Last year I tried Majohn’s answer to the Pilot Vanishing Point, the A1 and A2, and I was fairly complimentary about them at the time. Yes, they were slightly scratchy and did dry out after a while, and once I tried an actual Pilot Decimo it didn’t really compare. But I figured for the price, what could you expect?

When the Jinhao 10 started to appear everywhere online to positive reviews, I expected something similar to the Majohn A1: a dupe that was decent for the price. But to my great surprise, I’ve found that the Jinhao 10 is vastly superior to the Majohn A1, and to be honest, the writing experience for me has been comparable to the Pilot Decimo.

I bought my first Jinhao 10 off AliExpress for around £12, including postage, choosing the Sea Blue Gradient, which is clearly modelled after last year’s special edition Vanishing Point in the Seashore colourway. And I was impressed right away once I received the pen, as the quality seemed high for the price. It had a satisfying heft to it, and the slightly shimmery finish of the pen body was really pretty. 

But it was when I inked the pen up (with Tom’s Studio Sunny Teal) and wrote with it that I was truly impressed. Pilot Vanishing Points are famous for their smooth writing experience, and so I was shocked by how similar the Jinhao 10 fine nib felt to writing with the fine nib of my Pilot Decimo. The experience was glassy smooth, with the nib seeming to glide easily across the page.

I could immediately see why there was so much hype around the Jinhao 10, as not only is there an impressive variety of attractive colourways, but for a fraction of the price of the Vanishing Point, you can get a similar writing experience. Obviously, the Jinhao 10 is a steel nib pen, rather than gold, and perhaps doesn’t have the same bounce, but I was surprised by how nicely it wrote. 

It does also come with a converter, which is unfortunately just as annoying to use as the CON-40, but it also fits Pilot ink cartridges. 

I was so impressed with this pen that I did what I always do when I like an inexpensive pen: buy more! I now have two more in the Rose Gold and Pink colour, and the Coffee Gradient one, which has a nice matte finish to the pen body. The pink one has an extra fine nib, and I can confirm it’s just as smooth a writer as the two with fine nibs, although I can’t see a huge variation in the line widths between the two different nibs. 

I have also found that some drying out occurs if you leave the pen sitting unused for a couple of days. I’ve never had any trouble with hard starts or skipping, but if you don’t use it for a while, the first couple of lines you write will come out a little darker. I have a similar problem with my Pilot Decimo, but it’s usually just the first couple of words with that pen, whereas with the Jinhao 10 it’s a little longer. So I assume the seal on the trapdoor mechanism isn’t as airtight on the Jinhao 10. 

Overall, though I think the Jinhao 10 is a fantastic pen for the price! I’ve always found Jinhao pens to be decent, especially for the low price point, but the Jinhao 10 is the first one that has really blown me away, and I’d really recommend it as an inexpensive option for a retractable fountain pen. 

So have you tried the Jinhao 10? What do you think of it?