Jinhao 159 Fountain Pen Review - It's still a great pen!

It's been around for a long time, but this Montblanc 149 copy is superb value for money.

The Jinhao 159 is a big, heavy, metal fountain pen of good quality. The Jinhao 159 is a very popular fountain pen that has been around for many years and is available in a range of different colours.
My review of the Jinhao 159 covers all of the points, both good and bad of the Jinhao 159 fountain pen.

The Jinhao 159 is one of the most popular and reliable fountain pens from Chinese pen manufacturer Jinhao.

[marctestarossa]

I just got the JH 159 today and I was surprised. It looks great, feels great, the threading is a bit sketchy but works fine, the cap screws and unscrews in almost perfectly one rotation, the nib is great, it writes amazing and I already went through a complete filling of the converter within the first few hours of having it. I have some fountain pens and I especially love my Lamy Studio, it has been my daily writer for almost two years now and it's a great pen. But I have some problems with carpal tunnel so I need a pen with a real chunky section to minimize the amount of gripping I need to do. I wrote several pages with my new 159 and I can say it really helps. it's not perfect, but waaaay better. I like the weight, how it feels in the hand, how smooth the nib glides over the paper of my notebook, everything.

But I really love to post my pens, so I have one question: Does regular posting of the cap damage the finish of the barrel. I have the black polished finish with silver accents. Does someone have some experience with the 159 and cap posting? Because I'm afraid to get really ugly ring around the barrel where the cap grabs it. I mean it wouldn't be a great loss because I could just buy another one, but still.

[davidanderson]

It is interesting to see the effect you have achieved using sparkly nail varnish. I must confess I am not a big fan of 'Benu'. I usually prefer slightly more understated pens. However, I can see this is a lot of fun and the possibilities are almost endless. I agree with your views on the Jinhao 159. I own three of them and like the black version most of all.

[HJKelley]

My latest Jinhao 159 (gold) is a very smooth writer. I did not have to do any nib tweaking at all, thank goodness. At
$5.67/pen I would not complain even if I had to do a bit of nib tweaking. As a female with a small hand, I have
had no problems writing with my 159s. The Jinhao 159 is a brass metal pen, and the Lamy Al Star is aluminum,
so that accounts for the weight difference. The Jinhao 159 is not marketed as competition for the MB 149, for
the MB cost is $1, 000 vs. $5.67. The MB Meisterstuck 149 comes with a gold nib, and gold furnishings, which
accounts for its hefty price tag. To put a gold nib on your Jinhao 159, would cost you between $180-197. A
Bock 14 karat solid gold nib would cost you about $197+. Remember, if you are one of those who casually
throws your pens around, though the pen is inexpensive, the nib would be costly to replace if you dropped
your pen nib down, or to have it repaired. The nice thing about the Jinhao 159 is your ability to swap nibs
for another #6 nib.

[therishabhdhiman]

Swapped the Nib with Kanwrite double tone Extra Fine #6 and the pen is writing fantastic now.

[korax]

Amazing pens, I also have a bunch of them. When the original nib isn't nice I replace it with a Bock one and it becomes an absolutely perfect pen. I have even attached a TWSBI 580 nib to a 159 and it writes even better !

[paulherman]

Great review! Currently, my 159 is my favourite pen to write with. It writes very nicely, in fact, it's a nicer writer than even the vintage gold nib lever fill pen I had in high school (a barn find from the 40s or 50s that looked virtually unused and wrote the best of the other vintage fountain pens I had. Too bad I lost it years ago somewhere in a series of moves. Can't even remember the name...) Not as springy as that old gold nib, but mine is a great writer, where I just wasn't that impressed with the writing with the old one.
Plus, the sheer massiveness of the 159 makes it a perfect fit for me. I'm not going to easily drop it, and it just feels right for my hand. Makes it a "priceless" pen to me (at least until I find another one I like better.)
Not an easy pen for daily carry, but it's my first choice at home, where I do most of my writing.

[paulmchugh]

This episode popped up on my feed.

I have the X159 which I enjoy a lot. The 159 i have never gotten as it has been described more loke a paper weight or something that can be used as s door stop.

Recently some videos have been extolling the 159. I may consider it. I have gotten other earlier versions of current pens, like the Jinhao 100 and have found them to be excellent pens, though the weight is considerably heavier.

Would you still recommend this pen?

[jimmybeauxarts]

Am using Waterman ink, wonderful ink, makes most fountain pens writes flawlessly

[ryokan]

I'm guessing you might have bought the 3 packs from amazon? My 3 pack had the gold, silver and rose gold finishes which you have placed side by side on the video.

[edwardstaats]

I have two 159 and they are great pens but I have a problem with the nib. It writes very well but when I want to refill the converter, it will not refill. I have a workaround solution. Any thoughts?

[israellava]

Hi! Mind sharing what did you do to make the original jinhao nib work fine. Mine has some break in between writing.

[p.r.s]

Are the metal ones durable ? Or the coating starts to chip off after a while ?

[AliHaider-envu]

It is an interesting pen but the qualify of its paint is quite poor. After certain time it starts to peel off. Morover except nib the quality of materials is poor as well. After coming off of paint, the metal also starts to wear off. Hope Jinhao take care of this problem.