The Jinhao X750 “Shimminering Sands” ($9.90) is a sturdy, solid pen. Looking at it, I never would have guessed it’s a budget fountain pen. The celestial sparkles embedded in the black body are truly amazing. I had to take it outside into the sunlight just to watch it catch the light. It reminded me of black nail polish with multicolored sparkles embedded in it. That sounds really girly. How about black auto paint with metal flake? Are you getting the idea?

The hardware is chrome and the clip is super sturdy. The branding is subtle and unobtrusive. Its pleasingly weighty — 36 gms posted and 23 gms filled with cap removed. Without the cap, its about the same weight as a capped Lamy Al-Star, with the cap posted, its heavier than a Lamy Studio. So, its substantial. The clip is stiff and unlikely to fail.

The pen had no packaging at all but that’s not a make-or-break for me, especially not at this price point. I’d rather the money I’m paying go towards the pen and not the box its packaged in. It did come with a cartridge converter though.

The cap is a snap cap and it snaps really tightly. I don’t know if it will loosen up over time but it takes a bit of effort for me to pull the cap off. At least, I know it won’t fall off accidentally.

I tend to find medium nibs way too wet for me so I swapped out the medium nib that comes stock on the X750 with a Goulet Pens #6 EF nib ($15). The nib is super smooth but pretty stiff. Its good for day-to-day notetaking but its not as expressive on the paper as a softer nib. If you have a pen with a #6 sized nib then I definitely think that the Goulet Nibs are a perfect way to plus up a fountain pen.

So, for less than $25, I was able to build an awesome fountain pen. The sparkles give it a very unique look but its subtle enough not to look like a raver at the next board meeting.

Overall, I am very pleased with this combination.This is a fun, reasonably-priced fountain pen option. It feels durable and classy. No one has to know it cost less than dinner for two at Chili’s.

I also have a Goulet Pens 1.1mm stub italic nib to try out with this pen and I’ll post that in detail soon.

The nib was tested on Rhodia No. 18 Uni-Blank pad with J. Herbin Diabolo Menthe. The ink is very wet but set up nicely on the Rhodia paper. It seemed like a good ink to combine with the EF nib. I’m looking forward to trying other inks in this pen.

DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Goulet Pens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

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