One of the amusing things about buying cheap Chinese pens is that the 6-8 weeks delivery time means by the time they arrive you’ve almost forgotten that you ordered them.
Yesterday a pair of Jinhao 992 pens arrived in the post, one in solid black and the other in transparent brown, which I had bought at the tail-end of April for £1.60 each, which included postage.
The 992 is much lighter than the X450 and X750, due in no small part to the all-plastic construction compared to the former’s metal and plastic construction, and is also shorter. I don’t tend to post my pens (ie. put the cap onto the end of the barrel when writing) but the 992 is right on the limit for me – any shorter and I would need to. I have quite small hands so many people will need to post it.
The 992 has a sleek, classy, minimalistic retro design, especially in solid black, let down only by the wide metal band on the cap which I personally find rather clumsy and gauche.
If you have other Jinhao pens then this pen will be familiar territory. The nib is a standard Jinhao nib, and writes as a fine-medium and has a pleasant smooth feel with good flow. The converter is the standard screw-type plunger affair.
Unlike the push-fit caps on the X450 and X750, the 992 has a screw fit cap.
Overall, this is a lovely little pen. If you have loads of other Jinhao pens then it might feel a little bit “much of a muchness”, but it’s rapidly winning me over to the point that it could well be my favourite model in the Jinhao range so far, a place previously held by the X750.
Update:
As with many Jinhao pens, the Jinhao 992 is “based on” an existing pen. In this case it is apparently the Sailor Procolor 500.
Many thanks to the person who pointed this out to me.