Pleasantly Surprise By How Good This 99Cents Pen Is!

[Gamgee]

I recently ordered 4 Jinhao pens (two X450's, one X750, and one in white porcelain) for about 1.99 cents each and two of them with free shipping!!!

 

When i received the pens and had flushed them with warm water, I inked them with some Waterman ink and was shocked at how good they were - right out of the box! They put a nice, smooth, wet line. I have been rotating them and using them extensively for work and journaling and i am very impressed!! In fact it wrote much better than a €55 Kaweco AL-Sport that I bought, which skipped like crazy and drove me nuts!!

 

This made me think whether money can buy a better writing experience. After a certain price point ofcourse we pay for aesthetics, art, brand value, etc. But for pens under €100 I think price does not equal good writing experience. You thoughts?

 

Anyways, I would highly highly recommend the Jinhao pens especially for the money you spend!

Edited February 25, 2015 by Gamgee

[rochester21]

You should post this on the asian pens subforum. On this site, there are some people who don`t like hearing about cheap pens from China. They`re just too good and affordable to be appreciated by those who are only interested in prestige and prestigious brands. Just as the rich can`t stand the poor, they can`t stand pens made for the masses.

 

Anyhow, the people from Jinhao know how to make pens, they have good precision in manufacturing.

[Gamgee]

hahaha never thought about it that way But yeah the folks over at Jinhao are doing something right!!

Another good example of finding diamond in a lump of coal, is Muji Notebooks. I use this for fountain pen and ink journaling and the paper is solid!! It costs less than a third of the price for a Rhodia or Moleskin (dont get me started on the quality of Moleskin paper)!!

[tryphon]

Why do you feel the need to flush a new pen with warm water? Even if you believed the tale about traces of working oil from the mould (?), warm water wouldn't do much to remove those oils.

[Lamyrada]

I appreciate your thoughts. I have a Jinhao X750 I wouldn't sell or give away. It's a keeper. I have it tucked close to other more expensive pens (over $100) to make her company and use it in public, something the pen snobs wouldn't do.

Hurray for Jinhao. They are certainly doing something well and going ahead of the pack of the less expensive market for pens.

[Lamyrada]

This made me think whether money can buy a better writing experience. After a certain price point ofcourse we pay for aesthetics, art, brand value, etc. But for pens under €100 I think price does not equal good writing experience. You thoughts?

NOT ALWAYS, and it becomes too expensive to find the truth.

 

[rwilsonedn]

To be fair, for some people quality of materials, the history of a famous design, and even the knowledge of how much the pen cost are parts of the writing experience, and influence how they perceive the feel and performance of the pen. For people who do not value those things in the same way, or people like me who perversely value a bargain, the opposite may be true: if a pen is a good writer, I may have a better writing experience just because the pen was such a good deal.

ron

[Polanova]

hahaha never thought about it that way But yeah the folks over at Jinhao are doing something right!!

Another good example of finding diamond in a lump of coal, is Muji Notebooks. I use this for fountain pen and ink journaling and the paper is solid!! It costs less than a third of the price for a Rhodia or Moleskin (dont get me started on the quality of Moleskin paper)!!

 

The Muji Notebooks are indeed quite good, based on the spiral one I have.

The paper is thinner though & more expensive than the Clairefontaine (which is why I`ll buy the latter next time).

Even the Moleskine sketchbook is (bleep), btw!

[Sasha Royale]

Why do you feel the need to flush a new pen with warm water? Even if you believed the tale about traces of working oil from the mould (?), warm water wouldn't do much to remove those oils.

 

Soap ! Soap is prestigious. The masses use warm water, without soap. Results are

less than optimal. I love poor people. Otherwise, why would I own six of them ?

[BookCat]

The only actual Jinhao pen I own(I have a Baoer too and I think they're made by Jinhao) is the X450. I like light pens, for me this is just a bit too heavy. The nib is beautifully smooth but too wet and trying to rectify this might lead to loss of the smoothness, so I use it occasionally. Very good value though.

Edited February 25, 2015 by BookCat

[rochester21]

I love poor people. Otherwise, why would I own six of them ?

 

You said it.

 

Aristotle used to argue that slaves need their masters as much as masters need their slaves, but i say that the slaves(the poor people) are just suckers for letting themselves oppressed by the wealthy, who are indeed more intelligent for being capable of submitting the others to their will.

If the poor would be wise, there would be no more rich people, and Montblanc would go bankrupt in a matter of days.

 

In the meantime, i`il just buy more chinese pens to pass the time.

 

And by the way, soap isn`t prestigious in any way, many people in ,my country still make their own soap, mostly in the rural areas. It`s superior to commercial soap, and obviously cheaper. They say that the recipe has been around since ancient times, so...

Edited February 25, 2015 by rochester21

[Gamgee]

Why do you feel the need to flush a new pen with warm water? Even if you believed the tale about traces of working oil from the mould (?), warm water wouldn't do much to remove those oils.

To be honest, I'm new to proper fountain pens maintenance (although used fountain pens exclusively in school). I am still learning.. Next time will try with mild soap!

 

 

 

To be fair, for some people quality of materials, the history of a famous design, and even the knowledge of how much the pen cost are parts of the writing experience, and influence how they perceive the feel and performance of the pen. For people who do not value those things in the same way, or people like me who perversely value a bargain, the opposite may be true: if a pen is a good writer, I may have a better writing experience just because the pen was such a good deal.

ron

Yeah agreed! I am also one who has a wishlist and there are some $200+ pens in there. The biggest reason why they are there is because I'm hopping they will literally write better but for the ones you mentioned mainly the history, quality of materials and appearance.

But my experience (may be I am just unlucky) with the Kaweco Al-Sport which costed me approx. 25 times the price and performed poorly than the Jinhao just made me wonder about value!!

 

 

 

The Muji Notebooks are indeed quite good, based on the spiral one I have.

The paper is thinner though & more expensive than the Clairefontaine (which is why I`ll buy the latter next time).

Even the Moleskine sketchbook is (bleep), btw!

I have a softbound notebook (the one shown here in size A5 http://nibcreep.com/muji-notebooks/). I've seen no feathering, excellent shading on ink, and absolutely no bleed through!!

[Bo Bo Olson]

If you like heavy nails go Chinese. Could spend lots more for a heavy nail Chinese pen like a Cross.

 

I do have a few covered metal Pelikans but the nibs on my Celebry pens and the 381? or 391? (none are 'heavy' like my Chinese Townsend) are very nice 'true' regular flex.....I only have the basic 4-5 nails....that are seldom used.

 

On the whole I have vintage light good plastic or pre-war pens of different plastics. It's not just a light and nimble pen, it's the nibs, from regular flex out to superflex that I chase.

I'm not into nails or I'd have a few cheap heavy Chinese pens too.

Edited February 26, 2015 by Bo Bo Olson

[Notgatherox]

Yup I would agree the Muji notebooks are great. I use the looseleaf for school notes - and that's because I don't like notebooks. Japanese paper tend to be FP friendly - their culture is BIG on FPs.

 

As for the Chinese pens, I appreciate them. It's what I'm inclined to give as starter pens, they can be knocked around, aren't expensive and are good writers.

 

 

 

~Epic

[WateryFlow]

If you like heavy nails go Chinese.

Apart from the extra fine wing sung pens with the Sheaffer conical nib, I've never known Chinese pens to be nails. All the rest seem to have a little bit of flex to them, I'm glad to say.

Edited February 26, 2015 by WateryFlow

[Polanova]

 

 

Aristotle used to argue that slaves need their masters as much as masters need their slaves, but i say that the slaves(the poor people) are just suckers for letting themselves oppressed by the wealthy, who are indeed more intelligent for being capable of submitting the others to their will.

 

 

The slaves are being born into a world pre-imagined by the masters. The slaves are unable to see the big picture - only disassociated fragments.

 

Still, one is not a bad person if one does`t appreciate Chinese pens & one doesn`t need to be even in the neighborhood of being rich to occasionally indulge in a higher priced pen

[max dog]

When you mass produce a gazillion of them without any qc, there will be many that write great. Law of probability at work.

Edited February 27, 2015 by max dog

[Moshe ben David]

Now if they could only develop their own trademarks and design queues, instead of riding on the coattails of legitimate manufacturers.

 

The issue isn't their technical capability. The issue is their lack of ethics and honesty.

[rwilsonedn]

Now if they could only develop their own trademarks and design queues, instead of riding on the coattails of legitimate manufacturers.

 

The issue isn't their technical capability. The issue is their lack of ethics and honesty.

 

Not that again ...

[Ian the Jock]

Now if they could only develop their own trademarks and design queues, instead of riding on the coattails of legitimate manufacturers.

 

The issue isn't their technical capability. The issue is their lack of ethics and honesty.

 

 

Yaaaaaaawwwn.