Review: Jinhao 992 Light Blue Demonstrator, EF Nib
Jinhao 992 Light Blue Demonstrator, EF Nib
On my journey into the wonderful world of fountain pens, I’ve run into several surprisingly good pens and a handful of really bad ones. Thankfully, this is one of the former.
The 992 Demonstrator is my first plastic Jinhao. Oh, I have the metal X750, X450 and 8802 (with the shell design), and the Ceramic 950, but this plastic Jinhao is something new for me. The Jinhaos have been my favorite inexpensive Chinese pens so far, easily outpacing Wing Sung for quality and writing experience. They always had a nice heft to them, they feel substantial in the hand and I’ve yet to receive anything but a great nib from them, but I was a bit cautious in being too optimistic about venturing into Jinhaos with lighter materials.
Well, my concern proved to be unnecessary. The 992 quickly proved to be not only very visually appealing, but a real joy to write with. As this was also my first EF Jinhao nib, I was very pleasantly surprised that it writes as smoothly as their Medium nibs, just with a finer line. It’s not as fine as some other EFs, I’d almost call this more of a Fine nib, but it’s very smooth regardless. Not sure why I was worried, I’ve yet to use a Jinhao nib that wasn’t excellent.
So, the pen is a thin “cigar-style”, made of a translucent acrylic which feels like quality in the hand. The cap has a finial in the same material, segmented from the rest of the cap by a silver trim ring which is part of the clip assembly. The clip is of average width and length, is slightly wider at the bottom and features a raised rectangular section in the top third of its length as a design element. It has just the right amount of spring for a fixed clip. There is a wide silver cap band at the bottom of the cap with Jinhao engraved into it. The cap band transitions into the body smoothly and has something of a raised band design on it as well.
The cap takes precisely 1 turn of the fairly fine threads to remove and posts securely, seating a full 1/3 down the length of the pen. While posted the pen is neither too heavy nor unbalanced, this one was designed to be used while posted.
The nib on this pen is silver in color, with the traditional Jinhao design. From the tip down it features a square Greco-Roman style border which flows up the wings of the nib, the famous Jinhao chariot design, the Jinhao logo and “EF” at the bottom. Interestingly the vent hole is just a circle engraved into the nib on my pen, but I have not had any issues with flow.
The section has a very slight taper to it and finishes with a nice raised stop at the nib end to keep your fingers from slipping too far down, though I have not found the section to be slippery at all. There is a very shallow step over an o-ring to the cap threads, which are fine and smooth, then another shallow step to the body.
The body while unposted would likely prove to be slightly thin and short for those with large hands, though it fits fine in mine. With only 4 shallow spines running the length of the body on the interior, it is largely free of adornment, facets or other design elements, instead performing its demonstrator function beautifully. The body finishes in a glued-in finial of the same material, giving the whole pen a nice consistent appearance.
Of note, other reviewers have noticed cracking at this last junction, causing leaks for pens which have been eyedropper converted (which you can do with this pen). Removing the finial, hollowing-out the hole for it in the bottom of the body and gluing it back in with high quality, clear, non-reactive glue is reported to solve these issues. It is unknown if this problem still exists in current production runs, but I thought I’d mention it.
One full turn removes the section from the barrel, exposing the ubiquitous Jinhao standard universal converter, complete with Jinhao on the knob. I found the converter to seat well in the pen, fill quite full on the first pass and fill completely with my regiment of 3 flushes each time I fill a pen for the first time.
Reassembled and ready for duty, I found the Jinhao 992 to be an absolute joy to write with. Posted it is just heavy enough to not feel cheap, but sheds the bulk of its metal and ceramic brethren. The nib flows effortlessly across paper with nearly zero feedback. There is very minor line variation available and I found the nib and feed just wet enough and able to keep up with even the fastest writing. This is a pen anyone could easily carry everyday and use in any circumstance, even very long writing sessions.
In all, I love it. I could not recommend it more. Five, full stars.
On my journey into the wonderful world of fountain pens, I’ve run into several surprisingly good pens and a handful of really bad ones. Thankfully, this is one of the former.
The 992 Demonstrator is my first plastic Jinhao. Oh, I have the metal X750, X450 and 8802 (with the shell design), and the Ceramic 950, but this plastic Jinhao is something new for me. The Jinhaos have been my favorite inexpensive Chinese pens so far, easily outpacing Wing Sung for quality and writing experience. They always had a nice heft to them, they feel substantial in the hand and I’ve yet to receive anything but a great nib from them, but I was a bit cautious in being too optimistic about venturing into Jinhaos with lighter materials.
Well, my concern proved to be unnecessary. The 992 quickly proved to be not only very visually appealing, but a real joy to write with. As this was also my first EF Jinhao nib, I was very pleasantly surprised that it writes as smoothly as their Medium nibs, just with a finer line. It’s not as fine as some other EFs, I’d almost call this more of a Fine nib, but it’s very smooth regardless. Not sure why I was worried, I’ve yet to use a Jinhao nib that wasn’t excellent.
So, the pen is a thin “cigar-style”, made of a translucent acrylic which feels like quality in the hand. The cap has a finial in the same material, segmented from the rest of the cap by a silver trim ring which is part of the clip assembly. The clip is of average width and length, is slightly wider at the bottom and features a raised rectangular section in the top third of its length as a design element. It has just the right amount of spring for a fixed clip. There is a wide silver cap band at the bottom of the cap with Jinhao engraved into it. The cap band transitions into the body smoothly and has something of a raised band design on it as well.
The cap takes precisely 1 turn of the fairly fine threads to remove and posts securely, seating a full 1/3 down the length of the pen. While posted the pen is neither too heavy nor unbalanced, this one was designed to be used while posted.
The nib on this pen is silver in color, with the traditional Jinhao design. From the tip down it features a square Greco-Roman style border which flows up the wings of the nib, the famous Jinhao chariot design, the Jinhao logo and “EF” at the bottom. Interestingly the vent hole is just a circle engraved into the nib on my pen, but I have not had any issues with flow.
The section has a very slight taper to it and finishes with a nice raised stop at the nib end to keep your fingers from slipping too far down, though I have not found the section to be slippery at all. There is a very shallow step over an o-ring to the cap threads, which are fine and smooth, then another shallow step to the body.
The body while unposted would likely prove to be slightly thin and short for those with large hands, though it fits fine in mine. With only 4 shallow spines running the length of the body on the interior, it is largely free of adornment, facets or other design elements, instead performing its demonstrator function beautifully. The body finishes in a glued-in finial of the same material, giving the whole pen a nice consistent appearance.
Of note, other reviewers have noticed cracking at this last junction, causing leaks for pens which have been eyedropper converted (which you can do with this pen). Removing the finial, hollowing-out the hole for it in the bottom of the body and gluing it back in with high quality, clear, non-reactive glue is reported to solve these issues. It is unknown if this problem still exists in current production runs, but I thought I’d mention it.
One full turn removes the section from the barrel, exposing the ubiquitous Jinhao standard universal converter, complete with Jinhao on the knob. I found the converter to seat well in the pen, fill quite full on the first pass and fill completely with my regiment of 3 flushes each time I fill a pen for the first time.
Reassembled and ready for duty, I found the Jinhao 992 to be an absolute joy to write with. Posted it is just heavy enough to not feel cheap, but sheds the bulk of its metal and ceramic brethren. The nib flows effortlessly across paper with nearly zero feedback. There is very minor line variation available and I found the nib and feed just wet enough and able to keep up with even the fastest writing. This is a pen anyone could easily carry everyday and use in any circumstance, even very long writing sessions.
In all, I love it. I could not recommend it more. Five, full stars.
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