Smoothest Chinese Pens?

[Darqest]

What are the smoothest / best value chinese pens (specific model and brand) that you have written with?

 

Kev

[Joe in Seattle]

Jin Hao 5000. Very smooth, a delight to write with.

[Albinoni]

This subject is quite subjective and doesn't it depend on the nib

[fountainpagan]

Jinhao 159 has medium to broad nibs.

Mine is a medium nib and it is very very smoth.

However, it is a nib that "flattens" and unifies the colors, you do not get much nuances.

[Edwaroth]

Picasso 923 and the Hero 382.

[donwinn]

Jin Hao X450 and Duke D2 silver trim. Both are M nibs, and I rarely keep M nibs. These two and a few Dani Trio lower end pens are the ones I do keep.

[Funkmon]

Gotta be my Duke crane pen, or one of my Duke 209s. I have many 209s, but one is inexplicably STUPID smooth. As smooth as one of my Parkers, probably smoother.

Edited February 20, 2014 by Funkmon

[erpe]

Jinhao 159 and X750 have by far the smoothest nibs, HERO 7022 &7032 are a bit less smooth but give a pleasant Parker/Waterman like feedback that lets you feel the quality of the paper you are writing on.

[I like mango cheesecake]

If you consider TWSBI Chinese, then I'd say the 1.1 stub on any TWSBI

[WirsPlm]

Jinhao nibs tend to run large and are usually smooth (Baoer nibs are also made by Jinhao I believe), but it all depends, sometimes you'll get a good nib and sometimes you won't. I do like my Hero pens also but those nibs are smaller than the Jinhao nibs so they have more feedback.

[Inkling13]

You also need to take into account for quality control, since many chinese brands are lacking in either quality control or consistency.

[Scribblesoften]

For me it has been a couple of Heros. The 1026, cost $11USD with a f/m nib, and a Hero 100, $40USD with a fine hooded nib. The 1026 is relatively inexpensive and pens in this price range usually have less quality control. As a result, i eould expect more pen to pen variation in the nibs. Mine is on par with a Pilot Metropolitan for smoothness.

[Sasha Royale]

My favorite is probably the Jinhao 159. The Jinhao x500 is excellent value. I have more than a few.

Not my favorite, but the Hero 616 will write very smoothly, until it ejects an ink blob onto the paper.

The Hero 266 is ultra thin; with poor ink capacity, and writes wet and smooth. (10 for $15)

[ac12]

Baoer 388 with M nib.

After I adjusted the nib for a bit more ink flow. Note that all but 1 of my 388s needed the nib tweaked for ink flow.

My own 388 is inked with Cross/Pelikan ink.

The wider M nib is more forgiving on less than smooth paper than the smaller F nibs.

I paid $24 for 7 pens, shipped.

Most of them will be gifts.

 

The Baoer 801 with M nib, comes in second, but the nib tip feels smaller than the nib on the 388.

My own 801 is inked with Waterman ink, which is not as smooth as Cross/Pelikan ink for the smaller nibs.

I think the 801 was 6 for $20, shipped.

Again most will be gifts.

[Sailor Kenshin]

For me it has been a couple of Heros. The 1026, cost $11USD with a f/m nib, and a Hero 100, $40USD with a fine hooded nib. The 1026 is relatively inexpensive and pens in this price range usually have less quality control. As a result, i eould expect more pen to pen variation in the nibs. Mine is on par with a Pilot Metropolitan for smoothness.

I have the 1026! Mine is more of a medium, but very smooth.

[dcwaites]

Generally the best nibs, in order, would come from Kaigelu, then Hero, then Jinhao. However, you can get good and bad nibs with any of these, you just tend to not get very many bad ones.

I don't include the very cheap Heros (616, etc) in this list.

 

Those that are a bit scratchy, normally simply need to have their tines aligned to become excellent writers.

[Scribblesoften]

I have the 1026! Mine is more of a medium, but very smooth.

Good to hear that yours is good as well. For a Chinese pen I guess it could be classified as a medium. I kind of have my own eyeball classification system and to my eye it looks more like a f/m. I like mine a lot. I thought it was a good buy at that price.

[RuffRydas]

Sorry OP, but the answers you receive here aren't going to be very helpful at all... every answer listed so far can be completely accurate or completely wrong... variability of nib quality can differ significantly from pen to pen, doesn't matter the brand or the model... this holds true even more so with Chinese pens due to the lowered quality control standards.

 

My Hero 1000 works perfectly but the Hero 1000 you receive may very well be scratchy and prone to skipping... it's an unfortunately "luck of the draw" scenario with most Chinese pens... my suggestion is to buy into a brand like TWSBI that you KNOW will back the quality with great customer service.

Edited February 21, 2014 by RuffRydas

[richardandtracy]

I would say that my experience shows that Chinese pen quality control has reduced the variations between similar pens since I became interested in them in 2008, certainly in the 'better' brands of Chinese pens and in their better pens (Hero, Jinhao, Kaigelu, Duke etc). At the same time, variability seems to have increased in a Western brand like Parker, so that in the same price range, the Chinese variability is not much greater.

 

In the 'second tier' brands from China, like Huashilai, Halolai, etc, their variability does not seem to have improved over the last 6 years, and they are in the same place that Jinhao was 6 years ago.

 

Just my impressions. Many may disagree.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Good to hear that yours is good as well. For a Chinese pen I guess it could be classified as a medium. I kind of have my own eyeball classification system and to my eye it looks more like a f/m. I like mine a lot. I thought it was a good buy at that price.

Definitely a great buy. It's one of my favorites.

 

I think we all have our own 'eyeball' classification system!