Thyer Edition Of Jinhao 911 - Informal Review

[truthpil]

Greetings Fellow FPNers,

 

Below are some of my thoughts on the Thyer edition of the Jinhao 911.

 

This review turned out sounding a little more negative than I had intended, but don’t let it scare you away from this pen. Many of the good points about the Jinhao 911 have already been discussed in KingRoach’s excellent and much fuller review. My observations agree 100% with his, including the issues of potential scratching and the nib lightly touching the inside of the cap when capped.

 

According to the Thebai Company that sells this pen, it has several distinct differences from the regular Jinhao 911:

 

1. The nib has been reground from 0.38mm to 0.45mm, given a better feed assembly, and tuned.

2. The plastic threaded part that connects the section to the barrel has been replaced with a metal one (newer Jinhao 911s also have the metal part).

3. A better piston converter has replaced the plunger type (newer Jinhao 911s also have this improved converter).

4. Each Thyer pen is adjusted by hand for optimal performance.

5. The Thebai logo and “Thebai Thyer” have replaced the “Jinhao 911” engraving on the cap rim.

 

I’m not sure if it’s available outside of China, but Seele has kindly provided the link to the Taobao seller whom I bought it from.

 

 

 

A Final Word

 

If you want an inexpensive, lightweight, hooded nib “flighter” with a decent fine nib, then this is definitely worth your interest. Just know that the outside of the pen will scratch easily (I can already see scratches on the barrel in addition to those already on the section) and may quickly turn into a “beater” pen.

 

The nib is average but not scratchy and flows alright with a wet ink, producing an even fine line. Is it worth paying a little more for this “hot rod” Thyer version as opposed to the standard Jinhao 911? Since I don’t have the latter to compare with, all I can say is definitely if you really want the fine nib instead of the 911’s extra fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SDG

[truthpil]

A quick update....

 

After a couple more days with this pen, it seems to have broken in better and just really didn't like the brand of copy paper I was using for this review.

 

It's been writing well on everything else with just a little feedback that isn't bothersome.

Flow has also improved so there is no skipping or pressure required to get a decent even line.

[antichresis]

TruthPil, thank you for the review! I am looking forward to getting a bunch of these in a few weeks and hopefully they write as well as yours (after some breaking in).

[truthpil]

If you can, make sure to get the Thyer version since only those pens are checked and adjusted before sale.

 

For a hooded nib in F, I don't think you could find anything better for anywhere near the price. Mine writes a lot better now, but the slippery surface combined with warmer weather has made it impossible for me to hold the pen.

 

For a great unhooded fine nib, the new Jinhao 992 is absolutely wonderful, so you might want to grab one of those as well. I'll try to get my short review of the 992 up soon.

Edited April 9, 2017 by TruthPil

[antichresis]

If you can, make sure to get the Thyer version since only those pens are checked and adjusted before sale.

 

For a hooded nib in F, I don't think you could find anything better for anywhere near the price. Mine writes a lot better now, but the slippery surface combined with warmer weather has made it impossible for me to hold the pen.

 

For a great unhooded fine nib, the new Jinhao 992 is absolutely wonderful, so you might want to grab one of those as well. I'll try to get my short review of the 992 up soon.

Thanks, I just checked it out after seeing your comment: looks promising! It looks very similar to the Lingmo Lorelei pen, yeah?

 

I look forward to your review, and please, don't rush it just for me. I'll be in Shanghai until mid-May so there's plenty to time to go over Taobao. With your recommendation I think I'll be getting a couple of the Thyer pens and this 992 instead of a Wing Sung 698. What do you think?

 

Well, I'll still probably get a few of the 698 since I can resell them back home (and at the same time spread awareness of good quality Chinese pens) but I already have a 659 that has the same nib. And these two are way cheaper than the Wing Sung.

[amberleadavis]

Thank you for the review.

[truthpil]

In case anyone is curious, here are some comparison shots of the Jinhao 911 (Thyer version), a Hero 100, and a Parker 51 Mk I Aerometric.

 

 

Capped

 

 

 

Uncapped

 

 

 

Posted

 

 

 

Jinhao 911 and Hero 100 filling systems

 

 

Between the Jinhao 911 and the Hero 100, I prefer the Jinhao hands down.

I had to dig the Hero 100 out of the back of a drawer in order to take these shots. It looks and feels great, but at least my specimen is a ridiculously dry writer and the cap doesn't seal well enough to prevent hard starts every time the pen is uncapped for use.

[antichresis]

Well, this is interesting... (from what I can understand from the Chinese it is advertising the same improvements as the Thyer)

[truthpil]

It looks like another seller jumped on the bandwagon.

There are several sellers on Taobao that hand tune and regrind pens to sell for more. I think I once saw a tuned Jinhao X750 being offered for 5 times the standard price.

[andy1m]

Nice review. Thank you.

 

I think Jinhao's pens are not bad at all.

[truthpil]

Nice review. Thank you.

 

I think Jinhao's pens are not bad at all.

 

If you like steel-bodied hooded pens with EF nibs, you won't be disappointed with this one!

[truthpil]

Here's another update on my use of this pen...

 

Last week I took it on a weeklong trip that involved several planes, trains, etc.

For the most part it performed well on the trip, with just one exception.

 

It's as smooth as an EF can be and glided effortlessly over any paper I threw at it while frantically scribbling in a meeting or jotting some ideas down in transit. I used a standard short international cartridge of Schneider Midnight Blue (review forthcoming) and the cartridge fit perfectly without having to jam it in the way you do with the Jinhao 991 and 992. Even thought they take the same Jinhao converter, this Jinhao Thyer 911 takes international cartridges much better than the other pens.

 

The pen is tough as nails with the steel cap and barrel so it handled getting thrown around in my bag like a champ with no leakage. However, I did notice after the trip that all the capping and uncapping from frequent use had greatly increased the amount of scratches on the black plastic section, as other reviewers of the 911 have noted. The metal clutch in the cap definitely scratches the section, but seeing as that part of the section is covered by the fingers when writing (perhaps even increasing grippability on a somewhat slippery section) it's not too big of a deal.

 

Now for the one hiccup in performance. The cap seals well and, consequently, will draw excess ink out the front of the pen if you cap and uncap too quickly and successively. I was uncapping and capping multiple times per minute during a meeting and suddenly found myself with ink on my fingers and a drop

on the page! If you like to fidget with your pen during meetings, then this may not be the best pen for such environments. I learned my lesson and will only bring screw-on caps to future meetings so my hands can happily fumble without fear of getting inked.

 

Other than that one issue, which is more my problem than the pen's, this is a delightful pen to use on the road.

[pyotrkot]

I have purchased two Jinhao 911’s on eBay. The first was bought from ‘hipsale’ for approx $4 u.s. My experience with this pen has been excellent. It has a very smooth EF nib straight out of the package and writes making a wet line.

 

I enjoy it so much that a second was ordered from ‘shoptuny’ at a cost of just $2.21 Cdn. The other cost $2.21 and too arrived recently to clean and flush it yet. If you like the look of the Parker 51 Flighter I recommend this pen as a good substitute, even without custom grinding, etc.

[truthpil]

I agree, they are nice EDC pens and very tough. Have you experienced any of the hard starts that others have complained about?

I think it might only be an issue if you don't use the pen for a few days.

[Philologist]

Can I make a request? Could you try to mix and match the barrels and the sections of the two pens?

I am considering to make a frankenpen using the 100 barrel with the section and cap of the 911.

[truthpil]

I just checked and the Jinhao 911 cap is smaller than that of the Hero 100. It won't even go on far enough to reach the metal ring that divides the section and barrel of the 100.

[Philologist]

Oh, what a shame. I have one of those custom acrylic barrels for 100 and was hoping to use with the section and cap of 911, which I prefer due to its filling system.