Sanyal Soumitra's Mini Chinese Pen Reviews

[sanyalsoumitra]

I bought this pen today after reading a couple of reviews here and elsewhere. A fine pen otherwise, but I had to work on the nib a bit. Sincerely doubt if any one can beat Chinese pens in value for money department! Here is a brief.

 

[sanyalsoumitra]

I will be hiding away my Picasso collection for a few years and wait till the curious invader at home grows up!

Here is what I would miss.

 

 

 

[Helen350]

Crocodile 168

 

I have this exact pen in my collection. The blue leather does, indeed, give it class, and I love the smoothness of the nib. Best not to cap when writing, for it can leave a small scratch in the leather.

[Helen350]

Kaiduoli 6618

 

 

That nib on the Kaiduoli reminds me of the Kaigelu nibs, with the kangaroo in the center. On the Kaigelu the roo faces to the left, and on the Kaiduoli it faces to the right. However, the Kaigelu nib is much more decorative. Interesting!

[sanyalsoumitra]

Hero Liseur 607

 

[sanyalsoumitra]

Hero Liseur 2008- Revisit.

 

[sanyalsoumitra]

Duke 96A

 

[sanyalsoumitra]

Duke 209 Matte Black

 

 

[sanyalsoumitra]

Duke 911- Black and Chrome trim

 

 

[sanyalsoumitra]

^{UK Demon 2025}

 

[sanyalsoumitra]

WEN JUE 668

 

 

[sanyalsoumitra]

Wing Sung 613

 

[sanyalsoumitra]

Wing Sung 728

 

[sanyalsoumitra]

Wing Sung Lucky 401

 

[sanyalsoumitra]

^{Wing Sung Lucky Celluloid}

 

[sanyalsoumitra]

In retrospect , I just feel this is not celluloid but pearlized acrylic- even though I buy many Chinese pens, I do not fully believe Chinese marketing rhetorics.

[Helen350]

In retrospect , I just feel this is not celluloid but pearlized acrylic- even though I buy many Chinese pens, I do not fully believe Chinese marketing rhetorics.

Totally agree with you. We've discovered that "celluloid" probably means acrylic. Nibs with '18 kgp', we understand are not 'gold' plated. I'm assuming that is the rhetoric you are referring to? Yet we can agree that some of these pens are still good writers, attractive and inexpensive. So in some sense, they do serve a purpose. Not everyone's pocketbook can make those big dollar fountain pen purchases. This is why your reviews on these pens is so valuable. I've found if you don't mishandle these cheaper pens they last longer, and will afford you maximum use out of the pen. My Kaigelu 368 is about 5-6 yrs old, and does not have any scratches or chipping. I paid about $2.99 for the pen, and it still does the job.

[sanyalsoumitra]

Totally agree with you. We've discovered that "celluloid" probably means acrylic. Nibs with '18 kgp', we understand are not 'gold' plated. I'm assuming that is the rhetoric you are referring to? Yet we can agree that some of these pens are still good writers, attractive and inexpensive. So in some sense, they do serve a purpose. Not everyone's pocketbook can make those big dollar fountain pen purchases. This is why your reviews on these pens is so valuable. I've found if you don't mishandle these cheaper pens they last longer, and will afford you maximum use out of the pen. My Kaigelu 368 is about 5-6 yrs old, and does not have any scratches or chipping. I paid about $2.99 for the pen, and it still does the job.

Thank you Helen350, I had read in a FPN post much earlier that any $100 upwards pen one only pays for the barrel decoration and Jewelry appeal. But $ 100 is too expensive for an average user in India and China, In India students generally get to use pens in price range of Rs 15 to Rs 400 at the most and one USD is Rs 61 ! These pens are ultra low cost by any collector forum standard, but are reasonably functional to even good. Chinese pens fill the next layer , $ 2 to $ 70 range, but yet low cost by the forum standards. I was however very fascinated by the variety and goodness in this price band and started researching on it about 2 years back. I started buying and studying these pens and started writing about these in a blog I started. Later I was introduced to FPN and started posting here. My present set of posts are aimed at giving a gist of a pen review with photos-all in one page. With near 2000 pens to cover I would need a little longer. Once complete , each of these pages I post would be combined into a pdf book and given away for sharing. My happiness would be to provide a first hand info base for so called low cost pens- so far not much information is available on most of these pens. I have started a face-book group " Greater Kolkata Pen Collectors" where I am receiving lot of response from near 250 pen lovers, you might consider joining us for sharing your experience. My earlier posts in my blog too have lots of information on the pens, though not much of a professionally written blog, there is quite some information. You might like to visit at << http://www.soumitrapencoolections.blogspot.com >>and add your comments. I fully agree with you that even low cost pens given the normal care perform very good, only there were not enough coverage given to them.

[sanyalsoumitra]

HERO 359

 

[Helen350]

Thank you Helen350, I had read in a FPN post much earlier that any $100 upwards pen one only pays for the barrel decoration and Jewelry appeal. But $ 100 is too expensive for an average user in India and China, In India students generally get to use pens in price range of Rs 15 to Rs 400 at the most and one USD is Rs 61 ! These pens are ultra low cost by any collector forum standard, but are reasonably functional to even good. Chinese pens fill the next layer , $ 2 to $ 70 range, but yet low cost by the forum standards. I was however very fascinated by the variety and goodness in this price band and started researching on it about 2 years back. I started buying and studying these pens and started writing about these in a blog I started. Later I was introduced to FPN and started posting here. My present set of posts are aimed at giving a gist of a pen review with photos-all in one page. With near 2000 pens to cover I would need a little longer. Once complete , each of these pages I post would be combined into a pdf book and given away for sharing. My happiness would be to provide a first hand info base for so called low cost pens- so far not much information is available on most of these pens. I have started a face-book group " Greater Kolkata Pen Collectors" where I am receiving lot of response from near 250 pen lovers, you might consider joining us for sharing your experience. My earlier posts in my blog too have lots of information on the pens, though not much of a professionally written blog, there is quite some information. You might like to visit at http://www.soumitrapencoolections.blogspot.com >>and add your comments. I fully agree with you that even low cost pens given the normal care perform very good, only there were not enough coverage given to them.

2,000 pens WOW! I'm way behind- that means I need 1,900 more pens to catch up. LOL I will definitely check out the Facebook group. Thanks for the invite. Helen