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The Fountain Pen Community -> Modern Pens @1970 to Current -> Chinese fountain pens anything to write home about yet?
Post Info TOPIC: Chinese fountain pens anything to write home about yet?
johncee1945


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Chinese fountain pens anything to write home about yet?
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1. Has there been a cultural revolution in pens? Or are they just
"capitalist roaders" pandering to the holly dollar?

2. Are they producing any brands with excellent writing characteristics or quality?   

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titivillus


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There are nice Chinese pens being manufactured now for very reasonable prices.

Hero, Duke, joybox are several that I know of that have excellent writing characteristics.

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Plaquemine 182-01
jar


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The ones I've had were totally worthless, not even something that was good enough to give to an enemy, over priced even at free.

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titivillus


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jar wrote:

The ones I've had were totally worthless, not even something that was good enough to give to an enemy, over priced even at free.



I guess some people get the good ones and others get the crappy ones.



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Frank


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I agree with both Kurt and jar!

There are some decent writing pens from China out there. Hero has some good models, but I stay clear from the "cheap clones". I have a Hero 187 with a 12k nib. It is a medium, but writes more like a fine-medium. It writes really nice! It does not look like a Parker either!

I have heard good things about Jinhao pens, and their gold nibs. I should get around to getting one soon.

Frank

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watch_art


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i've got a jinhao k 750 on the way just to see how it writes. supposedly it's got a broad nib.

edit:  i mean X 750... not k.   duh.

-- Edited by watch_art on Thursday 1st of July 2010 07:53:25 PM

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liapuyat


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I have a Jinhao X750, matte black in Broad. Very nice. I also have a Hero 616, which I got as a giveaway. It also writes well. There is also my Baoer 388 "Golden Arrow" that looks like (but is not marketed as) a Sonnet, in M, that also writes very well. Yes, I've had some good luck I guess.

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Sailor Kenshin


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I'm the one who gets all the good ones. ;p

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Chthulhu


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I have several Hero pens, a Jinhao "Missile," a Wing Sung 322, and a couple of no-name pens. All but one is an acceptable writer.

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jor412


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liapuyat wrote:

I have a Jinhao X750, matte black in Broad. Very nice. I also have a Hero 616, which I got as a giveaway. It also writes well. There is also my Baoer 388 "Golden Arrow" that looks like (but is not marketed as) a Sonnet, in M, that also writes very well. Yes, I've had some good luck I guess.

Where have you been getting the Chinese pens? :) 



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januaryman


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I have a Bulow x750 which I can only assume is a rebranded Jinhao, since the model numbers and images of the two match. It was a great writer, but the nib was misaligned in the feed. I sent it off to 777 and it is now even smoother and one of the best writers I own. I also have an x450, which may also get sent to 777 to work whatever magic he works that gets me loving my pens. (I'm not affiliated with any of the companies or people, just a satisfied customer)

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DWL


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Todd Neusbaum (sp?) at Isellpens.com has some GREAT inexpensive asian pens. He's a first class guy to do business with.

Norman Hasse at hisnibs.com hasa good selection as well & another great guy to work with.

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januaryman


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I started trying Chinese pens at xfountainpens.com, where the Bulow pens are really Jinhao, I suspect. I have two, and both are very nice writers, indeed! If only there were some piston fillers, instead of the c/c. But still, there are plenty of c/c pens out there that cost way more and are not as good.

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"My two fingers on a typewriter have never connected with my brain. My hand on a pen does. A fountain pen, of course. Ball-point pens are only good for filling out forms on a plane." - Graham Greene
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Your right Jim. I've run across a few Chinese pens over the years that really amazed me at how well they performed. Some working even better than pens costing 20-50 times what I paid for the 'cheapies'. I eventually wound up passing them along to new folk to introduce them to fp's. I managed to pull in a few converts this way.

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ClayToo


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Hi! Yes, I have bought a couple of dozen or so, mostly from Todd at ISellPens, and have been quite pleased with them. Most companies aim for the Chinese market, which means they have finer-than-usual nibs and sometimes florid styling, while a few--Laban is the best example--have their eye on the European/US crowd. Some of the pens are unbelievable bargains ($25 gets a pen that writes well and looks great) while at the upper end (which still means less than $250 most of the time) many are amazingly nice--Duke in particular has produced some gorgeous internally-painted-on-glass gems. The biggest problem is the boxes: they are so nice that you feel compelled to use them properly as art objects in their own right. Get a good and honest retailer, ask questions, and you probably will be happy. Hope this helps!

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jor412


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I bought 7 NOS Chinese pens (and 3 NOS bottles of Quink with solv-x, 1 black & a red) in our downtown bookstores. I took a walking "tour" of two major streets lined with all kinds of stores and I checked out every office supply store or bookstore I encountered. One store had a great stash of Parker 45s with plastic barrels. I'm not in the market for a Parker 45 but I was "thrilled" to see them anyway.

The Chinese pens I got were mostly Parker lookalikes that cost $1-$5 each. But since they were selling using our currency, they turned out cheaper, especially minus the shipping. 

I have 3 brands: wing sung, hero, & young. Young just all around sucks. I'm tempted to take a hammer to it. The two wing sung pens are so so. Hero is consistently decent in terms of ink flow. I'm using them to practice nib grinding, since they're cheap and the worst thing I can do is ruin them completely. haha :D

My mission is to give one or two Heros away to get other people addicted to fountain pens. 

Most notable is  a Hero 442, which has a semi-flexible nib. I don't know if this is intentional or a manufacturing defect (something I suspect of the Pilot 77) but it's the best writer of the lot.

I'm also ordering three Chinese pens from Hong Kong this week to try out different brands and more bodacious designs. When I get the pens, which will probably be in 3-4 weeks owing to the terrible slowness (did I say slow?) of our local post office, I'll post some pics and notes about them. 



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DWL


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what were they asking for the 45's? Any nibs out of the standard fine/medium. Broad and any of the italic nibs really bring a premium in the 45 family.


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jor412


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Hi Dennis, They were asking $14.50 (roughly) for the 45s but the nibs were all mediums. Shipping from here costs about $10 (regular post); $20 via EMS. Some people have tried to sell pens from here, but the shipping cost kills any kind of small business attempt. :( It's too bad, too, because I'm fairly certain our piers are flooded with all kinds of goods from Hong Kong & Bangkok. I also saw some Parker 45 flighter models but other members of our local pen community snatched them up real fast.



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Cruzer


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I'm new here but got curious when I saw the subject. I own 18 fountain pens from around the world, some expensive and some very cheap. My all time favorite is a Bulow X30 hooded extra fine point nib pen I picked up for a song. Writes perfectly every time and never dries out unlike some of my expensive ones.



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Cruzer
bunny roller


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I am myself a fountain pen lover and my favorite one is MB it's just lovely . It looks nice but writes better !!

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