foreword
I have carefully reviewed my personal fountain pen product sharing, and I have discussed with you mainly fountain pen products of famous brands. For domestic fountain pen brands, I mainly share the classic products and innovative works of Heroes. After all, other fountain pen brands are based on my own. From a personal point of view, they are all products that do not make much sense to buy.
For the entry of fountain pens, I always recommend the cheap styles of overseas brands such as Platinum Preppy Series, Platinum Small Meteor Series, Baile 78g, and Lamy Hunter.
However, because of the relationship between heroes, Chinese people have a considerable preference for pens with dark-tipped structures, and well-known overseas brands do not have any pure current-produced dark-tipped fountain pens. So now the dark-tip fountain pen market is full of domestic fountain pen brands, and the main battlefield of price is the low-end market of around ten yuan. In this article, I purchased more than ten domestic dark-tip models with excellent sales at the retail price of Dodo. , the article will make a comprehensive horizontal evaluation and comparison of dark tip pens from their materials, design and characteristics, hoping to help everyone understand these products.
The origin and current price distribution of dark tip pens
The dark-tipped fountain pen originated from the Parker 51, the most successful fountain pen in human history.
The dark nib structure of Parker 51 wraps the nib with resin, which innovatively improved the airtightness of the pen at the time. According to the structure, a new generation of capillary ink supply system was designed to achieve a more stable writing effect.
In those years, the dark-tipped fountain pen was unanimously recognized by the market for its combined super practicality. Until the discontinuation of the Parker 51, the cumulative sales of 40 million pens were the most successful series of fountain pens in human history.
The reason for the discontinuation is that with the continuous innovation of modern industry, the air tightness and ink supply capillary structure materials of the follow-up pens no longer have the core advantage of the dark tip.
Today’s dark-tipped fountain pens have three levels from high to low. The first is that Parker re-engraved the 51 the year before and made a fake dark-tipped pen that covers the bright tip. It is currently the most expensive pen, but it is not worth buying. . Secondly, Hero 100 represents the domestic dark-tipped gold pen. The price of more than 100 yuan used to be very cost-effective. Now the price is generally more than 200. It can still be bought, but it is not as cost-effective as it used to be. Finally, it is about 10 yuan in this article. The steel tip dark tip pen!
Features of dark tip pens
1. The dark-tipped fountain pen has a relatively small volume of the nib that can be deformed when writing, because the exposed part of the nib is relatively small, so the feeling of writing is relatively hard. If you like a tough writing feeling, the dark-tipped fountain pen is always a good choice.
2. Under the same structure, the dark-tipped fountain pen has better air tightness due to the small exposed area, and the nib is less likely to dry out. For domestic pens, if the same barrel offers a choice of bright and dark nibs, the airtightness of the dark nib will be better.
3. Compared with the bright-pointed fountain pen of the same brand, the dark-pointed fountain pen has a smaller nib, so the male model is also thinner than the bright-pointed male model, and the overall writing will be thinner.
Contrasting Homemade Dark Tip Pen Objects
Hero: 616 trumpet, 616 plus, 329, 329-2, 007
KACO: Edge
Jinhao: 911, 86
Eternal Life (Wengang): Wooden Pole 616, 3512, 3A007
Morning Light: U-Grip
In terms of brand, Hero is undoubtedly the most sophisticated manufacturer of dark technology in China. The story of Hero rushing to Parker is the imitation of Parker 51. The products at the low-end entry price are also the most, 007 is the cheapest, and the 616 series is the most classic. , 329 series positioning is relatively high.
As a new domestic brand, KACO has a dark-tipped fountain pen, Rui Tu, which was launched at 39 yuan, and now it is priced at more than a dozen yuan.
Jinhao is an emerging imitation brand of fountain pens. Most of its pens use male models. The 911 is very classic. The Jinhao 86 is a new product in recent years, and it is the focus of this test.
Yongsheng (Wengang) is not an old brand of immortality that was as famous as the hero. Jiangxi Wengang County is a stationery manufacturing factory with a small workshop economy. If the domestic copycat Parker, copycat Lingmei and copycat Montblanc are all from here, they have also developed Wengang. The Hong Kong brand is a rotten pen, and Yongsheng acquired the trademark. We chose three types of Wengang pens produced in Wengang. The material of the pens includes wood, metal and plastic.
I don’t need to introduce more about the brand of Chenguang. The domestic stationery giants have chosen the Chenguang Yougrip fountain pen, which sells well in the children’s market. Let’s take a look at their technical strength.
Overview of Appearance Designs
styling comparison
The dark-tipped pens are essentially imitations of Parker 51. Today’s pens somewhat retain the 51-based design. The most imitated pens of the 51 are Hero 616 and Jinhao 616. The cheap dark-tipped pens in this comparison are Most of them are classic designs like this. The difference lies in the use of a round head, an oblique head, and a tapered end of the sky crown. From an aesthetic point of view, I personally think there is no difference.
Chenguang Yougrip and Eternal Life 3512 are relatively different in shape.
The U-Grip is the consumer orientation of the main student pen, and imitates the design of the Sipile, but the nib system uses a dark tip. The whole cap is broken material, and the groove shape is made in the grip area, which caters to the consumption tendency of parents to buy pens for children. It is a dark-tipped pen specially made for children.
Yongsheng 3512 is also a pen model different from the traditional dark-tip shape. It has a slender cylindrical appearance. Although I can’t find any similar classic products, it belongs to the style of domestic fountain pens. It can stand out among these pens, but I have seen too many. I think it’s unremarkable.
Pen material
After talking about the shape, let’s look at the material. The 51 itself is a combination of a metal cap and a plastic barrel. The dark-tipped pens basically follow this design.
All the hero pens, Jinhao 86 and Yongsheng 007 in this comparison are made of metal cap + resin barrel, but the resin texture of each pen is different, we will explain in detail when discussing each pen.
KACO Rui Tu is a combination of resin barrel + pen cap, which is more youthful than traditional models.
The Jinhao 911 uses an all-steel cap and is designed to match the all-steel Hero 100, which is equivalent to putting the configuration of the hero for the golden pen on a 10-dollar steel-tipped product.
The immortal wood 616 is made of solid wood in the pen part. Nowadays, many domestic pens with wood can be made at a very cheap price.
Considering the materials of these pens, you can buy some different materials for a little more than 10 yuan, which is the charm of the appearance of domestic cheap dark-tipped pens.
Pen color
Classic 616 comes in three colors: dark red, dark green, and black. These three tones basically cover common dark-tipped pens and belong to classic colors.
The pens compared in this horizontal review also use more classic colors.
Like the hero 616plus, KACO Rui Tu uses a brighter color scheme. The new hero 007 and immortality 3512 use the gray-toned Morandi color system. It and the macaron color system belong to the favorite color matching of domestic stationery in recent years, and it is also normal on the pen.
At present, when buying cheap dark-tipped pens, there are the most retro and old-fashioned classic colors, and there are also many new colors, which have enriched the choices in the past two years.
Inking system
The Parker 51 used vacuum inking at first, and later replaced it with air inking, which is the most familiar hero inking inker for Chinese consumers. Nowadays, many cheap dark tips rarely maintain air-pressure inking. style.
The air pressure inker has a large capacity, but you can’t see the ink remaining. Nowadays, many consumers don’t like it, and I personally prefer it.
Nowadays, the most popular ones are the inkers. Both the rotary and push-pull models are equipped on these pens, but any fountain pen that supports the inker will support the pen ink sac.
The pen ink bag is equivalent to a gel pen refill, which is a one-time consumable. These pens are all universal interfaces, and the ink sac and the ink applicator are relatively easy to match.
The inking system depends on each person’s usage habits. If you are used to using ink sacs, please choose a pen that can use ink sacs.
Individual workmanship and design details
The hero 616 trumpet is actually the trumpet of the Parker 51. The overall size is a bit small in the eyes of modern pens. I am used to holding standard-sized pens, but I also feel that the grip is relatively thin and I am not used to it. Children try the pen, and the grip of the 616 is qualified. The workmanship is very heroic, the tongue of the pen is crooked to the nib, and the nib to the grip is not even. The nib I bought this time is golden, which is different from the silver nib I bought before. The specification of the tongue is also strange, I don’t think it is Shanghai Produced by Hero, it comes with a press inker. Then there is a small piece of transparent resin at the connection between the 616 series pen holder and the pen barrel. This is the ink viewing window made by Learning 51. In theory, you can see how much ink is left, but in actual experience, it is not for fart use.
I have bought this 616-plus for many years. At that time, the 616plu was an upgraded version of the 616 large, mainly because the inking device was equipped with a push-pull model. The actual hand felt astringent and uncomfortable. I felt it was quite pulling. It is guaranteed to be produced in Shanghai, and it is a lighter color. At that time, there was a wandering earth model with a gold clip. The printing of the pen was ugly, but it was discontinued after a few dollars was cleared, and the price was invincible.
007 is Hero’s cheapest dark-tipped fountain pen. I still remember the historically low price. It’s 6 cents a piece. This is a new color. It’s not bad, the pen is thin, generally speaking, this kind of thin pen is called a lady’s pen, but regardless of gender, it is not easy for adults to hold, and it is cheap. We will see writing later.
329 is a dark tip defined by the hero brand as a super thin tip. Simply looking at the state of the iridium grains, you don’t think it’s too thin. The grip feeling is relatively standard. In addition to the classic models, 616 is the second most popular.
The 329-2 is the best-looking one in the hero mass-produced dark tip. The tail and cap top are all tapered, and there is also a golden arrow decoration on the pen holder. You know, if the hero 100 has this decoration A lot of money will need to be added. This one received, the nib and grip connection is not good, there are deviations, even if I bought 5 heroes, I can see 2 of them not working in 2022, which shows that the hero ignores the quality control for the sake of quantity.
KACO Rui Tu is the only dark tip in their family. I bought it when it first released 39. Because I like Baifeng, I bought it for 39. The packaging can be used as a stationery box. Rotate the inker, this inker can also be used for many pens. The nib is golden, and the grip and tongue connection have some exclusive small shapes. The appearance is imitated by the pure namiki lacquer. Compared with the traditional dark nib, it looks quite special. There is a relatively large viewing window for the ink sac. Useful, I think it can be said that the overall workmanship is good, and the plastic parting line is not very obvious.
The Jinhao 911 is a dark-tipped fountain pen sold by the Jinhao brand for many years. It is characterized by the use of an all-steel stem cap, a rotary ink applicator, and a price of ten yuan. This configuration satisfies many people’s desire for dark-tipped The needs of the pen, in terms of shape, in my opinion, it is an all-steel version of the Hero 100, which basically looks the same as the 200 gold pen. This pen has a common problem, that is, the ink supply system of the whole pen is not good, and the tongue of the pen is easy to accumulate ink and lay eggs.
Jinhao 86 is Jinhao imitating Hero 616, which is a new product of Parker 51. The whole pen is very thick. It is equipped with a rotating cap and a rotating ink applicator. The texture and workmanship are very good. Well, although the appearance style is not outstanding, but the product look and feel is the best.
Eternal Life 3A007 is an imitation of Hero 007, and it is also the cheapest pen in this comparison. The same pen is too thin and difficult to hold. If you look at the workmanship, you can’t see any significant difference from Hero 007.
Although the Eternal Life 616 has this name, it is still quite different from the Hero 616 in terms of proportions and details, but the wooden pole is very good, the surface is smooth and painted. In terms of solid wood pens, it is of course that the texture is not as good as the expensive wooden rods of Baile, platinum and Shule, but compared with resin, the wooden rod is more worthy of the price and looks more interesting.
3512 is an immortal metal lacquer cap pen. The writing system is the same as that of the wooden barrel 616. It looks different from the immortal 007 pen tongue. more convenient.
The Chenguang Yougrip is made of plastic, and the grip is soft rubber. Although it is a pen designed for children, the grip is not thin, and the whole is light and airy. Adults will feel awkward when using it.
Detailed explanation of pen writing
In fact, whether a pen is good for writing is very subjective. For brand pens, I have always suggested that everyone should not read the evaluation of writing on the Internet, but pay more attention to the price. The good writing of others may not be a reference. But for this kind of pens at the price of 10 yuan, if some basic writing functions can be done well, it is a bonus attribute.
For the writing of these pens, I will share each of them in detail, including the polishing of the nib, the mold of the nib, and the use of cheap ostrich 3 series blue and black ink for writing tests. test in the environment.
Pens with stable ink supply, high writing smoothness, and relatively suitable handwriting thickness will be highly rated, but this evaluation is limited to these pens and is not applicable to brand pens.
Look at the performance on two different papers separately.
The overall smoothness of the Chenguang Yougrip is okay, but there is a feeling of incomplete sliding on the KOKUYO. It will perform better on the letter raft. It is still ok to use this paper for children’s writing practice. Not very suitable.
Although the price of Eternal Life 007 is extremely low, it has a certain hard and waxy touch to the paper. Of course, it is not like the gold pen of Hero 100, but the writing feeling is much better, and the handwriting is very thin, which is basically equivalent to the F-tip of a Japanese pen. The writing is a little surprising.
The ink on the Yongsheng 3512 metal nib is not smooth, the writing experience is strange, and it is not easy to control. The overall smoothness is certain, but the water is relatively large, and the color of the handwriting is obviously darker.
From my point of view, the nib of the 616 wood is the same as the 3512, and it is equally difficult to control, but the whole pen feels better than the metal 3512.
In terms of KACO writing, the feeling of being out of control is stronger. One is that the touch paper will slide abnormally, and the other is that the dark tip is wrapped more by the pen grip. The visual experience of writing is strange, but the handwriting is very thin, but the thickness of different angles is different. Uniformity is not good.
The writing control of Jinhao 911 is relatively easy, but the thickness of the strokes at different angles varies somewhat, and the thickness is the standard thickness.
In terms of appearance, the matching tip of Jinhao 86 should be the same as the 911. However, my control is not as easy as that of 911, and the unevenness of the water is less. Personally, I think it is the problem of Jinhao’s quality control. It can be said that the two won the lottery. One, the handwriting is thinner than that of 911.
Hero 007 has a relatively obvious writing surface when it is polished from the factory. The writing is thick, very water gun, and the sense of control is good, but such a water gun is unacceptable to most users.
The nib of the 329-2 has a good sense of writing control, and the water is also too large, but because the iridium nib of the nib is not large, it is not thick as a whole, and it is a relatively easy to write pen.
Although the 329 is marked as an extra-fine pen, the actual handwriting is really not fine, that is, the water is too small, the polishing is strange, and the writing is not easy to control, so it is not an easy-to-use pen.
This 616 trumpet also feels uncontrollable in writing. Personally, I think the golden nib is not good. The previous 616 will not write so strangely, and the handwriting is the standard thickness.
Finally, my hero 616 plus, because it is an old pen, the capillary is blocked, and the handwriting is very thin, but the writing control is relatively good, which is consistent with the 329-2, which is the technical strength of Shanghai hero factory.
In terms of writing, the pen with fine handwriting and easy to use is the cheapest immortal 007. Although the appearance is mediocre, it really has a good writing effect. Hero 616plus and 329-2 are determined to be produced by Shanghai Hero Pen Factory, and the overall experience is better.
Eternal Life 3512, Hero 007, Hero 329, KACO Rui Tu are not very good pens in my opinion.
Other pens are relatively mediocre in terms of writing, and the styles that use the same nib mold are not ideal for actual use consistency. Considering the price, I will give a no-fault evaluation.
Summarize
In terms of purchase, I personally think that the use of dark-tipped fountain pens at this price is the first priority, and three pens with better writing experience are recommended. However, the airtightness of Yongsheng 007 is not good at first glance. -2 is the press inking device, and the push-pull inking of the 616 plus is also poor.
Looking at the whole pen comprehensively, I will add Jinhao 86’s recommendation. This pen barrel has better workmanship, and the screw cap is also guaranteed to be airtight, but the through-die writing system is too common.
Thank you for reading, and we look forward to seeing you next time!
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