Occasionally, something new comes along in the pen world which sets social media buzzing amongst the fountain pen community. Recently, we have had a new offering from Jinhao, named the X159.
This is not entirely new: there has long been a Jinhao 159 (without the “X” factor), which we might call an homage to the Montblanc Meisterstuck 149, but with a steel nib, cartridge-converter filling and a fraction of the cost. However, it was a heavy beast, being made of metal. I owned one myself. In the event it did not see a lot of use, on the ground that the ink flow in my model proved to be a bit erratic despite my efforts.
However, the new version, the X159 is different in many respects and offers significant improvements. Whilst similar in size and appearance to its forerunner, the main changes are as follows:
- It is now made of acrylic and is much lighter;
- It has a larger, number 8 nib;
- There is new, more subtle pocket clip;
- The grip section is much less tapered and does not end with a metal ring (colloquially termed a “rust ring”);
- The threads on the barrel, for the cap are now acrylic instead of metal.
These cannot be found in our shops but are available online. The prices on Amazon currently range from £7.49 to around £20.00 depending upon which colour, trim finish and nib size you chose. Nib sizes are Fine or Extra Fine. There is an option for gold or silver colour trim, the former having a bicolour nib.
I resisted the temptation to order one for several weeks, happy with my current line-up and convincing myself that the Jinhao could not possibly perform any better than steel nibbed pens that I already owned, such as my Onoto Scholar or the Otto Hutt Design 06 to name but two. Whilst the price was obviously not an issue, I did not want the added clutter.
However the temptation did not go away and I learned that a few friends had ordered one. Still curious to try one for myself, I eventually weakened and pulled the trigger. I opted for a black version, with silver coloured trim and a Fine nib, for a princely sum of £9.99.
The unboxing.
With Amazon Prime, the pen arrived the following day. Inside the cardboard envelope, the pen was packed in a simple polythene sleeve inside a padded envelope. This was just enough to get the pen to me without damage and did not leave me with any unnecessary box.
In the flesh, first impressions were very favourable. The black acrylic body was smooth and glossy. Fit and finish all seemed good. The number 8 nib, being the first pen I have bought with one, was a good bit larger than the usual number 6 size and looked impressive and perhaps a bit more in keeping with the large girth of the pen.
The nib and feed.
I examined the nib under a loupe. The tines looked to be even, with good symmetrical tipping. There was a nib slit which narrowed down from the breather hole to the tipping at which point the tines were quite tightly together. Viewed from the back, the nib was not quite symmetrical to the feed, but this is easily adjusted.
I flushed the nib and feed in warm water to remove any residue of grease from manufacturing. The nib is easy to disassemble – a feature that I appreciate very much. You can unscrew the nib housing from the section. Once out, the nib and feed are friction-fit and can be pulled out from the housing, by gripping them together, perhaps with a soft cloth or tissue and pulling in a straight line, being careful not to damage the delicate plastic feed. Once out, you can lift the nib off the feed, and it is more easy to clean and adjust if necessary. I noticed that the ink channel at the top of the feed was cut quite wide and more like a trough than a slit. Good!
I had expected the nib to be a bit dry, having seen a video review by Stephen Brown. As a lefty-overwriter, my preference is for pens which lay down ink with little or no pressure needed. This can usually be achieved by opening up the gap between the tines at the tipping, just a very little until you can see a space, or daylight, between them.
This is a very useful adjustment. It is often easier with a gold nib than a steel one. There are various tricks to doing this, using brass shims to floss the nib, bending the tines up, or trying to wriggle a blade between the tines – all of which should be attempted with great care and with frequent pauses to inspect the nib under a loupe and to try writing with it again. Eventually, I had the best success by lifting first one tine, with my thumbnail, bouncing it up and down a few times – and then doing the same with the other. I then replaced the nib onto the feed, and pushed them back into the housing, carefully ensuring that the feed’s point was centred with the nib and that the tines were both level and smooth.
Filling:
After flushing and drying the pen, I filled it with Montblanc Royal Blue. The large nib does need quite a full bottle to be able to immerse the nib for filling. My Montblanc bottle has the useful feature that you can tip it to make the filling area deeper. Before doing this, the converter did not draw up any ink leading me to wonder whether it was not pulling a vacuum. Note that the converter is like the Lamy ones, with a flat edge to hold rather than being round. Personally I do not like this feature as it makes the converter harder to twist.
Writing and performance:
Having adjusted my nib I then flushed, cleaned, dried and filled it, all of which took less than an hour. I was thrilled that it wrote superbly, as well as I could wish for. The nib was smooth, with good ink flow and lubrication. It is a firm nib. My fine nib writes a slightly wider line than intended by reason of my tine-widening exercise, but the end result, a medium-fine, is very pleasing. All in all, I was absolutely delighted.
It then just remained to do two further tests. One is to write for about a page of A4, to see how the feed keeps up, once the excess ink from filling the pen and saturating the feed, is used up. This is to check for “ink starvation” if ink is not being replenished from the converter. This (like opening the tine gap) is another tip I picked up from Stephen Brown’s videos. All looked good on this front. The final test was to check for hard starts. Leaving the pen untouched for 8 hours, revealed no issues. Later, when I could bear to leave it alone, I managed some longer intervals and again, there were no hard start issues.
Size and weight.
| Jinhao 159 | Jinhao X159 | |
| Weight, total | 46g | 28g |
| Weight without cap | 27g | 18g |
| Weight of cap | 19g | 10g |
| Length capped | 148mm | 148mm |
| Length open | 125mm | 130mm |
| Length posted | 165mm | 162mm |
Epilogue.
I have been really thrilled with the Jinhao X159. I think it is phenomenally great value. There is nothing else quite like it on the market. It could compete well with some pens in the £100.00 to £200.00 bracket. I hope that it continues to perform as well as it does now, and see no reason why it should not, with usual care and maintenance.
Indeed, so impressed and blown away was I, that I ordered a second one, this time trying a different colour, and with gold coloured fittings with a bi-colour nib and in Extra Fine. I opted for a blue and gold one. This cost just £7.99, firmly within “no-brainer” territory. There is also a Dark Blue version but this was priced around £20 and would come from the US, taking longer.
Once again, my pen arrived the following day. At first, it looked like I had got Dark Blue as it looked like navy, in artificial light. However, daylight revealed the colour to be a very pleasing blue-teal, which I am very happy with. I was excited to see under the loupe that the EF nib looked to be tuned to my liking, with the slightest of gaps between the tines, promising a good writing experience. After flushing the pen, I filled it with Diamine’s Conway Stewart Tavy, my go-to blue black. Bliss. This feels like its “forever ink.” The extra fine nib performs beautifully. In my notebook I wrote “I am genuinely over the moon at how good this pen looks, feels and writes and all for a £7.99 price tag.”
Fountain pen blog 
I have been looking at this pen and your review had pushed me into trying it. I like hefty pens and this seems to fit that bill.mw
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Thanks Mike. The Jinhao X159 is certainly a large pen with a wide girth but I would not say it is hefty in weight. Being acrylic it still manages to be under 30g even when capped.
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This was such an interesting read. One of the things I love about the fountain pen hobby is that it’s such a broad church – there is something for everyone and you can build a great collection at any price point.
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Thanks very much Pamela. I have gushed about these pens, at risk of not being taken seriously as a reviewer of quality pens, but they are astonishingly good IMHO. I have just written five A4 pages of letters with them this morning before breakfast!
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Just read your review and am I going to have to break my new year resolution, and add this pen to my collection. Can I keep my resolution and not by a pen until my birthday at the end of February only time will tell
Thanks for another interesting review.
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Thanks John, glad to have been of service. As for New Year’s resolutions, good luck with those:) . Today is Chinese New Year so you could always buy a pen today and start the resolutions from tomorrow.
I hope you will enjoy the Jinhao. I am contemplating using it exclusively for a week or even a month to see how it works out as an all-purpose writing companion.
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Great review. I especially like how you detailed what you do to nibs to get the ink to flow more abundantly. And I love it when an inexpensive pen writes like a champ.
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Thanks Debi. I enjoyed tackling some nib work on my first X159. I used to be frightened of doing this but it seems less daunting with a Jinhao. At the end of the day, a nib is just a piece of metal.
The feeds work well in this model. Both of mine have been problem- free so far.
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I just wish they’d sell the Jinhao pens with Broad nibs. I prefer Broad and Stub nibs to show off all the properties of the ink. Plus I just like writing that way.
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Read your review and simply bought one. Thank you for your insights. The filling advice was spot on as I also found that no ink was getting to the converter with a half bottle full of Sheaffer black. I did end up taking out the converter and filling it straight from the bottle. When it’s finished I’ll take your lead and use my Montblanc bottle reservoir like yours. Writes beautifully, has the fine nib and the largest pen I own now. Yet so comfortable to use. Thank you and all the best.
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Thank you. I am glad to hear that your new pen is a success. Like you, the Jinhao X159 is the largest pen I own. It is also my only pen with a size 8 nib.
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Thanks again. I prefer finer lines produced from nibs…so it’s spot on. Cheers.
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I had promised myself that I would not buy any (or at least not many) pens this year. But your review tempted me to try the X159. I had had a 159 in the past, but it was too heavy for me to use regularly. The X159 arrived today (two days from ordering with standard delivery!) and it is as good as you reported. The build quality is very good. And when I flushed it prior to filling, there was residual ink in the feed (but not the converter), so I think the nib must have been tested before dispatch. Given the price that seems astonishing – if only other manufacturers would do the same. Thank you for your entertaining and informative blog.
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Thanks Bert. Yes, it is great that the nibs are tested before they go out. Now you mention it, there was a little ink residue on mine too which I noticed when I rinsed it before filling for the first time. Enjoy!
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Thank you for your review. Thanks a lot. It reassures me that I am normal in indulging my acquisitive urges for pens. They are a delightful indulgence, and I need to alternate between sepia ink and grey ink and other quirky choices. Thanks.
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Great review! Got one recently for US$ 6 (although it’s black with the plain nib. I would have like the two-tones nib as well.) And it’s exceeded my expectations. It writes wonderfully straight out of the box.. I mean bag. Arguably the best great-writing-experience to cost ratio of any pen I’ve purchased.
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Thankyou. From what I hear of these pens, the quality control seems consistently good and I would agree with you as to value for money.
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This seems like such a good gift for someone that’s recently gotten into fountain pens. I already have too many pens for my taste (that is to say nine, eight of them being gifts) but If I had to get a new one for whatever reason, it seems like this one would be the way to go.
Thank you for your review!
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I agree that this would make a great gift. There are pens to suit all budgets but this one has so much to commend it for so modest a price. There are plenty of colours to choose from too although nib widths are limited to Fine or Extra Fine.
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Great tips regrading Manufacturing Packaging . You provided the best information which helps us a lot. Thanks for sharing the wonderful information.
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Great review – thanks very much. I have 2 and put a John Holland oversized (#8) in one and a Grieshaber #8 in the other. They are awesome pens.
I haven’t been able to remove the housing (as you clearly did from your photos): do you have any tips? Grateful, and keep up the inspirational work!
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Thank you for your kind words. Your nib upgrades sound exciting. I am guessing these are gold nibs and flexy, rather different from Jinhaos.
To remove the nib housing, I simply grip the nib and feed firmly and unscrew the whole nib unit from the section. All of mine have come out easily. It is then easier to separate nib and feed for cleaning or adjustment.
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Thanks for the quick reply and your advice. I just need to be a little more robust in my efforts!
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This review has me dry-mouthed awaiting mine. It’s seemed inevitable that one of their efforts would result in a standout pen. Contrary to all youtube hype, I’ve found all but 1 of the 50+ Jinhao pens to have execrable nibs, even the darlings of youtube reviewers, such as the quite terrible 51a, and even worse the 100, seem to cling to even the smoothest paper unpleasantly. Except for a Jinhao 85, which had the smoothest steel-nib I’ve ever used. But there the quality control let me down and every subsequent 85 bought for myself or as gifts skipped and started hard. The general acclaim for this model makes me think that perhaps in this jumbo nib and what you described as a trenched feed will make amends for all these disappointment.
Incidentally, I greatly appreciate your reviews and judgement, which I find refreshingly free of the silliness and over-excitability elsewhere.
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Thanks for visiting the blog and for your kind comments! I hope you will be pleased with the X159 when it arrives. Having a #8 nib and at this price is amazing. The nibs on my four pens have all been admirable although you might need to re-centre it over the feed, which is quick and easy to do.
I was tempted to try a Jinhao 51a recently but resisted.
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I was a fan of the 159, the girth and the heft but I was not a fan of the clip or the inconsistent quality. My first one was orange and it is superb. I bought several more on the back of that purchase and they were all disappointing. It took me quite a while and several reviews to convince me to try the X159 but boy, am I glad that I did. The quality is excellent, the acrylic is far better than the brass body of the 159 and is reminiscent of my Conklin All American (which I adore). In fact, my only criticism is that I find the nib section too broad to get into some ink bottles and filling it is a palaver.
My black X159 is now my go to pen, in permanent service.
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I am glad to hear that your Jinhao X159 has been such a success, subject to the point you mention about ink bottles.
In case you are not aware, there is a Jinhao 9019 fountain pen which is very similar, having the number 8 nib, but is available in demonstrator clear, blue or pink editions as well as opaque black, burgundy and blue. It also features a larger capacity converter.
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Hi,
Apologies for coming late to this party, but I thought I would leave a few comments about this pen.
I found that mine was a bit light for its size, but as with almost all Jinhao pens, the nib was very good.
However, there seems to be a design flaw in the cap, in that the cap finial can snap off, releasing the clip and separating the inner and outer sleeves of the cap. Mine isn’t the only one this has happened to, there are other reports on the internet of this exact same break.
Next I tried its big brother, the Jinhao 9019. This has eliminated the faults of the X159, at the cost of being a thicker and chunkier pen.
I am hoping that there is a 2024 version of the X159 with an improved cap and slightly heaver body.
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Hello,
After years of writing with ball pen, I changed my life and I discovered the pleasure of writing with a fountain pen. I was looking for an old fashion fountain pen, something like my grand father had, round and brown. Or like the Montblanc of Ceausescu. I ordered from eBay one Jinhao X159 and one Jinhao 9019. The total price was 21$ including shipping from Shanghai to Romania. My expectation was low, considering the price of another two fountain pens, a Cross and a Parker, which I had had before. But Jinhao provided a great surprise! These two fountain pens are much above my expectations. 9019 has a medium size nib which slides easily end evenly on paper, especially on glossy paper. On very thin paper the ink penetrates on the other side. The writing is like painting with a brush. The line is thick, wet and steady on normal paper, even if I keep the nib on one point for several seconds. I can’t stop writing. Sometimes I grab the fountain pen and I write something, anything, just for the pleasure of writing.
I think I’ll try a few other Jinhao fountain pens. After all a few tens of euro is not much for a hobby.
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