Jinhao 80 is a simple and nice pen you can have for a very low price. Buying it is simply a no-brainer. The design of the pen is definitely inspired from one of the most iconic pens in the world having a minimalist and simple while elegant design. Jinhao 80 is a great addition the the fountain pen collection. With a very low price of 6-7 $.
The pen does not copy one for one the Lamy 2000 with it's iconic Bauhaus look. The Jinhao is more a mix and match of two Lamy pens, the Lamy 2000 (2k) and the Lamy Aion.
Jinhao 80 is available in several colors. I have bought the almost classic black body with silver trim.
The pen is made out of plastic. It is light and comfortable. The plastic is textured imitating in a way the looks of the Lamy 2000 which has a fiber glass body. The texture is not very prominent and is not that visible. But offers a more "natural" feel to the touch. It is like touching a piece of wood which has been sanded but still retains a little bit of it's natural texture. It is hard to convey it through the pictures, you will just have to take my word.
The pen has somewhat of a cigar shape with flat ends. The top of the cap is just a black plastic with no decoration. The brushed silver clip contrasts very well the black body, offering the pen a "tool" look, industrial, reliable while still looking classy and ready to do business.
While the end of the barrel has a silver metal insert that balances the silver clip on the cap. It ads some character to the very sterile and simple body.
The snap cap is hugging the body well. The fact that the nib doesn't dry out even if left on the desk without use for a few weeks is a testament that the cap does it's job very good. Every time I took the cap off, the pen wrote without any hesitation even after weeks of sitting on the desk being ignored.
The cap will also reveal a polished silver nib and a silver ring that delimits the barrel from the grip position. The ring is almost flat and not noticeable when you write even if your hand crosses over it. I would give the pen an extra point for design if it would come with a black nib or a brushed silver nib that matches the clip.
Jinhao 80 has a Lamy style silver nib, and I suspect that an original Lamy nib will fit onto the feed without any issues. I can't confirm as I haven't tested this yet but is a good future project.
The nib has Jinhao written on it along side with the logo and the F marking the width of the nib.
The grip is comfortable and tapers a little bit. The barrel is separated from the grip visually by a silver metal ring.
I am happy to see that the barrel and the grip have metal threads. This will assure a longer life to the pen. It will prevent cross threading or plastic cracking from over tightening the parts.
The pen comes with a Jinaho converter, which is not the best. As all of the Jinhao's converters I have used so far due to the lack of an agitator inside the surface tension of the ink stops it from flowing. Many times it requires to prime the feed again as you can feel the pen is struggling for the precious ink.
The pen comes with a fine nib that is no surprise. It is a very common size for Chinese pens. The flow is ok, a little on the dry side. The pencil will perform great on any kind of paper, without much feathering and see trough on the other side due to the reserved ink flow and thin lines.
I can see a tiny bit of difference in the thickness of the horizontal lines compared to the vertical ones, but not that noticeable when you write.
It writes smooth, with a hint of feed back. This has a fraction more feedback compared to the number 8 nib on the Jinhao X159.
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