JinHao 86... well dang!

[awa54]

I snagged one of these on a whim, as a $7 (with S&H) pen with a screw cap, using a converter and available in interesting colors seemed to be worth taking a chance on.

the first example I ordered has a dark blue barrel and was stated to be fitted with an EF nib.

 

in my opinion, this model is better than many of the "premium" designs from China that sell for $10-$30. 

the cap and clip are sturdy and well finished, without being overly heavy, plus the plastic section and barrel are nicely solid feeling and attractively colored.

the barrel coupler is metal with an o-ring for tension and the converter works well, though its end cap can be ejected simply by continuing to advance the screw after the piston bottoms...

the nib is smooth, yet crisp, always starts and the feed/cap system was able to withstand several weeks of undiluted Noodler's Navy use without a hiccup (that ink has gummed up, but not permanently harmed several of my vintage open nibbed pens).

I switched it to another very colorant dense ink (Diamine Oxblood) and it's handling that with aplomb as well.

 

in light of that result, I snagged four more (with shared S&H they came out to be $4 each), three more EF nibs and one "0.7mm" art/fude/bent nib. I probably should have grabbed one in a fine too...

the second batch didn't disappoint either, all excellent writers with no pre-wash or fiddling around/tuning required.

the EF nibs put down: .25mm, .40mm, .45mm and .45mm lines, as always, ink likely has significant influence on these numbers.

the art nib gave .25mm tip down, .35mm held perfectly vertically, .45mm with the nib flat to the paper on a downstroke and .75mm maximum on cross strokes. an interesting nib, that I'll have to experiment with. definitely not a great tool for writing cursive or even printed English though.

 

My three reservations with the model are that there's an exposed screw inside the cap (rust some day?), the cap threads are both short and single lead (possible wear issues in future and lots of cap turning to open) and third, the "khaki" and "peacock blue" barrel colors are variable in different light, so they shift from a satisfying mustard yellow to washed out tan and teal to faded blue-green depending on the illumination.

 

time will tell if the initial impression stands after long use, but I like these enough that they're going to be in rotation on a regular basis, so I should have a long term opinion sooner, rather than later.

[pgomme]

Earlier this year, I bought a Jinhao 86. The nib is 0.38 mm (extra fine?) and writes great - much better than it's price point would suggest.

 

My only complaints:

 

1. The steel band on the converter isn't fixed. So, when I fill the pen, I can't hold the converter at the steel band, but rather have to hold it farther down on the clear part. This is a bit of a hassle if the ink level in the bottle is down.

 

2. The pictures on AliExpress showed an orange pen. The one I received is pink. Had I known, I'd have chosen a different color.

[Mech-for-i]

Totally agree , the only thing the 86 and the 85 I feel like hating is the arrow clip but this is resolved when I swap in the sturdier 51a ball clip , I had not go around trying but will likely replace the cap finale screw long term down the road with nylon screw and of course the simple solution against the converter is simply swapping in a better 

 

 

My 86 Mustard with a 85 cap modded with the 51a ball clip ,  I find that to be aesthetically the best combo so far 

 

And I've got the orange 86 , well it's orange that I've got , in fact I've not encountered any pink on retail , weird this is

[garyc]

Funny, I too have recently been using my Jinhao 86s, they are quite excellent value for money. My 'orange' example is veering to the pink side of things too.  I do like the mustard with the 85 cap, a good combo. I tried mine on my dark blue 86 and it goes well too, less 'gaudy' in fact than the shiny blue 85 it came from. I am not so much offended by the arrow clip, so not sure I'd go to the trouble of swapping one in - the only one I have to hand is on an older wood Jinhao 51A with slip on cap.  

[VillersCotterets]

Two new caps have been released. 

[awa54]

Update:

 

all of the pens have been inked since before my initial post and all are writing at the first touch still!

 

I would rate the cap seal as above average.

 

@VillersCotterets thanks for the heads-up those new cap designs look nice!

[VillersCotterets]

Unfortunately, so far I've only seen the new caps sold in packs of four pens. To get the two new caps, you have to buy 8 pens and you end up with multiples of the same colors.

[welch]

What is the .7mm "art nib" like? My favorite pen is a P-51 with US medium nib, as tuned by Greg Minuskin. Is the .7mm similar to an old US medium?

[Penguincollector]

6 hours ago, welch said:

What is the .7mm "art nib" like? My favorite pen is a P-51 with US medium nib, as tuned by Greg Minuskin. Is the .7mm similar to an old US medium?

  It’s a bent nib, depending on the angle it’s held, goes from fine to broad, I think. There’s a picture of the nibs in in this eBay listing:

.38 and .7 nibs

[AmandaW]

Does the dark blue 86 look blue? Or so dark it could be mistaken for black?

 

I'm lookng for a dark blue pen that won't dry out too easily and thinking the 86 might be It.