A review of Hongdian 1850 black forest

January 23, 2022

I was for quite a while intrigued by the Hongdian 1850 fountain pens. This was following a nice experience with Jinhao 159 regarding quality control that made me want to explore more Chinese pens.

So here is my second or third venture into Chinese fountain pens.

INTRODUCTION: Iam not very competent in introducing this pen. It is a somewhat higher end Chinese pen in comparison to the Jinhao and retails at around INR 2600 excluding discounts that a retailer might offer. There are higher end models also available and the 1850 model is at the lower end of the Hongdian Price point. I purchased this pen from Swastik penn in Gujarat, India which also offers other models at varying price points. https://www.swastikpenn.com/

PACKAGING

It comes in a very simple Hongdian box which houses the pen and a 15ml Black Ink bottle. Nothing extraordinary or flashy here. It is also not a carry around box like the ones that contain Ranga pens.

The box can just be opened from the top and holds the logo both outside and inside the box.

COMMUNICATION AND DELIVERY:

This was very efficient and the pen reached me in a matter of 3 days after the payment was made. No hazzles on this front and the pen was very well packaged. The website is well designed and the selection of specifications all the way till the payment was very simple.

APPEARANCE AND DESIGN

I really like the aesthetic appeal of this pen. It is a very light pen and the body of the pen is black in colour. The pattern on the body of the pen is really attractive and well machined. Also the black coating on the pen and nib are nicely done.

The pen seems to be made of Aluminium ( but Iam not very certain) and is quite robust.

The cap snaps very nicely when closing and there is a band below the cap which says " HONG DIAN FOREST SERIES".

The top finial flares out a little bit from the body and sports the Logo sealed inside a robust plastic. This is quite appealing.

This pen is a slim pen and suited for people who like a slim writing section and long and slender pens. This reminds me in a way of Lamy CP1.

MECHANICS

The pen posts securely and the bottom finial is designed to accommodate the cap well.

Its a cartridge converter pen and has a Hong dian converter attached to it. It is functional and does its job.

The nib can be unscrewed and looks more like a number 5 nib. It is coated in black and does its job.

The clip is the downside of this pen and is really stiff. It cannot be casually slid into your shirt or pant pocket without s some effort. There is also a risk of it tearing the cloth material. This is particularly a problem because in my opinion, this pen is designed as an everyday carry pen and demands a very functional clip.

The writing section is quite comfortable and is probably made of some resin( But not sure). It offers a fairly good grip and is suited more for people with smaller fingers.

WRITING:

This pen sports a fine nib which is quite smooth and very functional. But nothing very extravagant here. In my opinion, i can't say that this nib suits my personal tastes. It lacks character and does not make me write for longer. This nib is also available in EF and Fude point. It is slightly on the drier side of wet and suits practical purposes like note taking and writing short paragraphs. It is not suited for longer writing sessions in my opinion.

Also the pen wrote immediately when inked and did not require any tuning whatsoever. Excellent quality control in the nib and feed area. I found the same thing with Jinhao 159. Is it true of other Chinese pens?

SIZE COMPARISON

This picture tells it all!

CONCLUSION

All in all, for this price point, i quite like the appeal, build construction and quality control aspects. Also it is a quite robust pen. But i find better pens in price ranges above and below it. Ranga pens, Gama pens, Kanwrite Legacy, Parker frontier, Pilot MR, Platinum Plasir, etc etc either better or in the same league. I would personally invest in Gama or Parker frontier when it comes to the prices lower and many of the Ranga pens at a higher price.

However this is also a hazzle free pen and sports a nib that barely has any short falls functionally.