Jinhao X750 Short Review

[visvamitra]

In the beginning of my fountain pen quest I was hooked by variety of reasonably priced chinese fountain pens. Jinahos and Baoers propelled me into the hobby. With time I switched to more expensive pens with more nuanced design but I still enjoy some of chinese creations. Jinhao X750 is among my favorite ones.

The X750 is a cigar shaped brass fountain pen that comes in a lot of finishes, I tried all of them and I think checkerboard one looks best. Of course the pattern is far from perfect – some of the squares overlap awkwardly, some are smudged and so on. The pattern is ingrained (anodized?) in the metal of the body and cap. It shouldn’t wear off easily.

Snap on cap works well but in some pens it may become wobbly with time, especially if you tend to post your pens. I’m not a poster. Unless I’m using Kaweco Sport but that’s a different story. Clip does what’s it supposed to do well but it doesn’t look particluarly interesting. In some pieces it’s incredibly stiff. The centre band (rather ugly) is silver and etched with the words “JINHAO” and “X750” on opposite ends with some flourishes separating them. Both ends of the Jinhao X750, clip and centre band has a polished mirror finish.

The plastic grip section tapers towards a metal ring separating it from the nib. As this ring is slightly wider than the grip section it may serve as a nice resting point for fingers if you grip close to the nib.

Nib

Montblanc Jonathan Swift on Oxford Paper

The nib looks like a standard #6 medium. It’s not particluarly nice but I don’t mind as it performs very well. I got a smooth writing experience with no skipping or hard starts. Both nib and feed easily slide in and out of the section, with little effort required. This makes it very easy to clean the pen.

Filling System

The Jinhao X750 comes with a standard international converter. However it takes a standard international cartridge if you prefer to use them.

Dimensions

Weight: 37g
Capped: 141.5mm
Uncapped: 125.5mm

Summary

This pen costs less than 5$. You really can’t go wrong with it. And even if your taste will change with time, one of these can be used with riskier inks or as workhorse pen that’s not afraid to get some beating. It feels weighty and ponderous in the hand so if you prefer featherlight fountain pens this one won’t be for you.

[usk15]

Agree 100% with your review. On mine I manage to change the nib and feed with JoWo #6.

[TSherbs]

nice review, thanks

[Sagarb]

Thanks for the review Viswamitra, I thought of reviewing it several times since it's the best Jinhao pen to me.Enjoyed your review thoroughly..

[truthpil]

Thanks for the review. Although it's a hefty pen and wears out my hand in long writing sessions, this pen probably sees more use than most of the others in my collection. I regularly switch back and forth between the original nib and a Goulet/JoWo 1.1 stub and I love how wet this pen writes. It even makes the driest of iron galls glisten on the page.

[TSherbs]

Thanks for the review. Although it's a hefty pen and wears out my hand in long writing sessions, this pen probably sees more use than most of the others in my collection. I regularly switch back and forth between the original nib and a Goulet/JoWo 1.1 stub and I love how wet this pen writes. It even makes the driest of iron galls glisten on the page.

truth

[Miaxina]

Thank you for the review! I love this pen except for the fact that the grip section of mine started..chafing(?) after a few weeks of daily use.

[Novelstatesman]

I use my X750 with the X450 two-tone nib on it. On the other hand I slapped on a Zebra G nb on my X450 because i prefer the X750 grip and lighter weight for longer handwriting sessions and the heavier X450 for occassional calligraphy work during the weekends

Edited June 6, 2017 by Novelstatesman

[Dragonmaster Lou]

I used to love my x750, even when the paint started coming off. However, what did it in was when the cap band that secures the cap when it's snapped on came off.

[wd7512]

Could someone please explain to me the difference between x750, 450 and 250?

[WJM]

Great review, thank you.

Agree with it, also. X750 is a great workhorse pen but I'm also not so keen on some of its design elements. The centre band is, as you wrote, rather ugly and completely out of place in this overall, very simply designed pen.

Could someone please explain to me the difference between x750, 450 and 250?

 

There's not much to explain. They're different pens. X750 and X450 have the same nibs (except the one in X450 is two toned) so the writing quality is pretty much the same. 250 is a bit smaller pen and has a smaller and finer nib.

Edited June 6, 2017 by WJM

[TranquilTrout]

Could someone please explain to me the difference between x750, 450 and 250?

 

I don't really know anything about the 250 but the x750 is a little bit larger in size than the x450 but the x450 is quite a bit heavier. And as said above, the x450 comes with a two-toned nib while the x750 is usually just silver as far as I'm aware.

Edited June 6, 2017 by TranquilTrout

[neptun]

Also the X450 has that triangular grip section whilst the X750 has a round, slightly conical one. The X250 is a different design with wider rings on the barrel and so on.

 

I bought two X750s, one in the Red Lava finish and one in Shimmering sands. The Lava one is probably my favourite, it is very pretty. The nibs both needed some tweaking as the flow was a bit weird, but since they are removable it's easy to just bend them a bit to ones liking.

Edited June 7, 2017 by neptun

[Cyriljay]

Nice review and thanks for sharing.

I have several X750 they are solid and write well. But for my choice, they are too smooth and as I like nibs with slight feedback on the papers and extra fine, fine-medium writing I have to replace them all. As the best thing is they could be adapted to various writing with changeable nibs.

And again instead of getting a costly pen and get stuck into one writing instrument and get bored of your wiring, you can see a different approach to improve your writing style and pleasure of writing.

[AmandaW]

I have two x750 - both arrived with wobbly caps and problems with drying out. I don't post my pens and didn't have a chance to use them much because the ink would be reduced to a residue very quickly in my dry climate.

 

Adding an o-ring to the top of the grip section fixed both problems.

 

I uploaded a photo of it in another thread - but can repeat it here if it's wanted.

[ENewton]

Thank you for the review! I love this pen except for the fact that the grip section of mine started..chafing(?) after a few weeks of daily use.

 

I have a rebranded one and see erosion of the coating on the grip section after only a week of daily use. I received the pen for free and therefore do not feel entitled to a replacement.

 

The pen writes a consistent, wet line for a short period of time, but the line becomes progressively weaker, and on occasion the flow has stopped, in the course of an hour of note-taking.

 

Still, I am glad to have the pen for scribbles and for trying inks. The weakening flow even has its virtue, because when I try an ink, I can get a sense of how it will look in a wetter pen and in a drier one, without having to load multiple pens.

[truthpil]

 

I have a rebranded one and see erosion of the coating on the grip section after only a week of daily use. I received the pen for free and therefore do not feel entitled to a replacement.

 

The pen writes a consistent, wet line for a short period of time, but the line becomes progressively weaker, and on occasion the flow has stopped, in the course of an hour of note-taking.

 

Still, I am glad to have the pen for scribbles and for trying inks. The weakening flow even has its virtue, because when I try an ink, I can get a sense of how it will look in a wetter pen and in a drier one, without having to load multiple pens.

 

It sounds like you may need to remove the nib and feed and unclog the feed. These pens are known to be wet writers with excellent flow.

I had the same problem with the coating on the section. When it started getting gummy and coming off, I just just scrubbed it all off and the pen still looks and writes great. I've been using my second one for over a year now on a regularly basis and the grippy stuff on the section was the only thing that wore off. I have noticed that they do tend to develop leaks in the section over time and sometimes ink can get trapped and randomly leak onto your fingers from some place between the main part of the section and one of its metal rings. It isn't much of a problem though.

[ENewton]

 

It sounds like you may need to remove the nib and feed and unclog the feed.

 

I flushed the pen before inking it for the first time. Then I filled it with an ink that flows well in every other pen in which I have tried it. I have written with the pen every day and stored it overnight with the nib up. How would the feed have gotten clogged?

[truthpil]

I flushed the pen before inking it for the first time. Then I filled it with an ink that flows well in every other pen in which I have tried it. I have written with the pen every day and stored it overnight with the nib up. How would the feed have gotten clogged?

Something like tiny plastic shavings may have ended up in the ink channel on the feed. Flossing the nib and feed might do the trick.

 

Another possibility is that the converter might be sealing too tightly so there is a vacuum effect going on to prevent flow. I've had that problem with the newer Jinhao converter iny 165. If you have a different type of Jinhao converter around that might also solve the problem.

[k3eax]

Something like tiny plastic shavings may have ended up in the ink channel on the feed. Flossing the nib and feed might do the trick.

 

Another possibility is that the converter might be sealing too tightly so there is a vacuum effect going on to prevent flow. I've had that problem with the newer Jinhao converter iny 165. If you have a different type of Jinhao converter around that might also solve the problem.

 

Could you please explain what you mean by the "vacuum effect" caused by the converter sealing too tightly?

My understanding is that the converter should seal tightly and that a vacuum is prevented by air passing through the channel into the converter.