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Revenge of the $2 Jinhao (the verdict)

In my first post on this topic I wrote with some amazement that a company could profitably manufacture, distribute and retail a fountain pen, complete with converter, packaging and shipping, for less than $2. Even in this globalised, mechanised world, surely the end result would not only be morally dubious, but utter rubbish? I ordered two to find out for myself. Here’s how it went.

You can choose from loads of colours, but only fine nibs.

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If you don’t like fine nibs with chariots on, I’m afraid you’re out of luck.

I opted for an orangey-brown and a sky blue, both demonstrators. One arrived a week before the other. Both were in minimal packaging, but arrived safe and sound.

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You could say I’m… CONVERTED. Geddit?

The design is, well, pretty good. This is a slim, light pen. As you can tell from the demonstrator barrel, it’s not much longer than the converter. The cap has an inner cap to shroud the nib. The clip is basic, but functional. There’s a silver cap band that seems to be plastic. The section is small and narrow, but has a helpful little flare, and because the threads are very shallow, there’s no chance of them causing pain.

The section screws in to the barrel and seals with an o-ring, unusually; yet the barrel is sealed at the other end by a plastic plug — the most ungainly element of the design and one that caused a crack in my brown pen.

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There’s a plug in my crack. I mean, a crack in my plug. Forget it.

The converter came installed in both pens and seems quite well constructed (doubly so for the price: I’ve paid a fiver for a converter alone before). The nibs are small but neat and tidy, and well-finished under a loupe.

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Yep, that’s the reflection of a macro lens in the tipping. Crazy, man.

More importantly, they write rather well, straight out of the box, without flushing. The line is more medium than fine, and has a slight stub feel. It’s a smooth ride, although there’s no line variation, obviously. The blue runs a little wetter, even though I loaded the brown pen with the lush KWZ Honey.

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Mmmm, honey.

The blue is a great match for Pelikan 4001 Turquoise.

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Mmmm, turquoise.

So, erm, that’s it. Any other niggles? The plating on the blue’s clip is imperfect.

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Good thing this isn’t a hundred-quid pen.

Other than that, nothing to complain about. Each pen cost me £1.38 shipped, with converter — let me repeat that. And each is comfortable, writes well, and looks very good, albeit with one imperfection each. As giveaway pens, wow, nothing beats it. You can get ten for the price of a Lamy Safari and still go to Starbucks afterwards. Do I worry about what this will do to the market? Undoubtedly. But it’s quite an achievement nonetheless.

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River-poisoning Chinese rip-off or not — you get a lot of pen for your money.

 

8 Comments

  1. Alison Cross

    I can’t wait for mine to arrive! Loved your review – great photos too. And now ‘honey’ ink is added to my ever-growing list!

    • Anthony

      Honey is wonderful — particularly in a wet, broad nib. It shades beautifully.

  2. economicalpenster

    I ordered a couple of these recently and one of mine arrived with cracks in the barrel end plug like yours. Apparently quite a few folks on FPN are running into some severe cracking issues with these pens, which is a shame considering how well they write out of the wrapper.

    • Anthony

      I’ve been carrying mine around for a week or so now and it’s not got any worse – I’ll keep an eye on it!

  3. scrively

    Ordered two as well :-). Meed to stay informed, right?!

    • scrively

      *need

  4. slightlyunnerved

    I keep saying I won’t buy any more cheap Chinese pens and here you are laying temptation at my door! I may have to put KWZ Honey on my ink list as well.

  5. Anthony

    Mwuhahahahaha! The enabler strikes again…

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