Jinhao 992 Informal Review

[suharsh]

Mine are still holding pretty ok despite some faint cracks ... none of mine have been converted to eye dropper. I have given away 4 - 5 of these and no complaints from anyone as yet. For the cost of $1.6 / pen I did be happy even if I get 3 - 6 months usage from one. I keep several of them ready with different inks.

 

Going to order the 991 soon.

[truthpil]

 

 

Going to order the 991 soon.

I'm really looking forward to reading your thoughts about the 991 if you get one. I don't have a demonstrator model of the 992 to compare with, but my 991 demonstrator doesn't seem brittle and is pretty sturdy for an all plastic pen.

[Seele]

It finally happened to my sole "coffee": the start of a crack from the end just over 1mm long. It seems like the material gets stressed too much even if the plug is a moderately tight push fit. Like what Flounder did, I increased the clearance between the hole and the plug, but by enlarging the hole with a round-section needle file, proceeded very slowly and checking frequently. As soon as the hole is just sufficient to clear the plug, I cleaned it up and applied a tiny amount of epoxy resin into the edge of the "cup" for the plug, and replaced the plug carefully. The clear material allowed me to see if the resin had filled the space between the two parts, and now it seems to be holding nicely: I cannot see how new cracks can develop now.

 

It's worth mentioning that epoxy resin is not totally water resistant, so I do not think it is an ideal method to seal the end plug for eyedropper operation; this is just a way to prevent cracks from forming and can be applied preemptively as a prevention for those who use the 992 as C/C fillers, the way it is intended.

[AmandaW]

My clear demonstrator 992 arrived - no sign of any cracks. It writes nice and smooth too, but there's no way this is a fine nib even though it's marked F - it writes a broader line than my Lamy medium!

[loubapache]

I received four of these and they have no sign of any cracks now. I just removed the plugs to see if they crack. Put a Jinhao black cartridge into the black pen and it writes perfect. It is like a Japanese fine-medium nib, smooth and just wet enough. It balances nicely posted in my hand. If they do it with better materials, this would be an ideal pen for me.

 

Thank you for all your reviews and info. I ordered these because of this thread.

[Seele]

I received four of these and they have no sign of any cracks now. I just removed the plugs to see if they crack. Put a Jinhao black cartridge into the black pen and it writes perfect. It is like a Japanese fine-medium nib, smooth and just wet enough. It balances nicely posted in my hand. If they do it with better materials, this would be an ideal pen for me.

 

Thank you for all your reviews and info. I ordered these because of this thread.

 

Please keep us posted regarding the barrel ends and see if cracks would indeed develop with the absence of the end plugs!

[loubapache]

 

Please keep us posted regarding the barrel ends and see if cracks would indeed develop with the absence of the end plugs!

I sure will.

[Helen350]

My coffee colored 992 has developed even more cracks. Pulling the nib to use in another pen requiring a #5 nib. Got to use the blue demonstrator for approximately 9 days as an ED before it developed some leaking at the plug end Finally had to put the converter back in it. My two solid colored 992s have developed no cracks thus far. Will feel safer giving a solid color 992 away.

[loubapache]

So I inked another one (translucent blue) with a blue Jinhao cartridge. This one is even smoother than the solid black.

 

Both have the end plug removed so I will monitor if they crack after a while.

Edited June 25, 2017 by loubapache

[MontPelikan]

Finally I found out, how to embed the video!

 

 

 

 

Thank you for watching!

 

MontPelikan

Edited July 3, 2017 by MontPelikan

[Sailor Kenshin]

Finally had a catastrophic failure when my green demo, loaded with Noodler's GI Green, spewed ink all over, from everywhere. I cleaned the pen but can't find the source of the leak, and yes, my fingers are still deeeeep forest green.

[Flounder]

I'd just like to remind the newbs that you are NOT ASPOSED to crack the 992!!.

 

:-P

[loubapache]

Finally had a catastrophic failure when my green demo, loaded with Noodler's GI Green, spewed ink all over, from everywhere. I cleaned the pen but can't find the source of the leak, and yes, my fingers are still deeeeep forest green.

Were you using it as an eyedropper or just with cartridge or converter?

 

BTW, mine, with the plugs removed, show no sign of cracking, yet.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Were you using it as an eyedropper or just with cartridge or converter?

 

BTW, mine, with the plugs removed, show no sign of cracking, yet.

I don't do eyedroppers. This was with the converter.

[suharsh]

Almost similar breakage on my brown pen too! The seller had told me the brown ones have the most problem! One of the greens has a crack where you no longer need a magnifying glass to find it .. but I do think I may have dropped it once - of course it is brittle that even one drop caused the crack! Other than that ... other pens seem to be holding ok!

 

I am trying to take the nib off in this pen and I am just unable to! I screwed off the top plastic portion that holds the nib and the feed .. removed the tiny o-ring and after that it just doesn't come out! Is it friction fitted in? Any thoughts ideas?

 

[EDIT] : I was able to remove the feed and nib ... it took a while and lot of force. Feed got damaged ... nib is now reused with a MOHI eyedropper pen!

 

 

UPDATE II:

Hello all,

Some sad news to report...

http://i.imgur.com/N2eEYmp.jpg


It happened when I tried unscrewing the cap to write a short note. This pen was never dropped and it never left my desk at home.

I pulled the nib and feed and kept the converter and tossed all the plastics. This pen was still on its FIRST fill of ink.

I think the plastic on these pens is excessively brittle; I've also experienced some of the trademark Jinhao "dry out" with the other 3 I'm testing, (I was hoping threaded caps would eliminate that problem, but no).

This whole experience brought to mind something my father always used to try to drum into my thick head...

"You get what you pay for."

The purchase of a non-disposable item should profit BOTH parties; I paid $1.67 for this pen and it was to Jinhao's profit; not mine. I never expected to bequeath this pen to anyone, but I didn't expect it fail in less than a week's time, either.

- Anthony

EDIT, PS: In case you've read my first "Update"; you might be wondering where the fifth pen is... I had given it to my mom to play with and she lost it... the pen, that is.

Edited July 4, 2017 by suharsh

[Miaxina]

Mine had no sign of cracks but when I tried to open the barrel...*crack* XD the threads between the barrel and section cracked. RIP

[bongo47]

My Coffee colored one I got about a month ago has started to crack on the barrel end. Not sure it ever left home, and certainly spent most of the month laying quietly. I've cleaned it out and stored it. Not really interested in it exploding ink like Sailor Kenshin's. A whole $1.38 down the drain. Actually bummed though because it wrote well and looked good. Would have probably bought more and given them to my kids.

[anuvratfpn]

Hard to say. I'll probably throw this pen away and keep feed and nib as backups.

I had one lying unused, not even dip tested still it had a crack in the bottom of the barrel, same as yours. I believe it's a problem with the demo models, the solid one doesn't have this issue.

Also ordered the 991 model, the sleek version of 992 or rather fountain pen version of uniball eye. 😂

I'll have to be careful with that when it arrives, will raise the issue with the seller if this issue persists in 991 too.

 

Sad to say, I had high hopes from plastic quality of 992, but seeing this crack made me rate it below the 599 demo model.

Edited July 7, 2017 by anuvratfpn

[anuvratfpn]

My coffee colored 992 has developed even more cracks. Pulling the nib to use in another pen requiring a #5 nib. Got to use the blue demonstrator for

approximately 9 days as an ED before it developed some leaking at the plug end Finally had to put the converter back in it. My two solid colored 992s have developed no cracks thus far. Will feel safer giving a solid color 992 away.

I was really excited for this pen, gave my exams with this one(just 6 pages though with a converter luckily) the crack in the barrel bottom makes me really annoyed. First you wait anxiously for the pen to come from China, and then it's not up to he mark.

Sad part was I saw the crack in the barrel after visvamitra reported the issue.

Before that I wasn't paying any heed to it.

 

What is your experience with the solid version?

[anuvratfpn]

Mine are still holding pretty ok despite some faint cracks ... none of mine have been converted to eye dropper. I have given away 4 - 5 of these and no complaints from anyone as yet. For the cost of $1.6 / pen I did be happy even if I get 3 - 6 months usage from one. I keep several of them ready with different inks.

 

Going to order the 991 soon.

Did your 991 arrived? Please tell your review if so.I have booked mine. Will take another 2 weeks to reach me.