Review Of A Colorful Yiren School Pen (312?)

[bob_hayden]

I'd love to tell you what pen I am reviewing but the seller is not too forthcoming. The only clue is that in a specs table the maker is listed as "YI" and I do remember a Chinese pen manufacturer whose name is sometimes rendered Yi Ren. The pens themselves are clearly labeled "Yiren" on the clips and nibs. There is no model number but there is a UPC sticker with a bar code, a few Chinese characters, and off in a corner the numeral "312". I guessed this might be the model number, and later noted that another pen with a known model number had that printed in the same location. I hope the seller will not mind my borrowing their photo for identification purposes in a positive review.

 

http://statland.org/PenPix/PurpleYiren.jpg

 

These run under $2 on eBay in the US of A. They look to me to be a bit bright for people wearing suits, but contain no cute animals or flowers as is common is pens aimed at primary schools. Others colors are red, turquoise, and orange. So let us say that these might be used by high school or college students, adults in the privacy of their own home, or office workers at a rank where a Mont Blanc would be considered ostentation. The purple barrel of this one looks like anodized aluminum but may be plastic. In any event it has a hole in the end and I can easily blow air through it so it is not a natural for turning into an eyedropper. The purple trim on the clip definitely looks like plastic. The clip is a bit like a scaled down version of the paper clip style of the Lamy Safari. There is a bump on the cap that falls inside the rounded end and I thought that might have been intended to give it a better grip on your picket, but in my experience it makes it harder to clip on, but no harder to get off. The cap and section have a rubberized finish that feels slightly soft on the section. It looks quite nice right now but in general such finished tend to peel or get ratty looking as dirt and abrasion make different parts of it appear different. The section has modest flats to encourage a politically correct grip, though I had no trouble being incorrect. The nib bears the inscription "YIREN EF" as its only adornment. It is curved downward toward the page in the claw-like manner of the nibs on many old Wind Sungs such as the 500 or 333.

 

The pen takes wide-bore cartridges. I bought three pens and a Parker cartridge seems happy in one, and no leaks have shown up after three days. I have Lamy-style cartridges in the other two, and while they fit easily, they lodge in the barrel and do not come out with the section, which means there is a risk of making a mess if you unscrew the section before the cartridge is empty. I did not need tools to extract them. I did not test the converters nor the Hero 359 cartridges. One of the pens has an L-shaped slot in the sleeve that surrounds the cartridge that looks like it might have been meant to to engage a matching pin on a converter to lock it in place, but the supplied converters were all pinless. The pens wrote surprisingly soon after inserting the cartridges. One wrote immediately. The nibs are about a Western XF All three were quite smooth. They then rested for three days after which two wrote immediately and one did not. The odd one out had a Thornton Blue Lamy-style cartridge in it and those are known to be reluctant starters. Still, it was very easy to get it going again.

 

I find these pens attractive and cheerful and very good writers. Their main disadvantage for me is that they prefer Parker cartridges, and those are available in a limited range of colors, and standard international cartridges are available much more cheaply in those colors. These are cheap enough to give away, and some recipients might find the bright colors attractive, and a Mont Blanc drab.

[virgilio]

Thanks for the well-written and informative review.

 

There are several models of Yirens up on amazon.com. I have a five-pack of the Yiren 358 ordered. They are rather psychedelic in color, with EF nibs, but look rather pretty, at least in the photos. Converters. 5 for $15. Some people have had trouble pulling the nibs tho.

[bob_hayden]

Thanks. There is a thread on the 358.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/321330-yiren-358-with-ef-nib-for-those-who-like-it-smallest/

 

I prefer the nearly identical WingS 3001 but the 358 is very nice as well..

[bob_hayden]

Follow-Up

 

The Parker cartridge did eventually seep ink around where it seats on the section, and the Lamy-style cartridge was captured by what looks like a spring down inside the barrel. It was very hard to remove. So I need to try Hero 359 cartridges, though the colors are so limited for those that we might as well consider these bottle-fill only ;-(

[bob_hayden]

I did a long review of pens under $2

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/330996-best-cheap-fountain-pens-under-2-us/

 

and continue to watch that market. From time to time I see something interesting and order it. In this case it was a purple see-through pen that turned out to be a Yiren 312A - an alternate version of the pen above. It is listed as

 

Fashion High quality 565 Transparent purple student School office fountain pen

 

in contrast with the pen above which is

 

1pc new Purple Plastic fashion Lightweight popular Finance EF Fountain Pen

which is $1.76 compared to $1.99 for the A version. I was surprised by the price difference as the A looks like the economy version to me but then see-through pens are popular right now (e.g., the Jinhao 991 and some models of their 599 and 992).

 

The barrel and cap of the A are tinted see-through plastic while the section is clear plastic. Although the barrels look like they could have come out of the same mold, the A holds air. I am not sure you can rely on that, though. In both cases there is a dimple in the end that looks like it might be where the part breaks off when it comes out of the mold so perhaps it is just chance that a hole was left in one case but not the other. So, a gamble for those who might want to eyedropper. The A is still a better choice for that as it also seems to be lacking the spring like part inside which might be metal. As a result, it does not latch onto Lamy cartridges which fit perfectly. Right now I have a Thornton cartridge for Lamy pens in place holding purple ink. Only time will tell if this will lead to a slow leak.

 

The nib on this A is both finer and smoother than that on the original. I do not know if that is a characteristic of the A model or just the luck of the draw. It is outstandingly smooth for an XXF.

 

I prefer the looks of the regular s12 but if Lamy cartridges work in the A model I would prefer it for actual use. Both are very nice pens for the price.

[Snowyfox]

Thanks for the review.

 

Is the cap and grip material felt? Or just black plastic? ._.

 

Just fully read post (you said it was a rubberised finish).

I'm not sure what you mean by that, though; is it like, full-on rubber, or is it something else with a thin rubber-feeling layer?

Edited March 17, 2018 by Snowyfox

[bob_hayden]

The coating is pretty thin and seems to be mostly cosmetic though it does make the coated parts slightly more grippable than the uncoated parts. The surface is a flat black with no sheen at all. The surface feels pretty hard. I think all but the nib and clip are plastic underneath.

[Snowyfox]

And here I thought a Chinese pen company finally made some original design...

 

Nope. It's just a copy of the ONLINE cartridge Switch Plus.

 

 

I'll give them props for at least picking something more obscure and cheaper.

 

Still, though, it's a good entry into the cheap pen list you're compiling. Keep us updated!

Edited March 17, 2018 by Snowyfox

[bob_hayden]

Good detective work! Will somebody copy the dreadful Sheaffer Reaktor?

[bob_hayden]

Follow-up

 

Only one of the opaque 312s is inked now -- from a bottle. It has been one of two or three pens with blue-black ink I use for writing checks and filling out official forms. One of the pens gets used about once a week. In this use it has performed perfectly and is always ready to write even though it goes for days without being called upon to do so.

 

The 312As have been used much less often. The purple one just started immediately. Inside is a purple Lamy-style cartridge. There has been some internal leakage and I think I'd better use this one only with bottled ink. The green pen shows only slight seepage around a Lamy-style cartridge. There is a sleeve that's part of the section that surrounds the open end of the cartridge and the seepage is confined to the interior of that sleeve. So I would say this one seems OK with Lamy cartridges, though one might want to remove them carefully as one end may be wet. The blue one has a Hero 359 cartridge and I see no trace of seepage there.

 

The pens themselves perform very well, but I miss the option to use cartridges in a wide variety of colors. If you do not use cartridges anyway, this will not be a n issue.

[Andan]

This Yiren pen has been an unexpectedly good writer for me, performing light years above its price point. The EF on the nib is for extra fine (we would abbreviate as XF) and it is an Asian XF- *very very* fine. The only downside over the 2 to 3 months that I've had it is that because it is plastic, though it looks like anodized aluminium, there is beginning to be some light wear from posting the cap.

 

The good news for you all is that the cartridges it takes are Aihao. You can get a box or blister pack of 12 colours for around $1.50 on eBay. The listing I used even stated they were made for Yiren pens. I haven't had a suggestion of leaking. Search "fountain pen ink" though, not "Aihao" and check the photos for the brand. There are identical looking but not identical sized Chren cartridges that I'm not sure will work- I'll let you know when they arrive😀

 

Aihao make cute pens for kids- I just got my daughter her first fountain pen with bunny ears on it (poket bunny). A long way from some of the works of art on this forum, but near indestructible, she likes it, and it writes *incredibly* well for what it is.

 

Hope the cartridge info helps someone out!

[bob_hayden]

Actually there are a number of options now. Black and blue cartridges are on eBay USA under the Yiren brand name. I seem to remember liking them better than other Chinese inks. And I currently have a purple CHREN cartridge in one of the 312s where it seems quite happy. The CHREN come in 12 packs of 12 assorted colors.

[amberleadavis]

Thank you for the review. I like the color but I won't be acquiring one of these. I love the broad nibs.