Wing Sung 618 (With Comparison To Ws 698)

[alanlight]

Some of us prefer posted not due to pen balance, but out of fear of losing the cap.

[Honeybadgers]

I have both, and apart from the cap posting and the cigar shape (i use pens in a breast pocket, so a square edge pen gets caught) I prefer the 698. I like the pilot nib design more and I feel like hooded nibs should be very slender towards the tip (lamy 2000 is a great example) and the 618 had a huge honking nose contrasted to the delicate nib.

 

Still, as far as writing is concerned, it's smooth, tactile, precise, and feels phenomenal in the hand, and build quality for these acrylic Chinese pens is just outstanding (I think they redesigned the 698 a tad to stop the piston backing out)

[Bjeweledinmaine]

I’ve been on a Chinese pen flourish. I obsess on the YouTube videos of Chrisrap52 and wait impatiently for him to find a new Chinese pen to review. I’ve purchased Wing Sungs , Jinhaos, and Caliarts. Some of them are good and quite a few are excellent. My favorite thus far is the Wing Sung 3008. The nib looks like a Lamy and in fact I have replaced Lamy Safari nibs in the 3008 just to see if they fit. They do! However, the 3008 is so smooth that I flipped them back. This doesn’t mean that I don’t love my Pilot 74, 91 ,92 or Lamy 2000. But when I’m out at a restaurant having breakfast, watching YouTube videos on my iPad and taking notes, I am afraid to bring my better quality pens. Because I have arthritis in my hands I must have a pen that is buttery smooth which will cause me very little discomfort. The piston filler 3008 Is the smoothest of the Chinese pens that I have purchased. I did polish the nibs a bit for extra smoothness. Since I’m new to fountain pen obsessions, I have no idea if these Chinese pens are going to last over the long haul. I have read some comments under Sbrebrown, Chrisrap52, Figboot, The Pen Habit, and Goulet pen videos that other people have had problems with the longfevity of the plastic, some cracking for example, leaking and other issues. I still love my Twsbis and I think the plastic is better quality, but at $.99 to two dollars a pen I feel comfortable purchasing a few of them to experiment. Actually a heck of a lot more than a few – in fact if I add up all the Chinese pensthat I have bought for next to no money, I probably could’ve gotten a Sailor 1911 L. But obcession can be delusional and I keep telling myself, “ well it’s just two dollars”.

[Honeybadgers]

My 618 was a super weirdly dry writer. I took out the feed and saw it wasn't cut all the way down. Little work with a razor blade and it's now a juicy, fantastic F nib.

[Honeybadgers]

  On 10/30/2017 at 5:26 AM, Bjeweledinmaine said:

I’ve been on a Chinese pen flourish. I obsess on the YouTube videos of Chrisrap52 and wait impatiently for him to find a new Chinese pen to review. I’ve purchased Wing Sungs , Jinhaos, and Caliarts. Some of them are good and quite a few are excellent. My favorite thus far is the Wing Sung 3008. The nib looks like a Lamy and in fact I have replaced Lamy Safari nibs in the 3008 just to see if they fit. They do! However, the 3008 is so smooth that I flipped them back. This doesn’t mean that I don’t love my Pilot 74, 91 ,92 or Lamy 2000. But when I’m out at a restaurant having breakfast, watching YouTube videos on my iPad and taking notes, I am afraid to bring my better quality pens. Because I have arthritis in my hands I must have a pen that is buttery smooth which will cause me very little discomfort. The piston filler 3008 Is the smoothest of the Chinese pens that I have purchased. I did polish the nibs a bit for extra smoothness. Since I’m new to fountain pen obsessions, I have no idea if these Chinese pens are going to last over the long haul. I have read some comments under Sbrebrown, Chrisrap52, Figboot, The Pen Habit, and Goulet pen videos that other people have had problems with the longfevity of the plastic, some cracking for example, leaking and other issues. I still love my Twsbis and I think the plastic is better quality, but at $.99 to two dollars a pen I feel comfortable purchasing a few of them to experiment. Actually a heck of a lot more than a few – in fact if I add up all the Chinese pensthat I have bought for next to no money, I probably could’ve gotten a Sailor 1911 L. But obcession can be delusional and I keep telling myself, “ well it’s just two dollars”.

 

 

The 3008 is good. Check out the delike brass pen, the lingmo lorelei, the lecai acrylic eyedropper (a phenomenal pen, feels every bit as good as a franklin cristoph) and the wing sung 6359 (a perfect lamy al-star clone)

[DanielleE]

I post my pens because I don't want the pen to roll of the table if I put it down for a few seconds.

 

Just ordered my first 618. I am hoping it will continue to stay wet if I pause to collect my thoughts while writing.

 

Ebay tends to confuse me at times. Not sure why a seller in Hong Kong, would want to bill a buyer in the USA, in Canadian dollars.

[Sheaffer270]

My 618 is one of the wettest writers I own. Much wetter than my 51 special. Should have no problem staying wet uncapped for a reasonable amount of time.

[KellyMcJ]

Agreed. It will stay wet!

[minddance]

I would get it if not for that parker-quill clip. I certainly wouldn't want to be seen with that pen. Probably secretly writing at home but never to see the light of day.

Edited November 9, 2017 by minddance

[jarodzz]

Well. I heard that they are re-designing hero 100. As for Wingsung, they are re-building an old model from 80s. Both might be released early 2018.

 

As for this one wingsung 618, I got one too after saw your post. I have to say, there is great improvement in the body, piston filer works nice, but the Nib has no major improvements comparing to old hero/wingsung Nib, which is quite disappointing.

[lovemy51]

hmmm, me like it!! thanx for the review!

[IndigoBOB]

  On 11/10/2017 at 2:59 AM, jarodzz said:

Well. I heard that they are re-designing hero 100. As for Wingsung, they are re-building an old model from 80s. Both might be released early 2018.

 

As for this one wingsung 618, I got one too after saw your post. I have to say, there is great improvement in the body, piston filer works nice, but the Nib has no major improvements comparing to old hero/wingsung Nib, which is quite disappointing.

 

 

I have heard descent things about the 618 writing, but since the nib can't be replaced by a Lamy nib like the 3008 or Pilot nib like the 698, I didn't go with it.

 

I'd buy a safari if the section was more agreeable or stick with a Pilot Prera if the body was larger and didn't require posting to use, or with a Metropolitan if the section wasn't so small with that steep shelf, so these chinese pens, in particular the 698 with regards to this thread, have been a nice option for affordable pens with more agreeable ergonomics that can use nibs like the Safari's or the Metropolitans, which I really like.

 

I love Pilot Metro Medium nibs so to be able to have that option to swap onto a well functioning body like the 698's is like having a new Pilot pen to choose from with more agreeable ergonomics for the price.

 

And on top of that, the nibs they come with are quite good, so I stick with the 698... with the 3003 on the way as well as some 3008's.

 

These chinese pens are filling very large gaps in the fountain pen market that have been left open for quite some time.

[ronlakin]

I bought mine after watching the review by Chrisrap52 on youtube. Overall I quite like the pen. I find it comfortable to hold and equally well balanced posted and unposted. I probably use it posted more often than unposted. In fact I find it so comfortable to hold that I can understand why the real Parker 51 was so successful.

As for the nib, I suspect they all vary because the sweet spot on my nib is not small. It's definitely a fine nib but not as fine as the fine in my Wing Sung 698. It writes first time every time. However, it does have a couple of problems. Firstly, when first uncapped the pen writes nice and wet but after about a page and a half of (A4) continuous writing the nib becomes very dry and it needs a few minutes rest for the feed/collector to be become saturated. The second problem is that uncapping the pen when it is close to empty results in grip and inside of the cap being splattered with ink. It does this every time and with all of the small number of different inks (Waterman, Diamine, J Herbin) I've tried - but only when it's nearly empty. Because of these problems I doubt I'll buy another one. It has, however, made me think I might like a real Parker 51.

[DanielleE]

 

I just received one and so far I am happy with it. I like the line width and pen size. I have not had any long writing sessions. I will watch for any signs of problems with lengthy writing sessions.

[Stefan-Ionut-Marius]

Solid color option has also appeared in black and red and they are gorgeous .

[WJM]

  On 12/8/2017 at 3:24 AM, Stefan-Ionut-Marius said:

Solid color option has also appeared in black and red and they are gorgeous .

Well of course I find out about it literally a day after I received my clear version, which, good looking as it is, I probably wouldn't have bought if I had the solid black & gold option at the time.

 

The idea of having a break from buying new pens is just a lie we tell to ourselves, isn't it?

Edited December 10, 2017 by WJM

[Ted A]

Hey! Don’t be hard on yourself. Going a whole week can be considered a break!

[Stefan-Ionut-Marius]

  On 12/10/2017 at 9:40 AM, WJM said:

Well of course I find out about it literally a day after I received my clear version, which, good looking as it is, I probably wouldn't have bought if I had the solid black & gold option at the time.

 

The idea of having a break from buying new pens is just a lie we tell to ourselves, isn't it?

I have the transparent version to and I still have on the road from China the variant in semi-transparent red and the variant in solid red .

[WJM]

Using this pen (clear version) for a few days now. Overall I am very impressed with it and I'm currently waiting for the solid black one.

One thing I would complain about is that the piston mechanism is so shallowly screwed in the barrel. At the begginig I really had a trouble using the piston (and I mean after unlocking it) without rotating the whole mechanism. I put some silicon grease on the threads to ensure a better friction (and I mean a real silicon grease not this oily stuff that comes with the pen) and now it's rather secure, but still I can unscrew the whole piston mechanism much easier than I would like to.

Also I'm a bit less enthusiastic about posting this pen than some people. Technically WS 618 posts pretty well, and definitely better than the 698, but this is the kind of posting that I personally tend to avoid if it isn't necessary. It's not the most secure post - it can be secure, but sometimes it feels secure but easly gets loose just from contact between the cap and the hand.

This is the exact same kind of posting you can do eg. with Jinhao 992 or Lingmo Lorelei. It creates an unwanted pressure between the cap and the barrel and personally I'm concerned that if posted to often it could damage one of them. When I think of a pen which posts really well and secure, I mean pens like for example Parker 51, 45, Sonnet, Pelikan M200 etc. - those were clearly designed to post. Wing Sung 618 while can technically be posted doesn't really find itself in this category.

Edited December 14, 2017 by WJM