My Jinhao x159 Fountain Pens (#8 nibs)

For the last few months, I saw quite a bit of chatter about a #8 large size nib. I saw a few pen turners making some beautiful pens with this larger nib. I forgot to test one out back in August at the local pen show. Since then my curiosity got the best of me.

I came across this Jinhao x159 and I was able to order it for under $15. Here is my dark blue acrylic pen with gold trim.

I was surprised at how light this pen was. The weight when filled with ink is around 28.30 grams.

Once this large nib hit my paper, I knew I was in for a treat.

My pen writes beautifully and my Fine nib writes smooth with a tiny bit of feedback. For the price, I knew I wanted to get the black version of this pen.

I filled my black acrylic pen with a shimmering ink called Enchanted Ocean.

There are two noticeable differences between my blue and black Jinhao pens. First, my blue pen has a large italic “x159” on the metal cap band while my black pen uses a smaller regular font. Also my blue pen has larger JINHAO printed on the cap band.

The second noticeable difference is my blue pen uncaps in two full turns. My black pen uncaps in three full turns. A few online reviews mentioned how the three turns to uncap was a bit of a concern. I’m assuming my blue pen is a newer version.

The pens with the silver trim will have a silver nib. The pens with the gold trim will have the two tone gold and silver nib.

I’ve read about folks comparing this to a Montblanc 149. Since I do not own one, I won’t make any comparisons or comments.

Here’s a picture of the nib size in comparison with my small Jinhao nib from my x750.

Here’s a side view of the nibs and the sections.

Both nibs on my x159 were aligned beautifully and they both wrote smoothly with just a tiny bit of feedback.

The pens are lightweight and easy to hold in my hand. The section is large, but not in a bad way. It means I won’t be holding this pen with a death grip. Hahaha!

The transition from the section to the body is just a slight step up. Hardly noticeable.

I’ve written with both pens posted and unposted. When posted, there’s a tiny bit of back weight while writing. I think I would notice it more after a full page of writing, but my hand was never tired.

I currently have these two pens inked up as my everyday writers and I reach for them often. My black acrylic is currently sitting in my “to clean bin” as the I wrote this pen dry.

I’ve enjoyed the writing experience with both pens. I feel as though I can toss them in my bag and carry them everywhere I go. They are affordably priced and if I lose one no big deal as I can alway purchase another one.

I’m looking forward to the new colors Jinhao will be coming out in the next few weeks. I have my eye on the avocado green color with silver trim.