Jinhao 159 Fountain Pen Medium Black Lacquer Gold Trim Big Heavy with Pen Pouch & Refill Ink Converter Business Signature Collection Pen

This pen is absolely ridiculous, in the best possible way. It’s really thick, and it’s really heavy, and I love it. The pen is made entirely of brass, and then painted. It looks super high quality, and it feels super high quality. It writes smoothly with a western medium sized nib. The nib looks incredible. I love that the pen posts securely and is well weighted and sized both posted and unposted. Is it a Montblanc? Of course not. Is it a classically styled pen that works well and feels great while also being incredibly affordable? Absolutely.I had three issues with this pen, none of which were deal breaking. The first is that it arrives with some machining grease on the inside of the pen, especially on the converter. I gave it a thorough cleaning before inking and had no issues. The second is that the pen sleeve that came with it doesn’t fit the pen. While that’s unfortunate, you buy this for the pen, not the sleeve. Finally, I had an issue where the clip rocks side to side. The seller was very willing to send me a replacement cap to fix this issue, but it’s something I can live with.

I first heard about these in a online review (Brian Goulet) and was curious. I wanted to see what the fuss was all about and figured for the ridiculous price, why not? My expectations were low, to match the price, and I really did not expect to like this pen. In fact, I WANTED to dislike it. I WAS WRONG!A lovely pen, though with minimalist packaging. It came with a lovely two-tone nib and a faux velvet pen case with a drawstring - a nice touch if not needed. There is no ink sample of any kind provided, the pen takes either standard cartridges or standard converter. A converter is included, though it is extremely low end. For a small price a replacement converter can be purchased from many sources, but at a cost of $5-$10 that is a significant portion of the whole pen's cost! The converter came inside the barrel, but not installed. It seats solidly with a firm push and stays in place. There are no leaks inside, nor out.Pen inked up and wrote nicely right out of the package. There is only one nib available, Medium, and it seems to be a European medium, not a finer Japanese medium. It was smooth and not at all scratchy like some have said. I cannot see replacing the nib with anything else. I suspect that YMMV, and there may be a variation between individual units, but the one I got was very nice. And, plenty of ink flow, but not overly "wet." I have had no issues at all with skipping, far better than some of my more expensive pens, and so far it has written first time, every time.The pen itself is substantial: A heavy, solid, all metal barrel with a meaty cap. The cap just doesn't post well, but it is not designed to be posted: the weight of the cap on the rear of the pen makes it too heavy, and the actual size of the pen without a posted cap is fully large enough for any but the largest hands. The size, and diameter of the barrel make it comfortable to use, especially for some one like me with arthritic hands.I have some far more expensive pens, up to an including Montblancs. I saw this pen as, at best, a cheap pen for carrying, loaning, and losing. Several online reviews have compared the Jinhao 159 to the Montblanc 149. Personally I thought that was the height of hubris, probably only due to the size, shape, and color of the 159. Let's face it, this is NOT a Montblanc 149 and is not in the same ballpark. But, given the fact that the 149 is almost 100 times the price of this pen, this 159 is an AMAZING find!My only reservation is that if some one sees me carrying the Jinhau 159 and knows how much I paid that I might get embarrassed. But, of course, they would only see it because I will now be retiring my more expensive daily carry pen and replacing it with this Jinhao 159, it is that good. I may just have to get several more to give to my friends.

sometime in the 1980s, Sean Connery starred in a movie about foreign affairs and the UN. In the movie, there was a scene when Sean used a Mont Blanc Diplomat pen. Boy, was it gorgeous. Several months later, my Dad (God rest him), bought 2 of those pens and gave me one as a gift. God, I loved that pen. It was a work of art and talk about writing, it was brilliant. The gold in the nib conformed to your writing style. Alas, during a separation and eventual divorce from my wife, I lost the pen. She claimed that my youngest son found it and broke it. I had my own suspicions. I never replaced it.For Xmas, my oldest son gave me an Amazon gift card. I bought a few things. A light bulb went on and I started checking fountain pens on Amazon. I stumbled over the Jinhao 159. Based on the reviews I decided to take a chance. It came without any cartridges. I went to Staples and bought some Parker cartridges (which I later found out, do not work) and a bottle of Parker ink. I have now ordered some Jinhao cartridges.I was amazed at the excellent performance, build quality and look of this pen. It writes smoothly and the ink flow is great. I was so impressed that I ordered 2 more for my sons and a blue X450 for myself. The only reason I gave it 4 stars is because of my experience with the Mont Blanc many years ago, but I believe that the current Mont Blanc is about $800.If you are into large and heavy fountain pens and do not want to break the bank, get this pen.