not used for months - but is always super reliable.

 

It's the one that got me into Hero pens.

Ordered 3 x 7022's today, but that 14-30 day wait is going to be unbearable..........

[Helen350]

Jinhao X750 Shimmering Sands with 1.1 Goulet - Inked with Chesterfield Antique Yankee. This pen writes beautifully. With just a bit of feed tweaking, it keeps up with the ink needs for the 1.1 stub. Can't complain--no, just can't complain.

[jeffkoch]

I am using this small cute pen by Jinhao named JINHAO 886

My review of the same can be found here LINK

 

In your review, you contemplate using the Jinhao 886 as an eyedropper. However, you say it has a metal pen barrel. I doubt you could use it as an eyedropper; the metal will corrode. Also, eyedropper pen sections usually have finer threads and more of them to keep the ink from leaking.

[Ian the Jock]

Today I am using my new Jinhao x250 which arrived this morning, and I had completely forgotten that I had ordered it, so a bonus surprise.

It's the silver with gold trim version, and WOW.

I wish I had got one of these before the x450s.

It is brilliant. Super smooth wet writer, which of course my 450s are as well, but this pen just feels better.

I prefer the metal section to the plastic grip on the 450 and the overall shape is just a bit more...well, me.

The cap posts without any worries too, which is important.

It's similar in shape to my Kaigelu 368s which I love, and It's still fairly big and hefty, even when compared to the 450, which is also great.

I'm already bidding on a blaze coloured one and a dark red marble one, I like it that much.

I can't quite put my finger on why it feels a better pen than the 450, but it just does.

I probably shouldn't be comparing the two, but the 450 has been my kinda benchmark when buying new Chinese pens, as I really love the way it writes and the weight is just about perfect for me as well.

 

Not today though.

 

Today everything will be in Waterman violet, coming from my new X250.

 

A fantastic pen for the money, and, once again I've been "knocked out", by a pen from beyond the great wall.

Unbelievable value.

[John Edgar]

Hello! I am a brand new member of this forum and this is my first post. Since I own more Jinhao pens than any other type of pen...I'm on a budget...I went to this part of the forum first.

 

I get the impression that people who own Jinhao pens have a sort of love-hate relationship with them. At first, for me, it was just the allure of the low, low asking price for any Chinese-made fountain pen on Amazon. Over time I found that the first pens I bought that were made by Bulow were awful. They were my very first fountain pens (since I was a kid, anyway) and I bought a five-pack of them since I couldn't decide which color I liked. That was about 2 years ago and to this day I only have one left...the others have either been given away or were so defective they wound up in the trash. Hero pens: I've had 2 and both of them broke. I dropped one of them on a soft carpeted floor and it landed perfectly parallel with the floor and still somehow broke into two pieces.

 

My Jinhao pens are different...didn't much care for the x250s. I eventually decided my favorite Jinhao is the x450, the ones with the gold trim. They're quite lovely indeed. But to make them write smoothly & reliably, I simply put a replacement #6 nib on them from Goulet Pens. I just got one in the mail 2 days ago and put a Goulet Fine nib on it. Yes, this is putting a $15 nib on a $5 pen, but it works and I get a very pretty writer.

 

Hope I didn't come across as a total geek, newbie, idiot or rube here with my very first post. Been watching folks' video blogs on youtube for so long I decided I needed to join this forum. :-) Have a good weekend.

Edited March 8, 2015 by John Edgar

[rezwrrd]

Hello! I am a brand new member of this forum and this is my first post. Since I own more Jinhao pens than any other type of pen...I'm on a budget...I went to this part of the forum first.

 

I get the impression that people who own Jinhao pens have a sort of love-hate relationship with them. At first, for me, it was just the allure of the low, low asking price for any Chinese-made fountain pen on Amazon. Over time I found that the first pens I bought that were made by Bulow were awful. They were my very first fountain pens (since I was a kid, anyway) and I bought a five-pack of them since I couldn't decide which color I liked. That was about 2 years ago and to this day I only have one left...the others have either been given away or were so defective they wound up in the trash. Hero pens: I've had 2 and both of them broke. I dropped one of them on a soft carpeted floor and it landed perfectly parallel with the floor and still somehow broke into two pieces.

 

My Jinhao pens are different...didn't much care for the x250s. I eventually decided my favorite Jinhao is the x450, the ones with the gold trim. They're quite lovely indeed. But to make them write smoothly & reliably, I simply put a replacement #6 nib on them from Goulet Pens. I just got one in the mail 2 days ago and put a Goulet Fine nib on it. Yes, this is putting a $15 nib on a $5 pen, but it works and I get a very pretty writer.

 

Hope I didn't come across as a total geek, newbie, idiot or rube here with my very first post. Been watching folks' video blogs on youtube for so long I decided I needed to join this forum. :-) Have a good weekend.

 

Welcome to the party! If it's Jinhaos you're into, you're in the right place. The x450 is a great pen for the price, especially with a nib swap. Sure, the nib may quadruple the value of the pen, but think about it this way... now you've got a smooth and reliable $20 pen. Still a pretty good deal. It's hard to beat Chinese pens if you're on a budget.

 

IIRC, Bulows are just rebranded Jinhaos, mostly x750s? I don't know about x250s or x750s, as my only Jinhaos are the x450, 599c, and Pocket Missile. I like to read about and see the interesting pens people are using here, and try to find the ones I think I'll like for myself.

[Ian the Jock]

Another 2 new pens getting a run out today.

 

A Bauor 388, the red and black version (surprise, surprise).

And a Jinhao 8812 with a wood barrel.

 

Both were off and running straight out of the packaging, and both wrote nice and smooth (although, both did get the smoothing stick treatment, to get them just the way I like.).

 

The Bauor is a fine looking pen, very classy and elegant, and more to the point, it writes very nicely indeed.

 

1 for 1 so far then.

 

The "big wooden Jinny" is a lovely pen to use, nice, smooth writer, as has been the case with all of my Jinhaos.

It has a decent girth and although it weighs in at 38g it feels very light and well balanced when in use.

 

Of the two, the Jinhao probably fits my "what I prefer" parameters better than the Bauor (size, shape etc ), but I really do like the 388,

It's a lovely pen to hold and write with and I would find it difficult to choose one over the other, as they are both great.

 

So

2 out of 2, again.

These Chinese pens really are "the business"

 

It's got to the stage now that I have forgotten what I've ordered and each arriving package is set upon with the enthusiasm of an excited child.

 

GREAT FUN.

 

Ian

[Beechwood]

A Jinhao 599, a painless and trouble free pen that I can recommend

[gweimer1]

I'm actually using a Chinese pen today. Borderline gaudy, I bought myself a Jinhao 9009, and am playing with a sample of P.R. Gray Flannel.

[Ian the Jock]

I'm actually using a Chinese pen today. Borderline gaudy, I bought myself a Jinhao 9009, and am playing with a sample of P.R. Gray Flannel.

 

I got one of these a while back, and I agree, borderline Gaudy, but it writes very well indeed and Is in regular use. I have mine inked with diamine syrah.

A similar looking, but not quite so gaudy pen arrived today, along with a big silver Jinhao 1200 which I've mentioned in another thread.

The not so gaudy pen is a Hua Hong, which I know nothing about, and was purchased on one of those late night "oh, theres a pen for $1 finishing in 5 minutes" sessions, and it turned out be a really nice pen. It took a flush and a bit of flossing to get it going, but it writes very nicely with a fine-ish medium line. I have it inked up with diamine oxblood and I'm really quite impressed.

It's a Hua Hong SS-21, and I paid about £1.50 for it......a veritable bargain.

 

Ian

[k3eax]

My pen today, and for the past week or so, is a Hero 91 produced in the '90's. The size and weight is a for me a good fit and it always starts immediately even after period of non-use. At about its cost of $3 USD, I could have purchased some 300 such pens for the price of one Pelikan. Of course doing so would have brought me to the satiation threshold. And, the reality is that the Hero, "panache-less" , is all the pen I need!

[Sailor Kenshin]

I've got one of the duo-color, transparent-section pastel XF Hero-faris loaded with MB Defoe...is that a dichotomy or what?

 

The pen writes like a dream, but is more of an F than true XF. Suits me that way, and the transparent section looks cool when you advance the converter.

[k3eax]

Okay I give-up! What's a "Hero-faris???

[Sailor Kenshin]

These...

 

Though I got mine on fleabay, a gray and a turquoise. Now I kinda wish I'd gotten a yellow, too.

[k3eax]

Now I see, they're described as "Hero 359A Safari". "Hero-faris" was too far of a stretch for me to make the connection -- so thanks for the reply.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Yeah, sorry for the insider hyperbole, lol.

 

I also just located where I got mine originally: here.

 

So it looks like I can get my yellow one after all.

[ANAND ROY]

Today, I added a Hero 378 to my short list of fountain pens and I must say

I am impressed with the fairly good nib quality, well balanced weight along with the stainless steel grip provided for optimum utilization. Writes smoothly and has kept me up late for today

[mitto]

I am using this small cute pen by Jinhao named JINHAO 886

My review of the same can be found here LINK

 

 

This looks Nemosine inspired jinhao.

[luvpens]

Hero 7022 at the moment.

I just can't put it down - really impressed.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/229868-hero-7022-century-ice-flower-fountain-pen/