One thing that I did not expect to put on my blog, but I just had to share is my recent love of fountain pens. I decided to jump right in and after browsing some reddit posts, I decided to buy cheap, Jinhao pens. I used the same Jinhao black international ink cartridges for all of these pens. All of these arrived in a plastic sleeve, only with an empty international converter.
Jinhao 599a
This is the first pen that I received from my pen ordering, and It was a very good start for a fountain pen beginner like me. Ink flowed at a steady rate the entire time, and produced enough ink, but a slightly too much ink, leading to some, but little, bleed and ghosting. It is about a medium on the boldness scale, and the nib is in between both the Jinhao 599 (smallest) and the Jinhao x 750 (biggest). The tip was not scratchy at all and a very enjoyable experience to write with.
The ergonomics for this pen is fantastic, and is the same as the 599, with a triangular grip. The For someone with a funky grip however
The build quality for this plastic pen however is worse than the two metal choices of the 599 and x750. In fact, within 1 day of holding the pen in my pen bag, there were visible scratches on the pan cap. Out of the two of these pens, I would probably rate this pen the worst out of all the pens, but still a very, and I mean VERY good bang for your bank.
My naive rating : 7.5/10
Jinhao x750
I received this pen in the same order that I received the 599 in, and this pen is great. It has a wide nib and flows a large amount of ink. It may not seem like the ink is very thick on the picture, but it is much thicker than the other two pens. There could be an issue with bleed/ghosting, but a dab with some blotting paper would quickly fix that.
The ergonomics on this pen is not as spectacular on this pen, as it is just silicone on the pen barrel, and it is purely average.
This pen writes great and wet, and since it has a metal body, it is very durable, much more than compared to the 599a, and very similar in build quality compared to the 599.
This pen is very simple and is great for people who write big, but unfortunately it does not work very well with my small writing.
My naive rating : 8.5
Jinhao 599
I am just going to be frank with you on this pen. It is easily the best pen of this bunch, especially for me. It has a much finer tip compared to the other two pens. It writes just as smooth as the other pen and since there is not as much ink as the other pens, it dries instantly. The ink never stops flowing and is very consistent.
The ergonomics is exactly the same as the 599a, which can be a hit or miss, but as mentioned earlier, it was definitely a hit and is very comfortable in my hand.
This pen is pretty much a fine point, metal 599a, which fixes all of the issues of the aforementioned, including the bleed and build quality. This is one of the few pens that I could honestly say I would write on for the rest of my life, and will be my go-to pen.
My naive rating : 9/10
These pens are the best value you could buy for fountain pens, and felt much better on the hand when compared to 20$+ roller ball pens that I have used in the past. This is the budget pen, and if you need a beater pen or are just introducing yourself to the world of fountain pens like me, it is perfect.
DELLONSMELONS 