Impressed with several Chinese low cost pens lately...

[Skip]

I have a Chinese Hong Dian N12 and an Asvine P20, and both are good piston pens that IMO write every bit as buttery smooth as my gold-nibbed Pilot Granch does! _~Surprises the hell out of me every time I pick one of them up, but there it is... ~Somebody's learned how to make inexpensive fountain pens real well IMO.

[Motomachi10]

The fountain pen market in China is quite competitive, and it is also big, Maybe competition and a huge target market helped to develop new production techniques.

[~JJ]

I recently bought a couple of JinHao 9013s, one 'F' & 1 'M', for nib-grinding-learner pens. Didn't notice at the time they had the new 'Heartbeat' nibs. I dipped the Med to see what I had to work with...that booger writes about as smooth & well as any pen I've got! Just a taste of light feedback on business envelope type paper -- heck, why fix something that ain't broke, y'know?
Bonus has been, that 1 dip (Waterman Serenity) made this past Tuesday, is still writing this morning -- hydration retention par excellence! Not bad for an $8.30 pen w/free delivery!

[wingwiper]

I have a Chinese Hong Dian N12 and an Asvine P20, and both are good piston pens that IMO write every bit as buttery smooth as my gold-nibbed Pilot Granch does! _~Surprises the hell out of me every time I pick one of them up, but there it is... ~Somebody's learned how to make inexpensive fountain pens real well IMO.

I concur........ I have found that the majority of the Chinese pens I have purchased, piston, vac, converter, etc. are in general well made and the product far exceeds the price I paid. I have had only 1 nib I had to polish on some 12,000 grit. The others at least in my case were "all" buttery smooth to quote

[Brilliant Bill]

For the most part, I'm seeing extraordinary quality for the money --- and reasonable consistency in that quality too.

I showed a Jinhao 9019 to a few folks recently, one a fountain pen user, (although he blundered by putting Baystate Blue in a Lamy 2000). When I asked how much they thought it cost, the consensus was $300. You may as well have hit them with a stun gun when I said $12.

Ironically, Sailor has shown me they are capable of producing trash. I paid around $15 for one of their Hocoro dip pens --- the 2mm "calligraphy" nib, and it's destined for a landfill. The nib wobbles in the holder, it won't hold ink and the line is uneven and unreliable. Also, the nib looks like something made in a high school shop class.

[Skip]

For the most part, I'm seeing extraordinary quality for the money --- and reasonable consistency in that quality too.

I showed a Jinhao 9019 to a few folks recently, one a fountain pen user, (although he blundered by putting Baystate Blue in a Lamy 2000). When I asked how much they thought it cost, the consensus was $300. You may as well have hit them with a stun gun when I said $12.

Ironically, Sailor has shown me they are capable of producing trash. I paid around $15 for one of their Hocoro dip pens --- the 2mm "calligraphy" nib, and it's destined for a landfill. The nib wobbles in the holder, it won't hold ink and the line is uneven and unreliable. Also, the nib looks like something made in a high school shop class.

I know; that's funny about the Jinhao 9019. ~IMO it looks (and possibly writes?) about as well as a Pilot Custom 823 does, and usually costs less than 10% of the 823.

Sailor's different outputs are funny too, ~but possibly in that one can never be quite sure about what the quality might be of what you're getting?
For instance it was suggested to me that the low end Sailor Profit Jr $25 fountain pen could not possibly be of comparable quality to Sailor's more expensive pens. ~I dunno, perhaps it isn't, but I still found the MF nib in the one I got to be so good (smooth, with just the right amount of light feedback) I went and bought a second MF one, and that one's just as good as the first IMO! ~So now I have two cheap, pretty, transparent Sailors, -one in red, the other in green, and they're among my favorite writers and are often utilized.

[Scrawler]

I have been looking for larger and oversized pens recently because my hands no longer want to close around the section of smaller and more normal sized pens, so I bought a 9019 with a heartbeat nib for CAN$22 including shipping. It was much better than I expected. It fits my size requirement and writes smoothly and willingly. I plan to fix the characterless nature of the ball tip with a bit of filing. I general it works so well for what I want that I have ordered another one with the regular nib for comparison.

[~JJ]

Dunno if this is a well known info here, but the Jinhao 159, size-wise, is supposed to emulate the MB149. The major shortcoming was its weight, being metal-bodied. Solution: the acrylic-bodied X159. Win!

There are also some carryovers to Jinhao's Dadao ("Big Knife" or "Long Knife" in some circles) Series 9013 & 9019's, but I haven't had time (nor the pens) to do a heads-up comparison. I think Doug at Inkquiring Minds reviews has posted something along those lines...too busy to dig it up & explore further right now.

I'll add, my 1st excursion with Jinhao came as the result of a shady dealer who sold one thing, but delivered another. I bought a calligraphy pen, & after several delays & 'regrets', rather than a refund he finally sent a Jinhao X750, & it was a total piece of crap. I don't wanta get started on that one, only will say it wouldn't hold a load of ink 2 days unused -- you can imagine the mess. BUT, bought a batch of 5 of 'em (cheapest with a variety of nib points) to learn nib-grinding with, and every darn one of 'em writes smoothly & holds line size. Maybe I just lucked out & caught a batch of good ones coming down the pike, but y'know, even in the most automated mass production facilities, recognized product problems can be addressed and fixed. It is to be expected to have problems with the first production runs of most any product, but if they aren't addressed & made right, you shouldn't expect to remain in the business much longer. Don't think the Chinese haven't figured that out!

[WaltZucher]

Dunno if this is a well known info here, but the Jinhao 159, size-wise, is supposed to emulate the MB149. The major shortcoming was its weight, being metal-bodied. Solution: the acrylic-bodied X159. Win! SharpEdge

There are also some carryovers to Jinhao's Dadao ("Big Knife" or "Long Knife" in some circles) Series 9013 & 9019's, but I haven't had time (nor the pens) to do a heads-up comparison. I think Doug at Inkquiring Minds reviews has posted something along those lines...too busy to dig it up & explore further right now. https://spartan-agency.com/en

I'll add, my 1st excursion with Jinhao came as the result of a shady dealer who sold one thing, but delivered another. I bought a calligraphy pen, & after several delays & 'regrets', rather than a refund he finally sent a Jinhao X750, & it was a total piece of crap. I don't wanta get started on that one, only will say it wouldn't hold a load of ink 2 days unused -- you can imagine the mess. BUT, bought a batch of 5 of 'em (cheapest with a variety of nib points) to learn nib-grinding with, and every darn one of 'em writes smoothly & holds line size. Maybe I just lucked out & caught a batch of good ones coming down the pike, but y'know, even in the most automated mass production facilities, recognized product problems can be addressed and fixed. It is to be expected to have problems with the first production runs of most any product, but if they aren't addressed & made right, you shouldn't expect to remain in the business much longer. Don't think the Chinese haven't figured that out!

That's some really useful info