Mass Review Of Chinese Pens

[medicalcpa]

Sorry if I was implying that your opinion was somehow invalid, I totally didn't mean that. I was just sharing my experiences, since I've had the pens that I'm commenting on for over a year.

 

Most of the less expensive chinese pens, giving reports on nib quality is kind of pointless since the cheaper stuff tends to have very hit and miss due to quality control. The exceptions being moonman, penBBS and wing sung.

My experience with Wing Sung nibs has been the opposite. I recently bought a Wing Sung 3001A, and got a dud nib that would not write. I got a different nib that writes fine, though, so Wing Sung has been hit-or-miss for me.

[Honeybadgers]

the 3001A is a $3 pen. No pen in the sub-$8 range can be expected to have any serious quality control, apart from the pilot varsity and platinum preppy.

[senzen]

I am intrigued by the wing sung 601a, but I don't want to deal with any reliability issues, particularly since it's meant to replace a Waterman Laureat that discharges its ink into the cap, in spite of many attempts at repairing it. A boring, safe choice might be a Metropolitan with a CM nib or see if I hit the jackpot on ebay with higher end models from other brands. Any other options? A design that's a blatant rip off is also a negative (to me, doesn't mean to everyone).

[Honeybadgers]

the 601a is probably a bit of a gamble, those are old stock chinese conical nibs. I have a 233 with one and it's... meh. The standard 601 is a glorious modern parker 51.

[senzen]

the 601a is probably a bit of a gamble, those are old stock chinese conical nibs. I have a 233 with one and it's... meh. The standard 601 is a glorious modern parker 51.

 

Thanks, that's a shame, I don't have a lot of patience; I was looking at penbbs, it's quite intriguing, but ended up with a safe, used european option. Still my impression is some Chinese vendors might be about to create something special, if only they care to ensure reliability, which might be as simple as not including a super cheap converter with the 308. Having their own design and building a brand people seek (as opposed of just because of the price) would be next step.

[MuddyWaters]

I do think the Chinese market is where it's at for fountain pens. Nothing in my OP could replace the experience of trying how all these pens feel for each person. The nice thing with these pens is that one can try many different "typical" and less typical fountain pen models for peanuts, which isn't the case when one has to buy expensive (>$20) pens and realize the shape or the nib isn't for them.

 

And yes, some of these Chinese pens are of very high quality. The 6539 by Wing Sung for example makes an excellent extra fine nib, smooth and writes with no pressure, that is extremely useful for work, as the pen is made of light metal and the clip is the best (safari style).

 

Anyway, that's my plug for Chinese pens. If anything, and here HoneyBadgers may disagree with me, I think their 20$ models have not lived up yet (nibs aren't that good or have bent nibs which I dislike, and bodies are not that comfortable for the price). I include penbbs, moonman, delike. I'm waiting for a WS 601 impatiently though. I hope that nib has a little more feedback than the 698 nib had.

[keybers]

I have had a totally different experience than you with the Jinhao 911. Mine writes very well, with a fairly juicy line. It is prone to dry out in the feed (I came back from >1month of traveling, picked up the 911 which still had ink in the converter, but the feed was totally dried out—and by that apparently sealed the entry to the converter which allowed the ink there to be preserved—so I dripped some water onto the nib while the pen was nib-up, and it writes again). But the metal construction means I can throw it into my jacket pocket (which I think I don't do with any of my other pens, but in this case the combination of sturdiness and cheapness—$2—allows it), and as long as I write with it at least every other day, it's a very good EDC. Yours were obviously a dud. With Chinese QC being what it is, you probably should have bought at least a couple of each model that you were trying out. I have now bought two more 911s (that are yet to arrive).

Edited November 17, 2018 by keybers