Jinhao 10 Press Fountain Pen with Box, Pearl Blue Retractable Fine Nib with Converter Set (Silver Clip)

This is the second Jinhao 10 I've bought, and I bought it explicitly to have it as a backup for the first because I like the pen and its form factor so much. I'm planning to buy a Pilot Vanishing Point sometime in the near future, but I have no fear about losing one of these and being out, what, twenty bucks?I use Private Reserve Infinity inks with these pens, to reduce the danger of the ink drying up. These pens aren't airtight, and I noticed on my first pen that the nib will scrape against the cover and leave a little ink behind. I'm not expecting a perfectly engineered pen, though; I'm expecting a pen that works very well and that I can loan out or carry with me and lose and not feel devastated.I will talk about the location of the clip. If you write with anything other than a standard tripod grip, the clip on the pen's body might be in an awkward place that you can't move it from and put the nib in a suboptimal writing position. This is not a pen you can move the grip around on to make it more comfortable; if you want that relatively cheaply from a good brand, check out the Sailor Tuzuru.I keep coming back to the Pilot VP, because this is a very good remake of that pen. It's not perfect for a variety of reasons, but it's perfect for the price both to test out this form factor before buying the much more expensive Pilot and to have a great workhorse pen that you don't have to feel bad about losing or breaking. The mechanism is very satisfying to fidget with, the clip is strong, the pen generally feels good in my hands.

If you have wanted to try a retractable nib fountain pen but weren't ready to spend hundreds of dollars on a mainstream version, this pen presents a viable alternative at a more reasonable price point. I was concerned about the nib drying out or hard starting but that has not been an issue. Although, I like writing with this pen so much that I haven't been able to leave it unused for more than a day or two. So, I don't know how it would handle an longer interval. I also purchased the Jinhao ink cartridges and I am very glad that I did because the constraints on the included converter mean that it doesn't hold very much ink. And the Jinhao ink has performed very well so far.The fit and finish on this pen are great (I purchased the gold version) and the nib is smooth for a fine point but I wish that it came in a medium point as that would have made it a bit smoother. The operation of the nib extension is also very smooth and makes this pen ideal for note taking where capping and uncapping a traditional fountain pen can be cumbersome. I would highly recommend this pen.

This is my third or fourth Jinhao but my first retractable. All the previous pens I've purchased, the EF point writes like an EF. This one is much wetter, the line is more a fine or medium. Unfortunately I need the EF.Otherwise, this pen feels gratifying to hold. It's well weighted, feels solidly built. If it was truly an EF, I'd love it!

First, this is the best-looking fountain pen (or for that matter, any kind of pen) I have ever owned. I went through a fountain pen craze a few years ago, buying various moderately-priced pens (Lamy, Pilot, Cross) but gave it up after a while. I generally liked all those pens, especially the Lamys, but keeping them all inked up and not going dry was a chore. The lesson here is, if you are going to use a fountain pen, USE IT ALL THE TIME. I was familiar with the Pilot Vanishing Point, but I didn't want to pay that much for a pen I might end up losing. While reading an email from a gamemaker I have purchased from, he mentioned the Majohn A1, so I came to Amazon to check it out. It looks great and I might purchase one--but when I saw the reviews for the Jinhao and saw the beautiful colors (and the lower price) I decided to risk it. At first, I filled it with some blue ink I already had (J. Herbin, a very good brand.) The writing looked very thin, however, and the ink dried up very quickly. An internet search revealed that, unfortunately, fountain pen ink doesn't last forever, even if tightly sealed. So, I ordered a new bottle of blue Hongdian ink and got completely different results--a nice solid, dark blue line. I ordered the Extra Fine nib, and at first I thought I might prefer the bigger one. But as I've written with this pen for a few days now, the writing is smoother than at first, and I'm very pleased. (I'm mostly writing in a Black 'n Red notebook.)I'm very tempted to order another Jinhao pen like this one to get another great color--but then I remember my new rule--one fountain pen at a time.In any case, I can highly recommend this one. It's great quality for the price. Once you have the right ink, loading it into the converter isn't a problem. Just look at the video on the product listing--BECAUSE YOU DON'T GET ANY INSTRUCTIONS WITH THE PEN!

This is a clone of the Pilot Vanishing Point. I took the nib assembly out of an expensive (and somewhat delicate) Vanishing Point, dropped it into this chassis, and it works perfectly. Now I can carry it in a pocket, and if it gets beat up, I don't really care.It's not a perfect clone, though. It doesn't *write* nearly as well as the real thing. It doesn't write well at all, actually, which was kind of a surprise, given the other pens I've bought from this maker. That would have been a bonus, but I really wanted the chassis.Now when I use it (which is often -- it's my EDC pen), I'm reminded of something I read about Paul Newman. He was making a movie with Tom Cruise, who said he was going to buy a Porsche. Newman said that what he should do instead is buy a K-Car, have the chassis reinforced, and put a racing engine in it. That's kind of how this pen feels -- like a K-Car chassis with a racing engine inside.