Jinhao 59 - Limited edition "wine red"

[simplygreg@lemmy.world]

The is the Jinhao 59 with an EF nib, in the "wine red limited edition", all included (shipping, duties, etc.), it cost me 8,19€ to get it. It is fully made of plastic, except for the trim ring, clip and section plug that are made of steel. The whole pen weighs 17,2g with a full converter, it is ever so slightly top heavy, likely due to the clip. It is 118mm long closed, 148mm posted, roughly 13mm in diameter and the section is around 11,5mm where I hold it. The converter sits deeper than in the Elite 95S, closer to a Sailor 21, the mouth is ø3,4. It is not particularly small compared to non pocket pens, but given the fact that I don't care for the pocket aspect, I can't speak for its usefulness as such.

Size comparison with (left to right) the Hero 1079, Waterman Expert and Jinhao 20

The nib feels the same as the ones in the Jinhao 10 and 20, it's just physically larger: it is rather smooth, especially for its size, well tuned, 3-4/10 wetness (great ink efficiency), but the feed is great at keeping up with fast paced writing and even sketching, doesn't have any directional variation, it is not sensitive to paper texture. It writes slightly thinner than a Pilot F, or Jinhao hooded nib from the 911 and 85. Unfortunately, the nib is not an inlaid one, the section is just cut to look like the Elite 95S' inlaid one, and it looks like it was originally designed for a different nib, but as if plans changed somewhere along the way, especially on the feed side.

The feed seems captive inside the section as the section plug seems glued, so I would recommend sticking to safe inks to increase the pen's lifespan, as well as regular flushes. After a little over 4 weeks of use (and roughly 5,5 converters worth of ink) the section and blind cap have developed microscratches from the friction fit cap sliding on and off, nothing obvious, but something to keep in mind for longevity.

Overall, it is a perfectly serviceable pen, it works perfectly fine out of the box, has no glaring issues (at least with the black colorways), and still looks pretty good under normal lighting. My issues is that Jinhao has better pens for the price (like the 88 or 95), both in terms of quality and durability. Still not a bad purchase.