Here’s another of those cheap Chinese pens that are rightly doing so well these days. This is the Jinhao 599A. It comes in various colours but this one is the reddest red thing that you have ever seen. It’s quite a big pen at 14 cm capped and a pretty huge 18.6 cm posted. That’s okay though because it weighs virtually nothing. It’s distinctly reminiscent of the Lamy Safari and I suppose that’s no accident. It also reminds me of the Sheaffer Viewpoint Calligraphy pen. It’s considerably cheaper than either of those.
The clip has lots of spring in it and up at the top there is a tiny engraving of a horse and chariot with two people in it. The wheel of the chariot can also be interpreted as a chrysanthemum. I assume that this is the Jinhao trademark. There’s a black insert in the top of the cap. The barrel has an ink Vue cut-out and a bold imprint.
The nib is quite small and though it is silver coloured it bears the imprint “18K GP”. The feed is multi-finned. Unscrewing the barrel reveals a piston type converter. The pen closes firmly.
The nib is firm and medium. The ink flow is excellent and it’s an altogether very good writer. Because it’s so large when posted, it would take me a little while to get used to writing with it but I don’t think its size would be an obstacle in the longer term.
I’m delighted with this pen. It’s superb value for the money at £5.95. It’s clearly aimed at competition with the Lamy, and it’s at least as good a pen if not better. I made a slight mistake in buying this one. I assumed that this would be the usual Oriental medium – in other words, a fine in Western terms. I was wrong. It’s a medium. If you want a fine order a fine.
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You are obviously impressed with this pen.
It’s astonishing: excluding VAT it retailed at £4.96. For that very paltry sum, the pen has been designed, manufactured, marketed and shipped to the United Kingdom, presumably providing profits for those involved both in manufacture, selling and shipping.
One really does wonder how it’s done.
It’s a great pen. I can’t imagine how they do it so cheaply. Child labour? Robots?
Tsk-tsk, you overpaid as the pen can be had for as little $1.50 USD postpaid from several vendors on eBay..
Well, you know me – throwing my money around…
Great review! This is definitely a Chinese Safari clone. I actually bought one too, from eBay, for about half what you paid. My trick was to snipe it via last second bidding. I still haven’t reviewed it yet.
Yes, it’s quite similar to the Safari. I find it to be better, in that I’ve always had trouble with the Safari’s shaped section which doesn’t work for me whereas the Jinhao does.
Hmm it’s interesting what you’re saying but the sections seem very similar to me. Unfortunately I don’t have my Lamy AL-Star to compare because I sold it but the Jinhao copied the exact same triangular section. Of course, I’ll form a complete opinion once I actually test the Jinhao.
Perhaps it’s a combination of the section and the nib length of the Lamy; I found it very awkward whereas the Jinhao fits my hand well.