Wing's (Wing Sung) 3001A Self Destructs

[bob_hayden]

I could have sworn there had been discussion on FPN of this and other 78G clones (Yiren?) and I meant to append this to such a thread but could not find any. These pens are still for sale so it seems relevant to add that I set one of these down on a soft surface and came back later to find the cap had separated into two pieces.

 

http://statland.org/PenPix/3001A.jpg

 

 

The photo is pretty poor but does make clear what happened. I guess it isn't just Jinhaos that do such things! I was not too upset because this pen was slated for retirement because unscrewing the cap would unscrew the section. Other than that annoyance, it had been a very nice pen, so I ordered another.

 

 

 

Edited July 13, 2020 by bob_hayden

[gammada]

Everytime I'm about to order a Chinese pen, a post such as this one surfaces and my intentions get back to storage. I really don't quite get what is it with Chinese manufacturers producing such an amazing amounts of "disposable" pens that shouldn't be. Guess I'll keep buying vintage!

[Mannyonpil]

Everytime I'm about to order a Chinese pen, a post such as this one surfaces and my intentions get back to storage. I really don't quite get what is it with Chinese manufacturers producing such an amazing amounts of "disposable" pens that shouldn't be. Guess I'll keep buying vintage!

I would still encourage you to order one. I have been using my Wing Sung 601 and Wing Sung 699 on a daily basis for months and have had no problems. They are great pens for the money and if something does happen, they are quite easily replaced.

 

The 699 is certainly not the Pilot 823 after which it has been modeled; the main difference is in the nib. Still, it is a great pen for the price and I have put a lot of miles on mine since I got it.

[bob_hayden]

My experience with vintage pens is mostly limited to pens I bought new many years ago and I would have to admit that the plastic on those has never self-destructed. But my limited experience buying used old pens is that issues due to age or wear are common. Most of the expensive pens I bought new in the past 30 years have long since been sold because they did not suit. If I buy a pen new for $120 and then end up selling it as used the financial loss can be more than the loss involved in tossing a dozen Chinese pens.

[gammada]

My experience with vintage pens is mostly limited to pens I bought new many years ago and I would have to admit that the plastic on those has never self-destructed. But my limited experience buying used old pens is that issues due to age or wear are common. Most of the expensive pens I bought new in the past 30 years have long since been sold because they did not suit. If I buy a pen new for $120 and then end up selling it as used the financial loss can be more than the loss involved in tossing a dozen Chinese pens.

That is indeed a good point. Thanks for the insight.

[gammada]

I would still encourage you to order one. I have been using my Wing Sung 601 and Wing Sung 699 on a daily basis for months and have had no problems. They are great pens for the money and if something does happen, they are quite easily replaced.

 

The 699 is certainly not the Pilot 823 after which it has been modeled; the main difference is in the nib. Still, it is a great pen for the price and I have put a lot of miles on mine since I got it.

Thanks for the encouragement. Guess you are right. Not a lot to invest in a pen that perhaps, will turn to be a favorite writer.

[bob_hayden]

There are three ongoing roles for pens in my life. I normally carry a black pen with black ink for general purpose writing and a red pen with red ink for markup. Then I keep a blue pen on my desk with permanent blue-black ink for writing checks and filling out official forms and signing them. For all three I prefer an XF nib, and those are much easier to come by from China. I also keep a raft of miscellaneous pens and inks at the ready for occasional use. Lately the Wing Sung 3001As have been my top choice for the pens I use all the time. In particular, I prefer them to the Pilot 78Gs I had back when. In March I ordered one red and one black 3001A at about $1.50US each. More recently I looked for a blue one. 3001As are now hard to fine and cost three to four times as much as they did back in March. I did find an identical-looking Lucky 9159 for $3.50. ("Lucky" was a past sub-brand of Wing Sung.) That pen is just fine but the F nib is broader than I would like. So, the nib from the broken 3001A is now in that pen where it is working out well. So looking at that broken pen I can think of it as $1.50 spent for an excellent nib;-)

 

As an aside, a two to fourfold increase in cost of purchase for Chinese inks and pens seems common right now. I do not know why, but for a long time mail from China to the US was heavily subsidized by the US. This came about because at the time it was instituted China was considered a Third World country. But now it is the world's second largest economy and the US has for some time wanted to stop subsidizing its mail.

[gammada]

 

 

As an aside, a two to fourfold increase in cost of purchase for Chinese inks and pens seems common right now. I do not know why, but for a long time mail from China to the US was heavily subsidized by the US. This came about because at the time it was instituted China was considered a Third World country. But now it is the world's second largest economy and the US has for some time wanted to stop subsidizing its mail.

Interesting information, both on your usage habits and over the subsidized mail. I've never ordered anything from China. The only Chinese-branded pen I own, was bought on Amazon and was already in the States. But I've heard recently that it's taking more than a month for pens to arrive from there. Also noticed the price increase on several of them.

 

I find it kind of complicated to follow Chinese pen models. Last year I wanted to buy a Wing Sung copy of the Parker 51, but then I started to see sale publications with a different model number for what looked like the same pen, and then with a different year of issue (something related to enhancements I think). So, thank you for your recommendations on models.

 

I also like fine nibs, but fortunately I was able to buy some pretty cheap Platinum P66 vintage pens in NOS condition that have the best fine nibs I've ever used. I also own a discontinued Pentel pen that even manages to give a little springiness to your writing. So my guess is that either am surprised by Chinese pens, or I find them a little underperforming.

 

The nib on my Duke 209 is a fude, and I can say is pretty nice. Never had issues with it.

[bob_hayden]

About two months ago I ordered two bottles of ink and two pens from three different sellers in China. One is still not here while the rest just arrived. Wait times and prices doubling or tripling at the same time is not good for business.

 

I have been watching Chinese pens for many years and the appearance of model years and random reassignment of model numbers is fairly recent. The model years I associate with pens that had defects when first introduced. The Jinhao 992 had a reputation for cracking, while some piston fillers squirted you if you bumped the filler knob and some pens had screws inside the caps that rusted away. The renumbering is more mysterious but sometimes there is an actual change. When the Jinhao 991 was introduced the publicity pictures showed both translucent and opaque plastic bodies, but only the translucent appeared on the market. A couple years later the opaque models appeared numbered 994. I have half a dozen of each and would say that another "feature" of the new model was a quality decrease.

 

I suggest never buying just one cheap Chinese pen. Buy two. You might get two good pens but you might get one good pen and a parts pen;-)