Lucky 659 (Wing Sung 659)

[Dickkooty2]

Just got mine today. With the excellent review at the top of the post and the equally informative comments, I will take a different tack. I am that typical grump who really doesn't know much about most pens but knows what he likes. (grumble, grumble).

 

1. jewellrymathamatics' shipment appeared in the mail today. 19th to the 28th. not bad for free from China, altho I have had stuff appear in 5 days ... about what some letters take from OR to MA.

 

2. The package itself appears as a fat rounded package of yellow plastic covered completely with Scotch Brand tape (you work there, you never forget). It took me 15 minutes of puncturing, pulling and pummeling with my fingers and Swiss Army knife to finally free the box containing the pen.

 

3. The box itself is an interesting mix of light board and plastic designed for rack hanging at retail. Again, very hard to open, parts arranged to show out with the indents on the outside rather than as you might expect. for easy access after opening. Accompanied by typical universal symbols for use, but with only Chinese. Difficult to reassemble after opening because of materials and some flex issues and the "guess which way is up" nature of the molded plastic parts holder.

 

4. Easy to assemble the pen. I opted for the 'F', rather than the 'EF". I opted for Noodler's American Aristocracy as the ink for this product which probably hasn't caused a plant to close in Indiana. Couldn't get anywhere near the top! I am no stranger to ink-stained fingers up to the elbows. Really dove in at the 10' mark on the side of the pool.

 

5 I soldiered on dip screw, dip screw, dip screw. No, your other left. Suddenly, I have a bunch of 7 very small parts in my hand that did not seem to appear on the universal destruction sheet.

 

6. Next came 25 minutes of trial and error and an extreme test of my spatial geometry. I was loosing badly and was this close (indicating with port red thumb and forefinger) to sending it back, when St. Paul, patron saint of scriveners, appeared. Paulus congregati stilo.

 

7. And finally, the moment of truth. In over the horns, if pens had horns. And YES. The nib is closer to an 'MF' with lots of flex and is very smooth and requires very little pressure on down strokes.!

 

In short: except for converter construction problems (and when you are deep in the details, you really see that slant) this pen writes like my Pilot 78 with the m nib!

 

It is fun to have the demonstrator!

[Dickkooty2]

OK! I have given up on the converter. It appears three hands are needed to hold the converter in the ink while twisting the poor-quality screw top while holding the metal cuff so it doesn't unscrew while you are screwing in the ink.

 

My note to the supplier:

 

Doesn't work or defective

Comments

The converter is terrible. Difficult to fill because of closeness of screw parts: it unscrews while loading ink. It will work as an ED, but better demonstrators are available for far less money.

I see it will work as an ED. I prefer Preppys as EDs. I really prefer Dollar pens from Pakistan with a helical fill.

The only attractive feature on this pen is the semi-flex nib. I prefer my reliable Pilot 78 even though it is green.

[Dickkooty2]

More to above.

 

Seller requested a photo of the problem.

 

I sent him this

 

[/url]">http://http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj157/dick168/RtnDownloadFile_zps6cac12zn.jpg[/u

RL]

 

I sent the message via ebay and it does not show up on my message list. And the record of the transaction has disappeared from my purchases list for my account.

 

I am beginning to think something is odd here.

 

Does anyone have a direct email for the seller? jewelrymathematics.

[Dickkooty2]

I sent them a note that i did not purposely take the pen apart. It came apart while trying to fill the pen.

 

I realize that the nine bucks isn't the end of the world. It is a question of service to the customer and response.

 

I do recognize good service ...

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/312881-muji-order-exceeded-expectations-heres-why/

 

My usual area of concentration is vintage German writing instruments 1930s - 60s. Pelikan, FEND, Markant, Ero, Matador, and the brand marchandising and adverising.

 

Further to the above.

 

"No, we don't think so. It is a good product. The converter is designed perfectly. We cannot refund you money."

But for $2.00 mail fee, they will send me a new converter

I will write this off as a bad experience. It is not worth the time or agita.

[Flounder]

Is your converter's piston stiff dick? Even if I purposefully loosen off the metal collar on mine, holding the plastic body of the converter in my left hand and the knurled knob in my right, it doesn't unscrew. Is your keyed black anti-rotationy top piece properly located in its slots?

 

I suppose you could just apply a coat of shellac to the collar threads to keep the converter from unscrewing itself?

 

ps - since writing the review, I've since picked up a con-20 converter. The Lucky won't accept it, same as the 78G's squeeze converter.

[Kev]

So skippy, irregular in flow, scratchy.

I worked on nibs to align well...different inks, papers. no chance that any of the 2sections could write.

 

end of my ws...stashed away from my sight

[eawtan]

I just received mine today. Luckily I read this thread first as the converter almost fell apart during inking. Out of the box both F and EF nibs don't write, currently soaking the EF nib. F nib worked after I pressed it agaist the feed, but is still writing dry .

 

Overall not worth the risk for the cost - seems prices have gone up ...

I've had better luck with the cheaper Jinhao 750

Edited October 17, 2016 by eawtan

[antichresis]

I, too, had a pretty big problem with the converter apart from a flow issue. The ink simply would not go down the feed and I'd have to prime it repeatedly--like a glorified quill. I don't think I was using any problemsome inks as well. I had to floss the feed a lot and to no avail. I shelved it for a few months.

 

I'm now using the F unit with a Con-40. As far as I can remember it does work with the EF unit as well. The same goes for the Con-50, although yes, one (the EF?) was a bit snugger but I didn't need to force anything.

 

It's now writing pretty well inked with Bad Belted Kingfisher. I'm not quite sure what happened, but I'll take it.

 

My nibs seem to be in line with Western standards and the F is even a bit stubbish. Both are quite smooth. I just checked the barrel and it's not canted to one side like the OP's. Luck of the QC draw?

 

I do add though: not really worth it. It's a good writer and it's on the right side of wet for me (left-handed x quick notes) but the 78G is way cheaper where I live. The Metro is, also, much cheaper. Both of them I can buy off the shelf with no international shipping to deal with.

You get a piston converter with this one (it's important to me to know how much ink I have left) but if the converter doesn't work...

Edited October 17, 2016 by antichresis

[Kev]

It's not converters fault here: tried also a pair of original pre-drilled pilot cartridges and another refilled in quink.

both nibs simply doesn't write properly.

 

no wash, ink, paper can fix it. probably needs some work i won't do. just threw it away

[Flounder]

Lucky/ Wing Sung watchers may be interested to know they've recently released a piston filler, the 698. From links posted over at reddit, it looks to be a curious hybrid of copied Pilot nibs & feeds, installed in a very TWSBi -esque (including cap bands concentrating snap forces at the threads) cap and body.

Edited October 17, 2016 by Flounder

[Dickkooty2]

I sent them a note that i did not purposely take the pen apart. It came apart while trying to fill the pen.

 

I realize that the nine bucks isn't the end of the world. It is a question of service to the customer and response.

 

I do recognize good service ...

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/312881-muji-order-exceeded-expectations-heres-why/

 

My usual area of concentration is vintage German writing instruments 1930s - 60s. Pelikan, FEND, Markant, Ero, Matador, and the brand marchandising and adverising.

 

Further to the above.

 

"No, we don't think so. It is a good product. The converter is designed perfectly. We cannot refund you money."

 

But for $2.00 mail fee, they will send me a new converter

 

I will write this off as a bad experience. It is not worth the time or agita.

 

 

 

 

I must have communicated to the seller through ebay. They had opened a case for me. I had a reminder from them yesterday and emailed them of my unhappiness including this set of comments in FPN. They agreed that I had been poorly handled by the seller. Today I have a $9.00 refund in my Paypal account.

 

I thought i would bring my ink-stained story up-to-date!

[estie1948]

I must have communicated to the seller through ebay. They had opened a case for me. I had a reminder from them yesterday and emailed them of my unhappiness including this set of comments in FPN. They agreed that I had been poorly handled by the seller. Today I have a $9.00 refund in my Paypal account.

 

I thought i would bring my ink-stained story up-to-date!

Sorry for all the difficulty you had and the aggravation you had to endure. Glad you persevered and glad for your good outcome. Thanks for keeping us posted.

 

-David (Estie).

[woleizihan]

 

Wing Sung is the Cantonese pronunciation of the Chinese word for "hero." On the mainland, the Mandarin pronunciation Ying Xiong is also put on labels of Hero products. The multiple languages get confusing, but it's all one brand.

Wing Sung and Hero are two different brands. Wing sung is not the Cantonese pronunciation of Ying Xiong, but Yong Sheng. The fact is Wing Sung went bankruptcy in 1999 and Hero later bought the brand.

[truthpil]

Wing Sung and Hero are two different brands. Wing sung is not the Cantonese pronunciation of Ying Xiong, but Yong Sheng. The fact is Wing Sung went bankruptcy in 1999 and Hero later bought the brand.

 

Thanks for the correction. I wish I could delete the erroneous post.

[bob_hayden]

 

"No, we don't think so. It is a good product. The converter is designed perfectly. We cannot refund you money."

 

My experience with jewelrymathematics is that you get the correct item promptly but if there is a problem you will get a note similar to the above.

[bob_hayden]

I recently bought a Yiren 358 which is a similar 78G clone but generally free of the issues described here -- and costs as little as $1.65US on eBay. I liked mine so much I ordered three more.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/321330-yiren-358-with-ef-nib-for-those-who-like-it-smallest/

[Deep_Adhikary]

Hi I have order a Hero 1000 from jewelrymathematics(I am from India). Buy going through the post I came to know that some of you have ordered it from the seller. My question is in which method the seller shipped the item? For me he shipped through Yanwen. Is it same for you?

 

The seller is reluctant about EMS and said Yanwen is the best way. But I was going through some of the review online.

According to them Yanwen is not good.

 

Please let me know if your order shipped though Yanwen.

[bob_hayden]

And it also appears that Wing Sung may have realized their mistakes with the 659. There is now a 3001 78G clone from them that is not so hard to get along with and costs less than $2 US..

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/325651-mini-review-wings-wing-sung-3001-clone-of-pilot-78g/

[rollerboy]

And it also appears that Wing Sung may have realized their mistakes with the 659. There is now a 3001 78G clone from them that is not so hard to get along with and costs less than $2 US..

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/325651-mini-review-wings-wing-sung-3001-clone-of-pilot-78g/

 

My understanding (based on this blog: https://frankunderwater.com/2017/09/14/the-new-wing-sungs-explained/) is that you can't really refer to "Wing Sung" as if it's a single company. Apparently what Hero has done is license the Wing Sung brand to a number of different manufacturers. Likely the 659 and 3001 are from two different licensees.

[Dickkooty2]

@ rollerboy (above)

My understanding (based on this blog: https://frankunderwa...ungs-explained/) is that you can't really refer to "Wing Sung" as if it's a single company. Apparently what Hero has done is license the Wing Sung brand to a number of different manufacturers. Likely the 659 and 3001 are from two different licensees.

Sounds like a quick way to degrade the value of a brand name. I can think of other current examples.