A Great Alternative To The Lamy Safari - Hongdian C1 Fountain Pen
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- Опубліковано 31 січ 2024
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Hongdian C1 - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DeF...
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#doodlebud #fountainpen #review
Glad they're doing their own designs now, this is far more appealing to me than copies.
Same here. Love this so much more than other ones that have all the same dimension and very close looks to the 51. They took the "general" idea then did their own thing with it and I think its an excellent job.
The design is quite similar to the Pilot Explorer, except for the hooded nib.
it's about as similar to the pilot Explorer as the pilot custom 823 is to the lamy 2000
Loving my ef in black. Writes like a charm. Hongdian is rapidly becoming my go to brand.
Yup. Only brand I have more than two pens from. It's getting out of hand - I have six! ..
I bought the yellow hongdian c1 in ef, because that's what I typically use. It's a needle! Got another in F and it's just right, more like an EF. Something folks might want to know. Love this pen, so happy that you are pleased :) Also, if your viewers are handy, it's possible to swap out a hooded nib for a heavier one.
Stands out, thats for sure. Hongdian is making terrific pens.
I love that yellow & black. To solve potential colour (mis)match issues, maybe get a black one too & swap the sections out. Unveiling a bright, almost glowing yellow section on the all-black pen might be cool
I just ordered this in a gorgeous green, can't wait for it to come. The green is very similar to the Lamy safari savannah especially with the black hardware.
I bought mine in late October 2023 when it was only $5 or $6 USD.
I fell in love immediately, it does what it's supposed to, write. And it does it perfectly all the time without any kind of challenges.
Perfect for beginners so I gave mine to my daughter.
Now you made me want one again, sir 😁
Great handwriting test. I love big loopy swishy letters. 😊
I have the same one. Love the colour and feel in the hand, and really enjoy writing with it.
Loving this pen
There’s also a blue and a white . I’ve got the set of 5. They work well with some Lamy Safaris. I wish the cap would click when it’s capped.
This is more of a slip cap instead of a snap cap design, much like the Parker 51
100% agree about Chinese build quality. HD n12, WS 630, and Admok Ingenuity (M800) are all amazing piston-fillers.
Yeah i have had a couple of these, they work well. Great value.
I have the white version. I have been using it for a month. It has been an awesome pen. Nicely balanced, posted or unposted. The Fine nib is very smooth. I have been using it as an eyedropper fill pen. It has worked great. If the threads corrode, I think for the price point, it won't destroy my wallet.
For my handwriting it works fine.
One thing I did notice is that there is staining where the nib meets the section. I don't know if it will stain permanently or not.
Great review.
I would be cautious on eye dropering this pen and the body is brass and isnt coated on the inside. You might get an ink that reacts with that so keep that in mind
@@Doodlebud will do. So far it has been ok. But time will tell.
I have 2. EDC’d one for a month. Never a skip. A joy to use.
I have just ordered one after watching your program. It's the yellow that convinced me. Thanks for another great show. Cheers from Oz.
The pen has arrived, the reality matches your description to a tee, and there's no forgetting where it is. Thanks for the advice. Cheers from Oz.
I'm on my second one of these. The first was dry, scratchy, and beyond extra extra fine. The second is a treat to write with. Note: if you dip that yellow section in an ink bottle, clean it off right away or it will stain.
Really happy about the hooded nibs on these pens, i love hooded nibs, sad more pen brands don't make them
One of the best things with the Hongdian C1 is the slip cap, and the worst. My first C1 was a Yellow fine and it is terrific. I now also have a blue and red extra fine and those write well also. I agree, they hit this one out of the park. I have this and a Jinhao 80 on my commute (and a Pilot Custom 823 in a sleeve).
I'm not usually a fan of yellow, but I do like that. Glad their quality keeps going up.
Same here, but this yellow with black looks so good!
I have a few of these, bought as EF and F two-packs. They're surprisingly good and consistent, just pleasant to write with. I've had no trouble with the nibs and love the experience of capping and uncapping the pen. I'm generally happy with Hongdian, and these have been great to keep inked up. I had one C1 dedicated to Chou Kuro, but the combination of a very fine nib and the super-pigmented ink didn't work so great after a few days. Otherwise it's been a great EDC.
Another good review; ordered in white.
I bought all four colors in EF for less than $20 on Ebay. Three weeks later, no complaints. This and the Jinhao 9019 are my best Chinese pen experiences.
Great choices. I like the 9016 even more. Smaller but still super comfortable, same large converter, swapable #6 nib, and posts much more deeply.
Literally if they made one of these in medium it would be damn near perfect. I have a blue C1 and it’s awesome but it writes much finer than I would like. I love hooded nibs and metal pens so if this pen wrote in medium I probably wouldn’t write with a lot of my other pens.
Oof, yes. Fatter + juicer Chinese nibs, pleeeease!
I have one in each color. I was very pleasantly surprised when I bought a black and a red pen. I'm a sucker for hooded nibs. i ended up ordering the blue, white and yellow pens. I really like the extra fine nib. The pens write surprisingly well considering their price. I actually bought an extra yellow one for a friend, who, I know would never get one for herself. I use these pens at work almost daily. I teach middle school science so I don't like to bring expensive pens to work so I use these. They are definitely worth the money and the nibs write very well. Also, I've never had a hard start with these pens. Thanks for the review.
Great to hear. Yeah I was surprised when I first picked it up. Much better than I was expecting!
Just ordered😅 these budget friendly pens are really doing it for me.
Its great that there's something for everyone at all budgets
Great video thank you. This Hongdian pen is well priced and ideal
for someone starting their fountain pen journey. The pen that I rate super highly against the Lamy Safari is the FC Hexo which you reviewed a while back. I have 3 the EF, M & B. This pen offers a superb writing experience and is discounted in the UK. All 3 nibs offer a superlative writing experience in their class. At probably over twice the price of the Hongdian it may be a trifle expensive for the first timer. However £ for £ this is one of the best pens I’ve ever used. Thanks again D😊
You have a C1 in a M & B as well or did I read that wrong. If you do, where did you get them with those nib sizes!
Great review DB. Mesmerising yellow pen. Hope the metal body doesn't feel heavy.
Only 28g and well balanced, and if thats too heavy just write unposted. Feels perfect in the hand
So beautiful lovely
Love the color, the clip doesn't bother me, but the cap could be a bit tapered to match the other end of the pen IMO. Definitely wil check it out, since I don't have a bright yellow pen, and the nib design (hooded?) is interesting. Agree with you, wish there was a choice.
I was thinking the same thing about the cap as well. Just a little taper at the end to be symmetrical. I was thinking a smaller version of the Lamy Safari style clip would actually look really good on this pen. Thinner wire and scaled down to fit the look and probably with a ball end type end. I think that would look really sharp on this pen
Hi DB!: Nice pen! These Chinese pens just seem to keep getting better and better! I've been EDC a Wing Sung 699 practically every day and I love it! I switch out sometimes with a Jinhao X-750. I like the look of the yellow one you show, has the Parker "51" style hooded nib, which is a selling point for me!! I wonder why Parker never did a similar pen during the day? It could have been a less expensive product with the look of the 51.
It doesn't surprise me that you found it better for printing over writing, the nib was probably designed for writing hanzi instead of roman alphabet letters and as such behaves better with short strokes and frequent lifting off the paper.
Though, I really don't know enough about the mechanics of optimizing a nib that way to speculate on what's done to accomplish it.
A sketch test too pls :P
My sketches are pretty terrible LOL
The C1 has replaced my ultra-reliable Wing Sung 618 as the pen I always carry in my bag (since the latter started showing a few hairline cracks). I love that it has the shape of a Jinhao 51A but with a satisfyingly chunkier section and a better hooded nib (which will also do a super fine line smoothly if you reverse it). Currently waiting for me second one to arrive.
I really like the thicker section, feels great in the hand. I hope they expand their nib offerings
Chinese pens keep getting better and better!
I ordered mine after watching Doug of Inkquiring Minds video, and ordered a couple of sizes of hooded nibs. You don't have to wait for Hongdian to sell them with the larger size nibs. Mine should be delivered sometime next week. The thing about changing nibs, Doug couldn't get the hooded section to come off, but was able to pull the old nib from the front, then push in the replacement. That's my plan as well, and I already have a replacement nib.
Yeah its quite the process to change out nibs. Would be great if they had more options available from the manufacturer
@@Doodlebud As an update after 30+ days the black C1 I ordered showed up Tues. Tonight I used toenail clippers that I had sanded the edges down on and used a bit of chamois to cover the nib - it was so easy pulling the nib out. I replaced it with a black 0.5 mm mini-fude and the pen writes so smooth and wet!!!
I picked this pen up for $10 US on Amazon, and at that price point I think it might just be the greatest value pen I own. It's an amazing pen for the price. It would be nice if it were available in at least a medium, I tend to go as broad as I can when it comes to pens, but still, very nice pen. I also went with the yellow and even though I don't go for yellow a lot, I like it quite a bit on this pen.
The colour is great. Love your short video, but full of insights. Happy to have my first D5. May order the same colour and it's about CA$16.00+ as I just clicked your link. I have the belief that Hongdian is doing a better job than the historical/iconic Hero brand. Thanks, buddy.
Seems across many brands (Jinhao, WingSung, Majohn, Hongdian, Asvine, etc) the quality is getting better. Instead of aiming for the bottom of the barrel with respect to pricing, just ask a little bit more but deliver a better pen and everyone wins. If you're ok with spending $8, at $16 you can get a much better pen! 100% price increase, but in dollar terms its not huge and the trade off is very good.
@@Doodlebudyeah, at that price range, I guess it's a great deal, just by the look of the colour! And the pricing from AliExpress can very varied between sellers, so we shall stick with those reputable one. Will order it thru your link. 🥰🥰🥰
The flaws you note are slight color difference between the grip and the other parts, the lack of size choices in the nibs, and the somewhat inconsistent style of the stiff clip? Not too bad. I won't get this, as I've had unpleasant experiences with this retailer. Glad that yours are better. Now, compared with the reconstituted "Estie"? No comparison. Thanks, again, Doodlebud. You rock!
Good to hear you're enjoying the Estie! Lovely colored pen and hope you like the nib. I tuned and smoothed it before I sent it off so I hope it writes nicely to your style
I found the Hongdian Fine nib supplied with this pen to be scritchy scratchy and I couldn't improve it with tuning. A shame because it is otherwise a very good pen. Anyway, I replaced the hooded nib with a Bobby Pens nib and enjoy writing with it now. It feels so good in my hand that it's like it's been custom made for me so a perfect pen once the nib's replaced.
Solution: buy two and then mix and match barrel and sections so you don't notice the color variation!
TBH I don't think many would notice the color difference unless I pointed it out. I asked 2 different people if they could see a difference and neither could
Great review! I got one recently as a present and it writes very smoothly .
Now: did you also noticed a little metal spring inside the converter?Of course I can’t take it out… (my other hongdian had just a little plastic ball in it).
could there be a reaction with some inks because of it being some kind of (I don’t think expensive) metal?
It's there to break surface tension. Its stainless steel just as the nib is so no reaction with the ink. Any ink thst does react with the spring you wouldn't want to have in the pen
@@Doodlebud thanks so much for the information! You really helped me out here.
I only knew that it was to break the surface tension but wasn't sure if they care enough for the metal they used- apparently they do, which is great!
Looks like a nice pen, although I agree with you on the colour choices - they should be more cheerful and lighter in clear colours.
Its a fun pen so it should have fun colors
Exactly! 😇
I got my today but it does not write wet like yours and it is very fine. I hope also they bring a medium version in future. Is there maybe a way to make is a bit broader?
Wow, I just got the white one with fine nib from Bezos for less than a James Madison (plus tax). It feels nice, has a little weight to it, and writes as good as some of my 10x or even 20 times more expensive pens.
Love the hooded nib design. Does it stay wet while uncapped for some time having the hood protect the nib from dry out?
It doesn't seem to extend dry out time while uncapped. Behaves like a regular pen in that regard. Fun little pen though
DB , quick question : Which ones among the last few Chinese pens would you recommend for a beginner?
Good question. I'm planning to do a video on that soon
Banana Pen!
Dooooooodlebud!
😁
Hey, Doodlebud! I'd like to take advantage of your experience in using feeler gauge. I got the cheapo from Ali.
Now, normaly, it's covered in oil and I don't think introducing said oil to a nib and feed would end up nicely, plus it would be messy as hell . Other than wiping and relubricating feelers each time I use them (which is often, doing a lot of nib adjustments, experimenting with grinds etc), is there a way to protect them from rust?
I noticed your feeler gauge you use looks dry, so I was hoping you may have some advice. Currently, mine is cleaned with soap and 96 % ethanol, non lubricated, in a small ziploc bag with a silica bag.
Sorry for a lengthy post, but I remember you saying you had a lot of experience using feeler gauges, so I reckoned no harm in asking.
I haven't experienced any rust with mine. I've had mine for 20+yrs, keep them in a dry place and no issue. Mine aren't oiled either LOL. I think there might be a little dot of rush on the short thick steel rule that's part of the set but thats about it. I just make sure they stay dry and don't leave them in spot that gets humid and musky
@@Doodlebud thank you!
I really wish they would sell M and stub nibs. I love my shimmery inks but I'm afraid to put them in a F nibbed pen 😞
Yeah more nib sizes would be great!
Damn it; now I want one *sweatsmile*
At least is only a $15 or so spend LOL Thats what's great about well made low cost pens. You don't have to spend a bunch of cash to get a great pen thats fun to use.
@@Doodlebud Yup!
But my new years pledge is to buy fewer, better pens ..
@@larsgottlieb terrible new years resolution! LOL 🤣 But probably a great idea
I had a couple of Lamy Safaris (they look so lovely) and then I bought a Hongdian (extra fine nib in Forest Green) randomly on Amazon. I have to say it's now my favourite pen.
I loved my Lamy's but now they feel scratchy AF in comparison. I'm a total Hongdian convert. It's my go-to every time.
I don't know why Hongdian started releasing pens, with only EF, F options. The N12 needed at least a medium nib option. It's such a girthy pen that it doesn't feel right when writing with the fine nib. I probably won't get the C1 unless it comes out in more color options.
More nib options would be a smart idea. Especially since their fine writes like a western XF. If they do that and broaden the color options I think this pen will do extremely well!
I tried it, but it did not write well out of the box, something with the tines. No matter how well I adjusted them it tore up my paper and would not get aligned. Thought it would be a nice writer but the Chinese QC is obviously not quite up there yet.
weird, ive never had a single problem with a hongdian nib
Do do they have a metal version
At 28 grams, it is a metal pen. The inside of the body is brass.
Only the section is plastic, the rest of the pen is metal as I showed in the video
The C3 I just saw it today
La tapa desentona. La pluma se ve mejor destapada
UA-cam is spying on me, I got this recommended after I ordered a couple of Platinum Preppy's to get a bit more experience on fountain pens. Syringes locally are always sold out and getting a converter for my Parker contact is kinda hard locally (it's my 1st fountainpen. It's 13+ years with me now). I also have a 2nd fountainpen but that's a Safari clone by JinHao. Should I swap the JinHao clone for the C1? Purely looking at performance-wise as I currently use Karikos ink (Aliexpress) and will go to Waterman ink soon (as these are commonly found locally for €10 for a bigger bottle)
yes the c1 is better than the 777
@@totallylegit2068 I just hope the grip is less aggresive and more rounded than the 599A, I also have a Penbbs 494 and with that grip I can hold it decently enough although I'm currently trying a Kaweco Sport 1st
@@yoshi555king the 599 and 777 have the same section design. the c1's section is completely round
I'm a simple lizard: I hear about a hooded-nib fp and I impulse buy. Might have been more rational to watch the full vid first, but gotta yolo it sometimes 🤷♀️
Having watched the rest of the vid, I regret nothing! Now, I've the joy of playing China post roulette and seeing when/if it arrives!
It looks like a Parker 51 with a Parker Beta cap. So weird!
It looks like a giant banana slug.
wish the section was black. that'd give it a bumblebee look instead of the 2 yellows.
TBH the yellow is extremely close. I asked a couple people if they could see the diffence and neither had any idea what I was talking about. Even after pointing it out they still couldn't see it LOL. It does have that bumble bee look though. Guess you could get a black pen and a yellow one and do a little mixy matchy
Ha doo I live in mo. Ware can I get that new yellow pen. Please help me I don't own a pen at all having to gell wow thank you.old timmer.pen writer
I have a link in the description