Jinhao X450

[ImolaS3]

I have never bought a really cheap fountain pen before and as age as crept up on me and my income increased, my pens have become proportionately more expensive and more pleasurable to use.

 

But, I saw this Jinhao, along with another Chinese pen that has not yet arrived, on ebay with no bidders and a low starting price. So, I became the owner of a rather nice Jinhao X450 for less than five pounds (UK) including postage costs!

 

http://www.acdseeonline.com/1000/9688/8767/477694_l.jpg

 

http://www.acdseeonline.com/1000/9688/8767/477696_l.jpg

 

http://www.acdseeonline.com/1000/9688/8767/477697_l.jpg

Top to bottom - Pelikan M805, MB 146, Jinhao X450

 

 

 

My first impression is that it is very heavy. VERY. I will include some specifications and comparisons at the end of this review to convey exactly how heavy it is.

 

The overall quality of materials and build is actually slightly better than I had hoped. Cost savings are clearly evident in the nib section which is all moulded in one piece and the converter which pushes in and is no beauty but no more ugly than the one in my blue Lamy Studio.

 

http://www.acdseeonline.com/1000/9688/8767/477700_l.jpg

 

So far, after using it for a full day when marking some exams, I am quite fond of this pen and would recommend it to others without real reservation. The only thing I am not happy about is the cap. Why the cap? Well, it is very heavy and if posted makes the pen very unbalanced and not as pleasant to use, but, the cap cannot be posted and falls off thus it is a non-problem. I do like to post my pen tops though and this is the only disappointing aspect of the pen for me.

 

Also, the cap is a pull-off type and it needs a fairly hard pull to remove and I can foresee a time when ink will be splattered somewhere after my brief wrestle with this damned cap

 

 

The large nib is to my eyes, quite beautiful with some Chinese characters engraved on it and a claim it is 18K gold. I wonder.....

 

http://www.acdseeonline.com/1000/9688/8767/477699_l.jpg

 

I really like the nib in use. It does not have much flex, but I am quite happy with that, and it does have a nice line variation with the a nice line thickness for a medium nib.

 

http://www.acdseeonline.com/1000/9688/8767/477698_l.jpg

Jinhao X450 with Diamine Monaco Red ink on Paperchase velum coloured paper

 

In use the pen has been comfortable and is not too heavy once the top has been removed. One point I should make here is that I find the MB 146 and Pelikan M805 to be my Goldilocks pen sizes - just right -and this pen has a similar feel in the hand.

 

In summary:

I received this at the same time as two Pelikans (M600 and M400), it wrote nicer than the M600 but not the M400. I had the nib changed on the M600 and now it outshines the Jinhao.

 

This Jinhao is a very nice pen that I would have been happy with had I spent ten times as much money on.

 

It will be used often - not a 'posh' pen, but a good looking user that performs as well as pens costing 10 or 20 times as much - 'brand' makes a difference to one's perceptions though and many may be unhappy. I won't be giving the MBs away quite yet

 

Some specifications for comparison.

Jinhao X450

140mm long, Cap 14.6mm diameter at thickest point, pen 13.5mm diameter at thickest point.

Weight 44g!!!! (filled) - cap weighs 15g alone

 

Pelikan M600

133mm long, Cap 14.08mm diameter at thickest point, pen 12.6mm diameter at thickest point.

Weight 18g (filled)

 

Pelikan M805

140mm long, cap 15.05mm diameter at thickest point, pen 13.4mm diameter at thickest point

Weight 30g (filled)

 

Montblanc 146 Le Grande

142mm long, cap 15.2mm diameter at thickest point, pen 13.1mm diameter at thickest point

Weight 31g (filled)

[Ed Ronax]

Excellent review, thanks.

[vans4444]

Thanks for the review.

 

My X450 has flow problems, it skips now and then. The nib is slightly different from yours because in has Jinhao stamped on it. I prefer the Jinhao X450 which is a very similar pen, but with no flow problems. Perhaps it is a quality control issue?

Edited January 31, 2010 by vans4444

[Osmaroid]

Great Review. One small detail - I don't think the nib is claiming to be 18K gold - if I view your excellent nib photo correctly, it says "18K GP", the typical Chinese gold plated nib.

[lizncats]

I have a Jinhao x450 and it is one of my most reliable writers. I find the Jinhao pens more reliable than Hero pens.

[ImolaS3]

Great Review. One small detail - I don't think the nib is claiming to be 18K gold - if I view your excellent nib photo correctly, it says "18K GP", the typical Chinese gold plated nib.

 

Thanks for that - I wasn't aware of this and it makes me a little more comfortable with the pen. I wondered what the nib was made of and had decided it wasn't 18k gold!!

[parilla]

My Jinhao 450 grey marbled pen has just arrived. It writes out of the box (no flushing at all) as well or better than any of my expensive pens - if it had cost $1000 I could not have been happier with how it performs. Truly amazing pen for just a few dollars. A pity it wont post, but it is so substantial that it feels quite ok unposted.

[Skeet]

What an excellent and unbiased review. I totally agree with your assessment. Like many other FPN members, I find myself writing more with my Jinhao pen, than the more expensive ink suckers. Of course, not everyone will admit this peculiar, yet somewhat surprising behavior. Thanks for your modesty.

[oldjock]

Great review, I also have a Jinhao X450 and love it and have had no problems at all with it.

May I also thank you , once again thanks to the honesty of the members on here I have no real desire for an expensive pen.

In the short time I've been using fountain pens I have only had one poor one believe or not that was a Parker.

[jjaberg]

Thanks for this review! My experience is comparable. I have two X450's and find them to be exceptional values. There were some minor ink flow issues with one but with a bit of work those were resolved, and it was well worth the effort. I've also recently purchased an X750. It shares the virtues of the X450 - plus, the cap can be posted.

[John the Monkey]

I wonder if I've just been really unlucky with Chinese pens?

 

Other than my Hero 616s, I've yet to have any Chinese pens (Baoers or Jinhao) that write reliably - my Baoers (517s) need frequent squeezes of the cartridge to continue writing, and my X450 writes only if ink is manually fed by twisting the convertor a half turn or so to prime the feed. It's a shame, because I like the feel of the X450 a lot.

[rockydoggy]

I've had poor luck as well. I have several Jinhao X450s as well as a couple of the same model under the Bulow brand (from xfountainpens) and one Jinhao X250--all of them have proven to be balky writers. Once they get going, they produce a smooth, wet line and are comfortable to use. However, too often they either take a while to start up after sitting a bit or else stall out after a page or so and must be primed by advancing the ink in the converter. I've done the standard wash routine on them and I've also tried different inks and flossing the nibs--no go. In frustration (since I like the look and heft of the pens), I recently pulled the nibs on them all and started hacking away, deepening the shallow (and in some cases misaligned) grooves on the top of each feed and in the small extension that fits into the back of the feed. Doing so and adjusting how the nib and feed are seated appear to have solved the flow issue in at least two of the pens (I'm keeping my fingers crossed to see if the problem stays fixed); two of the pens remain stubbornly unresponsive after the operation; and I've got two or three more prepping to go under the x-acto. In sum, these are nice enough pens that if I can end up with a 50% take rate, I'll be sort of satisfied. What's disconcerting is that I purchased them as gifts and I hadn't anticipated needing to conduct my own quality control check on them. I guess I should be glad that I decided to try each one before giving them away.

[Chris]

I've had the same problem with both my X450 and X750. Even hacking away at the feed with a scalpel has not cured them. Lovely smooth writers once up and running but going dry after half a page or a page and requiring a twist of the converter to get started again. Also, slow to start if left for a while. I confess, I've rather given up on them for now but I've no doubt I'll try yet another ink again to see if another combination is better.

 

Chris

 

edit for typo

Edited February 10, 2011 by Chris

[Tanya9771]

I have an X450 in dark cherry red and black marbling with gold sprinkles - easiest way of describing it in a hurry! The nib has a different pattern and is engraved with Jinhao through the middle, and it's writing very well with Noodler's Black Swan. Pretty good for the £10 I paid

[Fuddlestack]

Thanks for the review - looks very interesting.

 

Might one enquire as to your source?

[OscarWilde]

Great, thanks for sharing!

[hillbillywriter]

I'm thinking on getting one of these cigar shaped pens just to see if I would like them then, I'm considering on getting the sailor 1911 but I wanted to see if i like the size of it.

[singer]

I've had the same problem with both my X450 and X750. Even hacking away at the feed with a scalpel has not cured them. Lovely smooth writers once up and running but going dry after half a page or a page and requiring a twist of the converter to get started again. Also, slow to start if left for a while. I confess, I've rather given up on them for now but I've no doubt I'll try yet another ink again to see if another combination is better.

 

Chris

 

edit for typo

Those two pens look pretty similar. I saw another review about the 750, the guy took out the "breather" and said it helped a lot with the ink flow. Link here.Maybe this could work with the 450. Edited February 10, 2011 by singer

[Bloch]

Those two pens look pretty similar. I saw another review about the 750, the guy took out the "breather" and said it helped a lot with the ink flow. Link here.Maybe this could work with the 450.

 

Please pardon my ignorance, but I looked at the review (photos didn't come up at all, just text) and wasn't able to figure out what a "breather" is.

I have the same problems with ink flow, but solve it by just dipping back into the vial or bottle as needed... that is to say, dipping the pen nib into the ink bottle. :-)

But it would be nice if there were a way to not need to do that.

 

(Is there any place to find out what the various parts of a fountain pen are called? I don't know many once I get past "nib", "barrel", "cap", "cartridge", and "clip".) :embarrassed_smile:

[singer]

No problem.. I don't even know what a clip is yet haha. Here is a diagram with the breather tube:

 

http://i56.tinypic.com/111p3l5.jpg

 

There's more info about parts and nibs at richardspens.com.