Jinhao 82: A Great Pen Bargain

[Nhartist40]

I just reviewed the Jinhao 82 on YouTube, which I know is a clone of the Sailor Pro Gear, but it is quite a bargain, particularly if you swap the nib with the kind of Jowo #5 nib that you can get at Goulet pens. It also takes a Kaweco calligraphy, nib or a Fountain Revolution flex nib. I own a Sailor Pro Gear, with a 14k nib and I am not a big fan of that nib (it has a lot of feedback), so I actually enjoy the Jinhao 82 with a Jowo Broad nib because its much smoother.  Of course the plastic resin of the Jinhao 82 is not as heavy or well finished as the Sailor pen, but it seems to function perfectly well.  The converter it comes with is fine.  The standard Jinhao nib is not terrible, in my experience, and I have now accumulated 6 of the pens.  However, I cannot see any difference between the fine and the extra fine.  I wish it came with the option of a medium or broad, but for me the best solution is to do a brain swap.  I have many different pens I don't like for various reasons that have #5 nibs. 

 

I also put a Pelikan Jazz nib on a Jinhao 82 which works really nicely and is much more comfortable than the Jazz to hold (the Jazz has a horrible metal section and it is a very narrow pen that I find is impossible to write with--I review it on my channel as the worse pen I own).   The Jazz nib itself is pretty smooth and it even has a bit of flex to it.  You can get a Jinhao 82 for less than $4.00 and if you upgrade it with a good steel nib, you get a terrific little pen for less than $20.00 that comes in some really sweet colors.

 

Jonathan

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FptSlOy9ds

[leicagirl]

Nice review on YouTube, Jonathan.  I have some of the pens on order, both for myself and the to give to friends I am enabling. -k

[Trnsncdr]

Having used the 82 for a while now as a cheap source of custom acrylic pen customization, it is not a durable pen when necessarily disassembled a couple of times. The finial cracks easily on both ends, ruining the pen. Still, a good writer, but that is all about the nib and feed. On the other hand, it is at least as good as a Sailor entry level pen 

[Nhartist40]

Yes, I agree that it is not a durable pen, but for $4.00, what can you expect?  Also, remember that most users would not be disassembling the finial--that is a sort of fountain pen geek thing to do (as one fountain pen geek to another). 

 

Jonathan

[Waltz For Zizi]

On 6/16/2023 at 10:07 PM, Trnsncdr said:

Having used the 82 for a while now as a cheap source of custom acrylic pen customization, it is not a durable pen when necessarily disassembled a couple of times. The finial cracks easily on both ends, ruining the pen. Still, a good writer, but that is all about the nib and feed. On the other hand, it is at least as good as a Sailor entry level pen 

How did your finials crack? did you overtighten them? I myself have 27 jinhao 82 and have customized 90% of them, and none of them cracked.

But I do have to admit that literally not a single pen wrote good out of the box, and I don't even have strict standards, but 99% of them had overtightened tines and scratchy as hell.

I had to fix each and every one of them, which is not a big problem for me. 10 of them I actually ground into architect. On one pen I even put a Graf von Faber Castell gold nib. It's probably the most expensive Jinhao 82 in the world right now.

[Merrick]

On 7/27/2023 at 3:53 PM, Waltz For Zizi said:

How did your finials crack? did you overtighten them? I myself have 27 jinhao 82 and have customized 90% of them, and none of them cracked.

But I do have to admit that literally not a single pen wrote good out of the box, and I don't even have strict standards, but 99% of them had overtightened tines and scratchy as hell.

I had to fix each and every one of them, which is not a big problem for me. 10 of them I actually ground into architect. On one pen I even put a Graf von Faber Castell gold nib. It's probably the most expensive Jinhao 82 in the world right now.

I got a three pack of 82s with EF nibs and right out of the box they’re some of the best writers I have right now. I like the nib much more than the three Asvines I’ve tried (two V126s and a P20), and better than my Pilot Metropolitan F nib. I’m sure it’s extremely luck of the draw with the 82s but I am tempted to get a trio with M nibs because every time I use the ones I have I am surprised again at how well they write and how much I like them. 

[Waltz For Zizi]

1 hour ago, Merrick said:

I got a three pack of 82s with EF nibs and right out of the box they’re some of the best writers I have right now. I like the nib much more than the three Asvines I’ve tried (two V126s and a P20), and better than my Pilot Metropolitan F nib. I’m sure it’s extremely luck of the draw with the 82s but I am tempted to get a trio with M nibs because every time I use the ones I have I am surprised again at how well they write and how much I like them. 

Yea, I was surprised too at how bad all my 82's were out of the box, because what made me buy them was the fact that before them I bought 6 Jinhao 992, that are even cheaper, and among those only one was bad, the rest wrote great.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Now they have multicolored 82s.  Got a set of three 'macaron.'

[Nhartist40]

Obviously people have a lot of different experiences with the 82s.  I agree with people who find the nibs scratchy and/or inconsistent, but I also find Sailor nibs to be very scratchy, if consistently so!  The great thing is the 82s are so cheap, and cute, and it is so easy to put a different nib in them.  Also, the nibs may write scratchy, but in general I cannot remember getting a Chinese pen that doesn't actually write.  I am struggling with two very expensive used Visconti pens that cost me hundreds of dollars with gold nibs that stop after a page of writing because they are too wet (actually I cannot figure out exactly what is wrong with them--they are going to a nibsmith).  People seem to have this problem with Visconti and some other luxury pens all the time.  On the other hand,  I just got a $10.00 X159 with a medium nib that writes perfectly.  It is hardly my dream nib, but it doesn't die after a page of writing, and it is pretty smooth--it is the equivalent of the nib you get on a Pilot Metropolitan, I would say.  These inexpensive pens are perfect if you want to customize them, but they also perform fairly well.  The downsize is that they are not made to last a lifetime, the way a Pilot Metropolitan seems to be constructed or even a Lamy Safari.  

[Stoic]

For the price they are really good. Got this one a few weeks ago from Temu for €3.

The F nib feels more like an EF but is very smooth on this 90gsm discount store paper (the journal was actually €1.99 for a 96 page mole clone) Sometimes it's not about the big price pens, but about having fun with low risk. 🙂