I browse in the marketplace quite a bit, and when I saw that Todd over at isellpens.com was closing out the wing sung pens, well being one that can't pass up a good deal, I bit the bullet and bought three of them: #714 mini pen, #322 criss cross engraved, and #235 gold cross hatch. Then i decided that i should do my first review about them.

I don't know too much about the company. What i've found on the internet tells me that they were the second largest pen manufacturer in china, behind hero. Then in the 90s, hero bought wing sung, so i'm not sure if the company is still around or not. These 3 were all NOS, so it doesn't matter much. Also, I saw some myths that Wing Sung factories were actually Sheaffer's factories that were nationalized, thus explaining the wrap around, triumph style nibs. I don't know if there's any truth to that.

The main reason i decided to go with these pens was price, above all. I knew relatively little else about them. All three came without box or papers, but in simple nice pen sleeves to keep them safe. Un-inked and unused.



The fit and finish of these pens is very nice, I think. I had heard some horror stories about chinese pens, but when these came in I was pleasantly surprised. The patterns are consistent, and evenly finished for the two that have metal plating. The small plastic one is smooth and symmetrical, almost like a tiny parker 51, i think. The #322, with the odd engraving pattern is the heaviest one, weighing more than the other 2 combined, but it is made of brass, i believe, which explains the weight. The others are plastic and aluminum, I believe. The finishes are nothing that's going to win awards, mind, but they are nice and clean, and better than plain, solid colors. I don't have a ruler, so i can't give exact lengths, but if it helps, they're about the same length as a phileas, capped.
The finishes don't come to the quality level of the phileas of course, but almost. They exceeded my expectations by quite a bit.



Of course, what's really important is the nib and writing performance, and these pens are no slouches. They're all allegedly fine, but the lines do differ in thickness between pens. Being inexpensive chinese pens, there are some quirks with the nibs like some scratchiness at certain angles, and they're absolutely no flex. Other than that though, they start up every time and are mostly smooth writers. Not more i can ask for. These are steel nibs, with gold plating. The mini one has a hooded nib. Writing with them is very good, and I in fact use them quite a bit in rotation for note taking at college. Of course, they are not perfect. The big #322 is very heavy, and a bit unbalanced towards the cap when posted. both problems go away when unposted, but I can't write unposted. The #714 is a bit too small even when posted. The #235 is really the best of the three in this regard. It doesn't have any major balance or weight issues. It's quite light actually, and balances just fine when posted.
With the reputation chinese pens had on the internet, i was expecting less. However, they are surprisingly good performers, but they might need some small nib adjustments to be perfect. For the price, they're pretty good deals I think.

(pardon the handwriting)


All three are 'permanent aerometric' fillers. That basically means that the sac is glued on, but it's nothing that I couldn't repair if they stopped working, I think. The fill system works pretty well. They take up quite a bit of ink, enough to last me two or 3 days of notes at school. The big ones have a metal shell over the sac, like i've mostly seen squeeze converters, but the little one only has the sac. Works well enough.

My conclusion is that for the price, about 14 dollars for all three, it was a very good deal. These pens work very nice and they're the kind that you wouldn't be afraid to toss into a pocket/backpack/purse, or be afraid to lose. Don't believe all that you see about chinese pens, like i used to. You can get some good things. As I said, I got these from isellpens.com, but I don't know if they're available anywhere else. Maybe ebay. Of course, give me a choice between my phileas (or the parker vac that's in the mail), and i think it would be obvious which i'd choose, but if i was stuck in somewhere with only these pens, it wouldn't be a bad thing at all.

Ivan

p.s. more pictures of them if you'd like to see here.

p.p.s. this is the first time i review something, so if there's something i didn't do right, or left out, or what have you, please let me know.

I have the mini pen as well, it lays down a nice wet line, a little too small but I like it.

I purchased a Wing Sung #101 in stainless steel with a fine point nib about a month ago and have been writing with it daily.
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Once I filled the pen using the press bar with Noodler's Polar black ink, it has written with a fine wet line. It's not scratchy yet you do get some feedback from the paper. This is a great pen for writing in journals and is fairly light weight. I've never had to prime this pen or run it across scratch paper to get it flowing. It's been this way from the get go. If you want a pen to be able to write very quickly without skipping or getting too floaty on you, this inexpensive pen will work well.

Here's a writing sample at actual size although the ink is a much darker black. Please excuse my poor penmanship as I'm trying to learn how to write the right way so I don't smear the ink with my hand.
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Nice review. I was about to start a topic about Wing Sung pens, since I got almost all of the pens that Todd offered on his web site. I filled them with my mix of PR Tanzanite and Daphne Blue (1:2) and thought that I had found the wettest and the smoothest fine nibs in the world. Glad that I am not the only one who appreciates Wing Sung FPs and Todd's selection of writing instruments.

Rita

I now have these back in stock at: www.isellpens.com .

Excellent review, Ivan!

I only have one Wing Sung, a 237 model in green marbled plastic with a metal cap and a Sheaffer Triumph-style nib. It's not a particularly fantastic writer, but I like the design (although I think a silvery nib would go better with the white metal cap) and it reminds me of a good friend on FPN from whom I got it

Where is the best place to get some nice chinese pen? I never tried Chinese pen before. I hope can try how it's looks like compare to western or Japanese pens.

Hi Calvin,

Please feel free to look around my website, here and here.

Hi Calvin,
Calvin, no doubt the best place, best price and service is from isellpens.com . We just took in over 5,000.00 Wing Sung pens with prices starting at $3.00 & $5.00 each. We also offer bulk discounts with some smaller lots and some lots of 10 for $25.00. Just think you would pay this price for 1 pen from other vendor's. We also have the largest selection of Hero pens online as well as several other Chinese brands.