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Jinhao 1200 Silver Dragon Clip Pen


richardandtracy

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This review is of the Jinhao 1200, a Silver coloured Dragon Clip pen. This was bought from 'GotoSchool888' on E-Bay. The price was US$2.99 + $9.99 postage. The delivery was a week and a half from Hong Kong. GotoSchool's shop was suspended by E-Bay on the day I received the pen, I do not know why.

 

The pen arrived in a small fibreboard box, with a little two part foam lining. The pen nestling in the box was, well... How do I put it?

'Bright' is a good description.

'Bling' is another good one too.

 

Overall first impression was 'Oh My God, what is it?'

I had ordered the silver version as it looked less flashy than the gold version. Well, I still suspect that it's less flashy, but you still need dark glasses when looking at it. The pen does rather shout at you - with a megaphone and a multi-kW amp.

The outer surface looks as if it's knurled, but the shape is actually recessed into the barrel and cap, then to finish it and preserve the plating it's covered with a plastic film (possibly PVC from the feel of it).

The pen is a normal length pen, but due to its large diameter, it looks fairly short.

The pen is amazingly heavy too. The pen comes in at 51 grammes, that's heavier than three Hero 616's or two Parker 51's. It feels solid, and the dragon's red eyes sparkle at you from almost any orientation. The cap alone weighs 21 grammes - the same as my Parker 61 Insignia Pen (cap, section, barrel & all).

Removing the cap requires a hard pull, then the two tone oversize open nib becomes visible. The black section and gold bands look rather nice and sedate in comparison to the rest of the pen. The nib gold plating seems to have been done by hand with an electroplate brush, is thin and slightly lopsided. It does look rather elegant - and is not entirely in keeping with the excessive bling of the rest of the pen.

 

Removing the barrel reveals a rather sloppy fit thread between the barrel & section, and a tiny international compatible screw action cartridge convertor. This bit feels light, cheap and nasty in a way that the rest of the pen doesn't.

 

The pen dimensions are as follows:-

  1. Overall Length Capped = 138mm

Length Uncapped = 124mm

Length Posted = 164mm

Maximum Cap Diameter = 14mm

Maximum Barrel diameter = 13.5mm

Nib Length = 24mm

Using the pen

The pen body is heavy (30 grammes) and needs a fairly firm grip to move & control. When posted it is unbalanced, and the nib tries to flip up and away from the paper. The nib is smooth and writes with a medium line - despite being described as 'bold' and 'broad'. There is a nice amount of feedback from the nib, however due to the weight of the pen it's tiring to use for more than a couple of pages at a stretch.

The cartridge convertor suffers from not having a ball or spring in it to allow the ink to flow easily into the feed - as a result the nib can run dry after a page of writing. The flow is generous, and the c/c small, so I think you'd need to re-fill the pen every 4-5 pages of A4.

It is surprisingly pleasant to write with.

 

Overall

I'm in two minds about the pen. It's too heavy & too flashy. But it is cheap and writes well. It has a nice medium nib, which is unusual on Chinese pens. It could have been so much nicer if the pen were a more reasonable weight and the plating were toned down a bit. I shall continue to use it in my rotation, and use it at work when I want to be abused by my colleagues.

 

The photo below does not do the brightness of the pen any justice. I couldn't tweak the photo to make it dazzle. The pen does.

 

Regards

 

Richard.

post-7927-1212496594_thumb.jpg

Edited by richardandtracy
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The section, nib & clip seem identical to the 'Dragon's Descent' pen reviewed here:- https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=65103 . The convertor is similar, in that it's the same design, but the metallic parts are silver coloured in this pen, rather than coloured to match the barrel.

 

Regards

 

Richard.

 

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It is amazing that a fountain pen can be manufactured and shipped across the planet for 13 USD, and still works well and blingy too!

Edited by zorroflores
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  • 5 weeks later...
It is amazing that a fountain pen can be manufactured and shipped across the planet for 13 USD, and still works well and blingy too!
I now have a dozen or more of the JINHAO pens which I find are amazing value at the ebay site of gotoschool888 They are a great site to deal with, simple cost effective packaging and fabulous prices. The nibs on these pens are so smoooooth the nibs are worth $13.00 us on their own without the rest of the pen.. I would strongly advise anyone who doesnt have some of the Jinhao or Baoer brand pens to snap them up because they are going to become collectors items in the future. Bryan

 

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...I would strongly advise anyone who doesnt have some of the Jinhao or Baoer brand pens to snap them up because they are going to become collectors items in the future. ...

Bryan,

I suspect you are correct, but I think the pens that come in the wooden display boxes with scrolls etc will be worth disproportionately more in the future, and it may be worth investing an extra $10 to get the box too.

Regards

 

Richard.

 

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...I would strongly advise anyone who doesnt have some of the Jinhao or Baoer brand pens to snap them up because they are going to become collectors items in the future. ...

Bryan,

I suspect you are correct, but I think the pens that come in the wooden display boxes with scrolls etc will be worth disproportionately more in the future, and it may be worth investing an extra $10 to get the box too.

Regards

 

Richard. Hi Richard I would agree that the choice of to have the boxes or not is entirely up to the buyer however when the cost of the box is not only a few dollars more but add to that the rather large cost now of shipping from Isellpens which is getting way over the top. I still make the point that whichever way you buy these pens they are a very good investment in the future by a collector.Regards. Bryan

 

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  • 9 months later...

What a coincidence, I just bought this pen! I received it yesterday in the mail and have not inked it yet (because I now have 4 new uninked pens thanks to FPN). I cannot wait to try it out. Please keep us up to date on its performance. Thanks for sharing your information.

 

Don

"Let us cross over the river and sit in the shade of the trees." Final words of General 'Stonewall' Jackson (d.1863) when killed in error by his own troops at the battle of Chancellorsville.

 

 

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/606/letterji9.png

 

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/5642/postcardde9.png

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As far as I can tell, all the Jinhao nibs are the same @ this class. Just different bodies.

 

They are very smooth and wet. I would say my 18 dollar Jinhao rivals pens 10x it's price.

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Well.

10 months on, I have to confess I don't use this pen as much as I did. I discovered that having the pen in my shirt pocket led to a sore nipple. The pen is so heavy that the constant bashing as I moved gave me a near permanent bruise - and that hurt in a sensitive area.

 

The convertor has kept up its way of starving the nib & feed after a page or so of writing. No amount of washing out with washing up liquid cured this, so I suspect it's a convertor design problem.

 

The pen has held up to use very well, and only the plating on the barrel next to the section is showing any signs of disappearing. It is considerably better in this respect than the Leonardo pen which had a simlar cost.

 

All in all, I'm still fairly pleased with the pen, but cannot have it about my person too often.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

 

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I just purchased this pen. I must agree it is quite something to look at. At the same time it is a wonderful writer. I filled it with J. Herbin Vert Pre and it flows. Very impressed.

"Let us cross over the river and sit in the shade of the trees." Final words of General 'Stonewall' Jackson (d.1863) when killed in error by his own troops at the battle of Chancellorsville.

 

 

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/606/letterji9.png

 

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/5642/postcardde9.png

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I have a few Jinhao Fountain Pens including this one. They all came in an individual wooden box, I have not inked this pen yet but a few people have asked if they could have the box (they know that they could not have the pen).

For a cheap pen I do not think that you can go wrong and I believe that they will hold their value. This particular pen is well described and it is a heavy pen but I would not carry it in a pocket it would be nice on a desk in its box. I was pleasantly suprised about the quality of these pens. I did buy it from Ebay with some other pens and I am sure it was not the seller mentioned in the review. :thumbup:

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  • 2 weeks later...

I suspect the post saying the price was amazing may have been misunderstood. Did the pen really cost $2.99 with the shipping cost much more than the pen itself or is there a number missing from the purchase price?

 

FWIW I have ordered 3 Jinhao pens. An 'Oriental Dragon' in black, another in silver (both without clips) and then a 'Descendent Pewter Dragon'. I could not locate a Shangai seller or factory order for a UK buyer such as myself so I have ordered from isellpens in the US. The price was $25 each and the shipping another $35 totalling $105 or £78, excluding any import duty I get hit for. Still, they look a lot more interesting than what $35 / £25 buys me in a UK pen store.

Edited by paul l

Parenting, coffee, music and food. Anything simple done with quality and passion really

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Ah, okay, now I understand. The pens are virtually given away then and all the cost is in the shipping. This does not bode well and they are either junk and only worth the 1 or 2 USD paid for them or they show an awful lot of the fountain pen market to be incredibly overpriced *

 

* Notwithstanding cost of living in china, wages, handmade approach on some brands incurring cost by nature.

 

So, I hope that even though my purchases will be expensive, they will still stand up well against the offerings in my home market.

Parenting, coffee, music and food. Anything simple done with quality and passion really

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I suspect the post saying the price was amazing may have been misunderstood. Did the pen really cost $2.99 with the shipping cost much more than the pen itself or is there a number missing from the purchase price?

 

FWIW I have ordered 3 Jinhao pens. An 'Oriental Dragon' in black, another in silver (both without clips) and then a 'Descendent Pewter Dragon'. I could not locate a Shangai seller or factory order for a UK buyer such as myself so I have ordered from isellpens in the US. The price was $25 each and the shipping another $35 totalling $105 or £78, excluding any import duty I get hit for. Still, they look a lot more interesting than what $35 / £25 buys me in a UK pen store.

The pen cost what I said, as did the postage. I've not used Isellpens because the international postage to the UK is a bit high. I think the pens are interesting, and very good for the price - even at Isellpens prices. As for overall quality, this Jinhao felt to be good quality except in the areas I stated.

 

Take a look at http://www.andys-pens.co.uk/forsale.shtml for a UK based seller of some Jinhaos.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

Edited by richardandtracy
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Thanks Richard, it can be difficult to get across the sentiments of a post, the words often look colder and so mine were intended more sensitively than they look. As a newbie, it's all quite a steep learning curve when your initial awareness excludes Asia, international prices and any hands-on experience outside of a few Western brands. I don't want to detract from your initial post and I really appreciate learning from it.

Parenting, coffee, music and food. Anything simple done with quality and passion really

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  • 1 month later...
This review is of the Jinhao 1200, a Silver coloured Dragon Clip pen. This was bought from 'GotoSchool888' on E-Bay. The price was US$2.99 + $9.99 postage. The delivery was a week and a half from Hong Kong. GotoSchool's shop was suspended by E-Bay on the day I received the pen, I do not know why.

 

The pen arrived in a small fibreboard box, with a little two part foam lining. The pen nestling in the box was, well... How do I put it?

'Bright' is a good description.

'Bling' is another good one too.

 

Overall first impression was 'Oh My God, what is it?'

I had ordered the silver version as it looked less flashy than the gold version. Well, I still suspect that it's less flashy, but you still need dark glasses when looking at it. The pen does rather shout at you - with a megaphone and a multi-kW amp.

The outer surface looks as if it's knurled, but the shape is actually recessed into the barrel and cap, then to finish it and preserve the plating it's covered with a plastic film (possibly PVC from the feel of it).

The pen is a normal length pen, but due to its large diameter, it looks fairly short.

The pen is amazingly heavy too. The pen comes in at 51 grammes, that's heavier than three Hero 616's or two Parker 51's. It feels solid, and the dragon's red eyes sparkle at you from almost any orientation. The cap alone weighs 21 grammes - the same as my Parker 61 Insignia Pen (cap, section, barrel & all).

Removing the cap requires a hard pull, then the two tone oversize open nib becomes visible. The black section and gold bands look rather nice and sedate in comparison to the rest of the pen. The nib gold plating seems to have been done by hand with an electroplate brush, is thin and slightly lopsided. It does look rather elegant - and is not entirely in keeping with the excessive bling of the rest of the pen.

 

Removing the barrel reveals a rather sloppy fit thread between the barrel & section, and a tiny international compatible screw action cartridge convertor. This bit feels light, cheap and nasty in a way that the rest of the pen doesn't.

 

The pen dimensions are as follows:-

  1. Overall Length Capped = 138mm

Length Uncapped = 124mm

Length Posted = 164mm

Maximum Cap Diameter = 14mm

Maximum Barrel diameter = 13.5mm

Nib Length = 24mm

Using the pen

The pen body is heavy (30 grammes) and needs a fairly firm grip to move & control. When posted it is unbalanced, and the nib tries to flip up and away from the paper. The nib is smooth and writes with a medium line - despite being described as 'bold' and 'broad'. There is a nice amount of feedback from the nib, however due to the weight of the pen it's tiring to use for more than a couple of pages at a stretch.

The cartridge convertor suffers from not having a ball or spring in it to allow the ink to flow easily into the feed - as a result the nib can run dry after a page of writing. The flow is generous, and the c/c small, so I think you'd need to re-fill the pen every 4-5 pages of A4.

It is surprisingly pleasant to write with.

 

Overall

I'm in two minds about the pen. It's too heavy & too flashy. But it is cheap and writes well. It has a nice medium nib, which is unusual on Chinese pens. It could have been so much nicer if the pen were a more reasonable weight and the plating were toned down a bit. I shall continue to use it in my rotation, and use it at work when I want to be abused by my colleagues.

 

The photo below does not do the brightness of the pen any justice. I couldn't tweak the photo to make it dazzle. The pen does.

 

Regards

 

Richard.

 

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This review is of the Jinhao 1200, a Silver coloured Dragon Clip pen. This was bought from 'GotoSchool888' on E-Bay. The price was US$2.99 + $9.99 postage. The delivery was a week and a half from Hong Kong. GotoSchool's shop was suspended by E-Bay on the day I received the pen, I do not know why.

 

The pen arrived in a small fibreboard box, with a little two part foam lining. The pen nestling in the box was, well... How do I put it?

'Bright' is a good description.

'Bling' is another good one too.

 

Overall first impression was 'Oh My God, what is it?'

I had ordered the silver version as it looked less flashy than the gold version. Well, I still suspect that it's less flashy, but you still need dark glasses when looking at it. The pen does rather shout at you - with a megaphone and a multi-kW amp.

The outer surface looks as if it's knurled, but the shape is actually recessed into the barrel and cap, then to finish it and preserve the plating it's covered with a plastic film (possibly PVC from the feel of it).

The pen is a normal length pen, but due to its large diameter, it looks fairly short.

The pen is amazingly heavy too. The pen comes in at 51 grammes, that's heavier than three Hero 616's or two Parker 51's. It feels solid, and the dragon's red eyes sparkle at you from almost any orientation. The cap alone weighs 21 grammes - the same as my Parker 61 Insignia Pen (cap, section, barrel & all).

Removing the cap requires a hard pull, then the two tone oversize open nib becomes visible. The black section and gold bands look rather nice and sedate in comparison to the rest of the pen. The nib gold plating seems to have been done by hand with an electroplate brush, is thin and slightly lopsided. It does look rather elegant - and is not entirely in keeping with the excessive bling of the rest of the pen.

 

Removing the barrel reveals a rather sloppy fit thread between the barrel & section, and a tiny international compatible screw action cartridge convertor. This bit feels light, cheap and nasty in a way that the rest of the pen doesn't.

 

The pen dimensions are as follows:-

  1. Overall Length Capped = 138mm

Length Uncapped = 124mm

Length Posted = 164mm

Maximum Cap Diameter = 14mm

Maximum Barrel diameter = 13.5mm

Nib Length = 24mm

Using the pen

The pen body is heavy (30 grammes) and needs a fairly firm grip to move & control. When posted it is unbalanced, and the nib tries to flip up and away from the paper. The nib is smooth and writes with a medium line - despite being described as 'bold' and 'broad'. There is a nice amount of feedback from the nib, however due to the weight of the pen it's tiring to use for more than a couple of pages at a stretch.

The cartridge convertor suffers from not having a ball or spring in it to allow the ink to flow easily into the feed - as a result the nib can run dry after a page of writing. The flow is generous, and the c/c small, so I think you'd need to re-fill the pen every 4-5 pages of A4.

It is surprisingly pleasant to write with.

 

Overall

I'm in two minds about the pen. It's too heavy & too flashy. But it is cheap and writes well. It has a nice medium nib, which is unusual on Chinese pens. It could have been so much nicer if the pen were a more reasonable weight and the plating were toned down a bit. I shall continue to use it in my rotation, and use it at work when I want to be abused by my colleagues.

 

The photo below does not do the brightness of the pen any justice. I couldn't tweak the photo to make it dazzle. The pen does.

 

Regards

 

Richard.

 

I received the Pen as a Gift. Was not aware of existence of the brand. After inking the pen was surprisingly smooth and I was more than impressed. Tried to make a search on the net and found this forum. Initial impression is extremely satisfying. Looks / Finish / Working. Have learnt of the approx. price from search on the net. Would not hesitate to buy some more for collecting.

 

Sushil.

 

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  • 1 year later...

I purchased the Golden Dragon version of this pen which arrived earlier this week. It cost around £9 including postage - from the envelope, it appears to have been sent from Singapore though I thought it was from China. Initially I was taken aback somewhat by its appearance and size. However, having inked it with Diamine Sapphire Blue and used it in the last few days I am quite impressed with it. It is best used unposted which reduces the weight and avoids the cap "driving the hand"! It has a medium nib - I normally use fine nibs - but it writes very well with good ink flow. Unposted is it quite easy to use and very comfortable in the hand. I assume that the body is brass and the nib gold plated - somehow it feels a quality product not cheap and nasty unless you are put off by the finish! How it can be produced at such a cost including postage I really don't know, but I am a very happy owner!

 

John

Edited by brownargus

Favourite pens in my collection (in alpha order): Caran d'Ache Ecridor Chevron F and Leman Black/Silver F; Parker 51 Aerometric M and F; Parker 61 Insignia M, Parker Duofold Senior F; Platinum #3776 Century M; Sailor 1911 Black/Gold 21 Kt M; Sheaffer Crest Palladium M/F; Sheaffer Prelude Silver/Palladium Snakeskin Pattern F; Waterman Carene Deluxe Silver F

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