I have been so impressed with Jinhao pens. The price allows me to play with a lot of pens and see what qualities fit my writing style. Thanks for sharing them with us....Great video, as always!!!! Love your channel!
A nice selection, Garry. As for Medium nibs, you could order the 9019 and you could check off a new model with a medium nib. Also you can swap the 9019 nib with the X159.
There are a lot options for Jinhao 992 (also called Jinhao 279 for version with stub nibs) Not all sellers have all the options, byt you can shop around. I use pens for writing and drawing, so the wetness of pen matters. . 992+ stubs / italics, 1.1 and 0.7 and fude - all write beautifully, never a dry start. . Jinhao 51a does not work well with stubs / italics as the cap is too narrow, BUT a 0.8 fude is great, wet nib, really w multiline (as opposed to monoline) tool. . Very nice channel.
At the same moment you put up this video, I received the Jinhao 9019 from the courier. It is a very nice pen, although a very thick one. Luckily, it is very light. I have a Jinhao x159 and 80 on the way. Both together only 7,5 AUD with free shipping! That is ridiculous. 😆Earlier this year I bought two cheap pens in a shop here in Japan which were actually not branded. I had no idea what they were but just realized they are actually Jinhao x450s. Interestingly, one is all black, except for the nip.
Even though a have larger hands, I still find the 9019 to be too thick to be comfortable for more than about 10 minutes of writing. However, for whatever reason, it feels higher quality than the X159. Not sure if it’s just in my head or not.
My first cheap Jinhao pens (and indeed, virtually my first fountain pens of any brand) were the original x450 and x750. I prefer the x750 to the x450, as I'm not a particular fan of that x450 section, though the pen itself is quite decent quality. I've swapped the Jinhao nibs on several x750s for a variety of different #6 Jowo nibs. Never had the original 159, but am now into the x159 and brand new 9019 big time! The 51a is a nice little pen; I have several of the very attractive "cracked ice" resin models. Finally--I enjoy my 992s much more than I thought I would when I first bought them (a pack of 6 for about $12 US on Amazon), and use them almost daily for quick jotting. One of them soon cracked and fell apart where the clip attaches to the cap, but all the others have lasted for well over a year now. And at that price, I really can't complain; in fact, I subsequently ordered a second set of 6. On a few of them, I swapped the Jinhao F nib for a #5 Nemosine (Jowo) 1.1 stub to give my writing more character.
1. Good info, thanks. 2. Did you say that the 51a comes with a fude nib? Dang, I need one. 3. I would recommend the x750, near identical to the x450, but metal instead of plastic. Also the 82, with pretty colors like a Sailor.
Thanks. I've noticed a number of Jinhao pens are now coming with a Fude nib as an option. I love the way it writes in the 51a. I've got a couple of x750s, I need to get them inked up again.
Hi garry. I have 2 992s that i've converted to eyedroppers. Only thing you have to make sure to do is superglue the bottom finial otherwise ink could leak out from there. Once i did that, they make great cheap eyedropper pens
Excellent video Garry. Do you think Jinhao nibs are better than the nibs on budget entry level big brands like; a Parker Vector, Waterman Allure, Platinum Preppy, Pilot Kakuno, etc?
That's an interesting question. it's hard to generalise an answer. I do find the entry-level nibs do tend to be more consistent in their quality, but the Jinhao nibs can vary. I've heard from a number of people that they have had bad Jinhao nibs delivered. Out of the approx 30 Jinhao pens I have I'd say that I've had 2 nibs that needed a lot of work to get them to write, most of the others were good on delivery. The Parker nibs I have are about 20 - 30 years old, so not something I can compare. I've not tried a Waterman Allue yet. With Preppy's - the two I have are very nice and needed no work on them.
Tganks for the video, i really enjoyed it. I have several Jinhao pens, if i had to pick a favorite, it woukd be the Jinhao 80. I have tgem with ef, f, cursive, broad, 1.1mn, ansd 1.5mn stub nibs. All write well, and are smooth, even on kesser quality paper. I didnt care for the 992 pens, or the Jinhao sharks. The 82 are ok. I haven't tried a 9019 yet. I bought a couple of aftermarket nibs from Goulet pens for my x159 pens, a 1.5mn stub lays down a lot of ink, and the Goulet medium nib seems a little wetter tgan the Jinhao medium nib. The x450 and x750 dont seen to seal well enough to suit me, they are hard starting if i dont use them every day. My favorite is the 80, two of the 7 pens in my daily rotation are Jinhao 80, and two others are x159.
I could not resist any longer. I pulled the trigger on a black jinhao 9019 medium nib. It will be very interesting to see how it compares to the fine on my x159. I have now realised I really like M B and 1.1 stub but dislike the feedback with F or EF
A lot of Sheaffer fountain pens Including the VFM have a very narrow section (the bit you hold) and I think that is why they are not so popular with pen enthusiasts. It comes down to personal preference, the way you hold a pen, and the size of your hand. I would expect any Schaeffer pen to write well, even he budget VFM, so from that point of view I'd consider it a good first fountain pen. It does not come with a cartridge converter however, and the pen is too short to use a standard international converter. You'd have to either get a short standard cartridge converter, or use international standard cartridges. I actually think that a Pilot Metropolitan would be a better choice for a first pen because it's about the same price and comes with a converter, however if you want to use cartridges, the Pilot does not take international cartridges. I'm not sure that Schaeffer have made the Sentinel in a fountain pen for a long time. It had a gold nib shaped like a tube, a very unusual design from the 1950s. No one can advise you on vintage pens, because they can come with their own set of very specific considerations for care and maintenance. Converters for vintage Schaeffer fountain pens are a bit of a nightmare TBH.
Thanks. I've got one on order from AliExpress. I'm hoping it arrives in the next week or so. I've had a lot of people recommend it so am looking forward to being able to try it myself.
Thanks Gary for your thoughts on Jinhao pens. My collection has a number of Chinese manufactured pens. It seems to me that recently they have taken a running leap forward into improving their quality. This comes at a cost increase, but more than acceptable when compared to The world’s market. MaJohn has made the largest number of those I own. It seems I’m not happy until I’ve swapped for a JOWO nib, but then it writes too much like other pens in my collection. What are your expectations when buying any pen?
My main thing is that the pen lets me get ideas out of my head and onto paper in a way that I enjoy. This year I've cut back on pen purchasing and am only getting those that either look nice or have some unique feature. I've got a First Impressions of the Majohn M400 coming out on Sunday, and a couple more over the next 2 months. My biggest put-off with Chinese pens is the limited choice of nibs, although I've noticed Majohn are doing more M nibs nowadays.
How did you get your very first fountain pen, and what was there about it, that inspired you to become a collector? My daughter; who has been a lifelong lover of pens of all kinds; bought me an Esterbrook pen, quite a pricy pen, and I thought I was content. Then we started going to pen shows. At the first show, I was just the ride along person, looking and going, " yes, that's nice'. By the second show, I'd purchased one pen that I knew nothing about. It was a pen made from a Jonathan Brooks resin. I just thought it was pretty. It was when I began researching my pen that I got hooked, and began to realize the interconnectedness and synergy of all the people in the pen world, and that appeals to me.
Good video yet again... but you didn't include the best (subjective) jinhao pen. The jinhao 80 is so practical; it's light, it writes so unusually smoothly with an EF nib and even comes in 0.3mm interchangeable lamy style nib...and in different colours. Enufff said. Good video, though.
Thanks for the pen suggestion. I don't have one of these, so I have added it to my "to-buy" list. This is one thing I like about this community, being able to get suggestions for more pens to try out.
