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Duke 116 Fountain Pen Review

Duke 116 Fountain Pen, Capped

Straight from the “Well, it’s not quite as inexpensive as my other Chinese Fountain Pens” files, I present the Chinese, yet somehow also German…

Duke 116 Fountain Pen

Price: $18.00
Nib: Medium
Filling System: Screw-Type Piston Converter

About the Pen:

Despite their relatively inexpensive prices and questionable quality standards, Chinese fountain pens offer some of the nicest and most interesting designs out there. I find that taking a chance on various Chinese pens is kind of an adventure. You never really know what you’re going to get. Some are stinkers, others are studs. The Duke 116 is closer to stud than stinker, although there are some aspects of the pen I’m not very fond of. And if I do say, the pen is quite a looker.

Duke 116 Fountain Pen, Uncapped

About the Company

Duke is the “street name” for the Shanghai G-Crown Fountain Pen Company, which is a Chinese company based in…you guessed it…Shanghai. The weird thing is that they also go by German Duke Lux Pen GmbH, suggesting that they’re a German company. GmbH indicates that the company is registered in Germany as a Limited Liability company. Soooooo…is it a Chinese company or German?… Read More

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Quick Nib & Ink Comparison #1

Comparison of some fountain pen nib writing samples to compare line width and inks

I just finished up two reviews and have three more pens inked up for the next round, so I have a pile of pens around me ready to write. I figured I’d capture writing samples from each of them for a quick comparison of nib grades and inks.

The first four samples are all from “Extra Fine” nibs. I use the quotes because it’s very, very clear that different companies have different ideas of what the grades mean.

The last two samples are from Chinese pens. The nibs aren’t marked, but I generally expect Medium grades from these. Of course, the concept of “Medium” varies wildly among Chinese pens, so take that for what it’s worth. Both the Duke and Yiren pens write a finer line than my Jinhaos. Whether this puts them into the Fine/Medium category or just the Medium category probably depends on your own definition. For me, I put both squarely in the “True Medium” column.

So after comparing these samples, I have a few thoughts on the matter:

  1. Yes, it’s true: Japanese pens are finer than their Western counterparts of the same grade. The Lamy 2000 EF (German) is much broader than the Pilot VP EF (Japanese). The TWSBI Diamond 580AL EF (Taiwanese) falls somewhere in between. I expected the Pilot to be comparable to the TWSBI, but it’s about half as broad as that. I’d almost call the Pilot EF closer to Ultra Extra Fine…but I’ll reserve judgement on that until my Platinum “official” UEF comes in, and I can see how it compares to the Pilot.
  2. The Goulet EF nib (made by JoWo, a German company) is even broader than the Lamy 2000 EF. It seems to be slightly finer than the Duke and Yiren pens, though, so I’d probably classify the Goulet EF as Fine/Medium.
  3. What does the term “EF” even mean? I’ve got four EF samples here, and they’re all vastly different. The difference among them is striking. I recently tried a Visconti EF DreamTouch nib…and that was easily the broadest EF (or F for that matter) nib I’ve ever written with. What gives?
  4. Chinese fountain pens are a real adventure. Their QC is up and down, and you never really know what to expect from their pens (I’ve tried three Jinhao pens so far, and haven’t had the best of results from them…I have to wonder what everyone else likes about them). So far, this Duke and Yiren both seem like really nice, consistent writers. And they’re both beautiful pens, too.
  5. Yiren is the Chinese Bigfoot! How cool is that? I have no idea if the pen is named after that creature, but it makes me smile to think that it is.

So what are your thoughts? Are the nibs on your pens just as “all over the place” with regard to line weight, or has you’re experience been more consistent?

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Dikawen 821 Fountain Pen Review

Dikawen 821 Fountain Pen, Uncapped

Next up in my “Inexpensive Chinese Fountain Pens” series, I present to you…

The Dikawen 821 Fountain Pen

Price: $9.50
Nib: Medium/Broad
Filling System: Screw-Type Piston Converter & Standard International Cartridges

About the Pen:

It’s no secret that I love Chinese fountain pens. They’re typically inexpensive and they offer some really fantastic designs. Sure, some of them flat-out suck, but I enjoy the adventure of trying them out and finding the gems amid the duds.

I was drawn to to the Dikawen 821 by two things:

  • I just loved the juxtaposition of the dark, marbled wine-colored barrel against the milky-white color of the cap. I’ve seen plenty of silver-capped and gold-capped fountain pens, but I’ve never noticed a white-capped one before. I thought it looked classy in the pictures.
  • The second thing this pen had going for it was that it was made by Dikawen. I recently reviewed the Dikawen 839, and absolutely loved it. If the 821 were to look as good as it did in pictures AND write as well as the 839, buying one was a no-brainer.

… Read More

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Baoer 100 Fountain Pen Review

Baoer 100 Fountain Pen - Capped

As I go tiptoeing through the Chinese fountain pen tulips, I have discovered a true gem…

Baoer 100 Fountain Pen

Price: $4.00
Nib: Fine / Extra Fine
Filling System: Screw-Type Piston Converter & Standard International Cartridges

About the Pen:

I’ll admit, I had some pretty low hopes for this pen. I found it on eBay for just under $4 (including shipping from China). I was lured in by the crazy shape of the nib housing. It’s a hooded nib labeled as a cayman (and another vendor called it a “shark mouth”) design. And it does resemble a mouth…probably closer to a shark than a cayman, but whatever.

In the picture, the pen looked a little ugly, but the section’s “mouth” shape looked cool, so I bought one. It took like 47 weeks to get here (that’s an exaggeration), and the first thing I thought was that the pen looked a whole lot nicer in person than I had expected. It’s a fairly small pen, but very classy and understated looking. I immediately loved the way it looked.

But the biggest surprise was the way it wrote…. Read More

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Baoer 388 Fountain Pen Review

Baoer 388 Fountain Pen Uncapped

Look up in the sky! It’s a Parker Sonnet! No, it’s an homage! No, it’s a blatant Chinese knockoff called the…

Baoer 388 Fountain Pen

Price: $5.50
Nib: Medium
Filling System: Screw-Type Piston Converter / International Standard Cartridge

About the Pen:

Somewhere between homage and counterfeit lies “blatant knockoff.” I don’t own a Parker Sonnet, and even I can’t deny the uncanny resemblance between the Baoer 388 and the iconic Sonnet: from the shape of the section, to the rounded off barrrel, to the simple gold cap band, and all the way to the looks-like-they-stole-it-from-Parker arrow-shaped clip. Blatant. Knockoff.

How does the Baoer 388 compare to the Parker Sonnet as a writer? I have no idea. And that’s not the point of this review. Now that we have the “evil twin” business out of the way, I’m going to review this pen for what it is: an inexpensive, but usable Chinese fountain pen…. Read More

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Dikawen 839 Fountain Pen Review

Dikawen 839 Fountain Pen Uncapped

My quest for the perfect “Inexpensive Chinese Fountain Pen” brings me to a brand I’ve never touched before…

Dikawen 839 Fountain Pen

Price: $9.50
Nib: Fine/Extra Fine
Filling System: Screw-Type Piston Converter & International Standard Cartridges

About the Pen:

I’ve done a fair amount of cruising around eBay looking for cool Chinese fountain pens. Why? Well for starters, many Chinese pens have interesting and unique designs that are different from more mainstream brands. And the fact that they’re typically dirt cheap doesn’t hurt.

When perusing the world of Chinese fountain pens, you’ll probably notice a huge number of brands available. Some are different brands owned by the same companies (like Jinhao & Baoer). Others appear to be different “translations” of the same brand name (like Wingsung & Yongsheng). I could probably rattle off another 20 Chinese manufacturers (I won’t) whose names are fairly well known.

But there are a handful of brands that seem to fly under the radar. One pen manufacturer that came up every so often was Dikawen, but I couldn’t find any chatter around the Innernets to tell me if they’re any good or not. I found a cool-looking swirly brown and gold Dikawen 839 for under $10, and decided to pull the trigger, despite the lack of information.

The pen itself elicits feelings of both delight and disappointment. Keep reading for the final verdict…. Read More

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Jinhao 159 Fountain Pen Review

A huge, orange Jinhao 159 fountain pen.

From deep within the “It’s not a knockoff, it’s an homage” files, I present the…

Jinhao 159 Fountain Pen

Price: $12.50
Nib: Medium
Filling System: Screw-Type Piston Converter (also takes Standard International cartridges)

About the Pen:

Do you remember the old Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons where they would give each episode a normal title followed by a silly alternative title (such as The Flat of the Land – or – A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moose)? I feel compelled to do that here. So in the spirit of everyone’s favorite Moose & Squirrel, here is “Review: Jinhao 159 Fountain Pen – or – I Got Me a Big-Ass Pumpkin Pen.”

I’ve got several Jinhao pens in my collection (that I’m slowly getting around to trying). The few that I’ve tried so far have been pretty unimpressive. Until recently, neither the 159 or the x750 were in my collection. Both of these models typically get great reviews, so when the fine folks at Goulet Pens were running a “Free x750 with Purchase of any Jinhao” sale, I couldn’t resist. The color options are pretty limited, but I’m a sucker for orange, so… Read More

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Wing Sung 3203 Fountain Pen Review

Wing Sung 3203 Fountain Pen

Those of you following my reviews may know that I am on a quest for the perfect “cheap” Chinese fountain pen. Well folks, that day may have very well come. If you want the quick version, I basically can’t find anything I don’t like about this pen. If you want some details, then please allow me to introduce you to the…

Wing Sung 3203 Fountain Pen

Price: $7.00
Nib: Fine/Extra Fine
Filling System: Screw-Type Piston Converter

About the Pen:

Wing Sung is one of China’s oldest and most well known pen companies. At some point, it was acquired by the Shanghai Hero Pen Company and Wing Sung was adopted into the Hero brand of pens (the largest and most well known Chinese pen manufacturer). After finding out about the world of inexpensive Chinese fountain pens, I’ve tried several different brands, including Duke, Yiren, Jinhao, Baoer, Crocodile, and Kaigelu. I had seen many Wing Sung pens available, but none of them really jumped out at me until I saw the 3203 out on eBay. Modern looking and classy, the 3203 has a very understated and refined look. It sports a beautiful gunmetal/titanium finish that I just couldn’t resist. I snatched it up for the princely sum of $7.00 (including shipping from China to the US!), and quite frankly, it might just be the steal of my eBay Fountain Pen Rampage.

Keep reading for the rundown…. Read More

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Jinhao 189 “Great Wall” Fountain Pen Review

Jinhao 189 "Great Wall" Fountain Pen

Next up in my “Inexpensive Chinese Fountain Pens” series, I present to you…

Jinhao 189 “Great Wall” Fountain Pen

Price: $9.50
Nib: Medium
Filling System: Screw-Type Piston Converter

About the Pen:

In my recent eBay bender, I managed to pick up eight Jinhao pens, but this is the first one I tried. I’ve heard many good things about the Jinhao brand, and I was interested to see how their pens would perform. The 189 is one of their specialty pens, celebrating China’s most famous and recognizable landmark: The Great Wall. I liked that the pen was ornate without being gaudy. Most of the Jinhao pens I bought were in the $1 to $6 price range, so I had pretty high expectations for the 189, being that it cost nearly $10.

This is a pretty intricate pen, so this review contains a lot more pictures than I usually include. My apologies to those with limited bandwidth…. Read More

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Baoer 79 “Skywalker” Fountain Pen Review

Baoer 79 "Skywalker" Fountain Pen (Capped)

Next up in my “Inexpensive Chinese Fountain Pens” series, I present to you…

Baoer 79 “Skywalker” Fountain Pen

Price: $5.00
Nib: Medium/Fine
Filling System: Screw-Type Piston Converter

About the Pen:

I was very excited to get this pen. It’a knockoff of a much more expensive (and famous) German pen, and I’ve only heard good things about its performance. For $5, it seemed like a no-brainer. When it arrived, I was impressed with its seemingly fantastic build quality. It looks and feels like a high-quality writing instrument. I inked it up with some Noodler’s X-Feather and went on a little writing excursion. Turned out to be more of an adventure than I expected…. Read More