czxwyst 601 Steel Cap Vacumatic Fountain Pen (army green with ink window)

What I am about to say is certainly not true for all Chinese or far-eastern made fountain pens but I was blown away when I took this pen out of its modest but adequate packaging. I have owned and used fountain pens for more than sixty years. I'm not a collector but I guess I have a defacto collection of well-used (probably expensive when new) fountain pens over my years in business. I was educated as a mechanical engineer for what that's worth so I'm particular about how things are made, how they work, and whether they are of any value. That said, I wasn't expecting much from an inexpensive fountain pen made in China. Recently after surfing around Amazon's marketing I decided what the heck I'll buy one or two for a look, try them, and give them to my grandchildren who are just learning to write so they know what a fountain pen is and can practice their cursive. Again given its price in 2023, this pen in particular is a remarkable value. Kudos to the Chinese. Sure they copied the design concepts from earlier vintage American and European companies but those patents I suspect have long since expired. And in some ways, they improved the item. Anyway, I took it out of the box and examined it closely without taking it apart (at first). In my opinion, it is made as well or better than the old vintage affordable, goto pens I used as a high schooler and young student engineer/architect. It really surprised me. They even packaged up some silicon lubricant and other usage and maintenance accessories that American and European manufacturers do not bother to give you or even tell you about. I'll probably never use these items but it's the idea that they provide them with the pen in the package. Unfortunately, all the information is in Chinese but the diagrams are adequate. I inked the pen and tried it out. It is a very fine almost extra, extra fine nib which was the only nib offered. Again I was amazed at how well it filled and writes, the ink flow, the wetness, and the smoothness of the "steel" nib which came perfectly tuned out of the box even compared to the overhyped and generously priced gold-nibbed masterpieces I managed to amass over all the years. If you are a collector it's one thing, again I am not, I am a user. If you are new to fountain pens I would say try one or a few of these before you spend five to twenty-five times as much on overhyped, overpriced underperforming supposedly vintage reissued Western icons likely not as well functioning or nearly as much of a value.

It looks just like a Parker 51. Writes nicely, and it's fun to fill.

If one is looking for a functional Parker 51 clone for regular use, this is a good choice. It's well-made, visually attractive, the vacumatic function works well, and it has smooth ink flow and no problem starting. Like a 51, you aren't going to get a lot of variation in line width here - the nib is pretty much solid and almost devoid of flex, enough so that unlike many fountain pens one can use it to write on pressure sensitive forms without difficulty, and it's angle-agnostic enough that you can hand it to someone used to ballpoints and they won't have difficulty using it. It would be nice if it was a little heavier, and if a version without the ink window was available, but neither is enough to take off a star. If you're looking for an inexpensive, reliable fountain pen for everyday use, this is one of the better options.

The pen is beautiful and comfortable in the hand. I also like the way the fine nib writes. Unfortunately, the pen I received had an ink flow problem that rendered it unusable. I tried flushing it a couple of times but it didn't help. At $20, I didn't want to spend any more time trying to fix the issue and simply returned it. It seems most people are not having the same issue and Amazon makes returns easy, so it's safe to give it a try.

This is an excelent fountain pen, for a nice price, and smooth writing

Great little everyday writer with a huge ink capacity. I'm a student and enjoy it for: ink capacity, inconspicuousness (doesn't shout "I'M USING A FOUNTAIN PEN!") and the convenience of the slip cap. The mechanism is also just very cool and I haven't seen it on anything else still being made these days. Also appreciate how easily serviceable the whole thing is, and they even include some silicon grease for the piston/plunger. Nib came misaligned with the hood out of the box, but that is an easy fix by rotating the collector/nib/feed assembly. It's friction fit. Took off a star because obviously these nibs are going to be hit or miss for the price. I had received a gusher that wrote a western medium line. I replaced it with the nib from a Jinhao 51a that wrote a nice, smooth, fine line. I'm not sure if all pens of the same model are like this, but the feed made this nib write a tad thicker than on the 51a; it's just a very generous feed. Also note that the nib assembly cannot be taken apart; I could not disassemble it into collector, feed, breather tube, and nib, and instead had to pull out the nib with a pair of pliers! Be careful if you want to swap nibs; I'm lucky I didn't damage the pen. Please note that the star was taken away more for the QC of the nibs at this price point rather than me almost killing my nib with a pair of pliers, lol. It's a great pen if you're comfortable modifying your pens to suit you, i.e. maybe you want some micromesh for smoothing, brass shims for wetness, a loupe to check for tine misalignment etc. etc.

I bought this pen because it intrigued me, and the price was low enough that if something didn't work right, the loss wouldn't be too painful. Unfortunately, something didn't work right. While using the pen for a few days, I really thought that it was great: smooth-writing, nice feel and balance, and a nice wet line. Then, while writing, it "burped": a huge blob of ink dropped onto my paper. I blotted, and persevered, but shortly after another burp occurred. After that, I found that the pen leaked even when not in use. So, it was a loss.

I'm rating this pen based on what it's supposed to be, at this price point. This pen goes by various names (Wing Sung 601, Hero 601, etc.) and is a Parker 51 "Vacumatic" clone. The original Parker vintage pens are much more expensive. Both this pen and the original design are a button-press vacuum-filler pen, with a hooded nib. Other Parker 51 designs have a squeeze-sac reservoir instead such as the "Aerometric" model, and you can find clones of that model online too, such as the Wing Sung 616. Jinhao also makes the Jinhao 86 that uses a more modern converter rather than the squeeze-sac. But Jinhao clones the modern Parker 51 with a screw cap and modern converter, whereas Wing Sung clones the vintage Parker 51 designs with the push cap and more exotic filling mechanisms. This 601 pen and the original Parker 51 "Vacumatic" have most of the same quirks, so don't expect they'll be as easy-to-use as other fountain pens. In the box of the 601 is provided a silicone grease applicator (that looks like a converter but isn't) and cylindrical black plastic wrench. To keep costs down, they didn't grease it for you, so you'll need to do that yourself when you get the pen to make the button press smoother and reduce chances of leaks. Twist off the blind cap at the back of the pen, which is meant to be indistinguishable from the rest of the pen so you might not know it's there. That will reveal the button vacuum-filler. Use the cylindrical black plastic wrench to remove the plastic sleeve around the rod, unscrew the plug from the silicone grease applicator and apply grease to the sleeve and rod, then re-secure the sleeve with the wrench. Don't over-tighten anything, just turn until it stops. To fill the pen, dip the nib fully in ink, and press the button to expel air, then release to suck up ink. Slowly repeat several times until you can see ink filling in the ink windows and you don't get bubbles. If this isn't working at all and you're desperate, then you can unscrew the grip section around the nib, dip the entire section in ink, and try refilling again and re-securing the grip section (but this method might cause burps at first). Cleaning "Vacumatic" pens and their clones is tedious, as you perform the same pumping action with water instead of ink. Use easy-to-clean inks for this type of pen. For example, Private Reserve "Infinity" inks resist drying out and are easy to clean. Both can be issues with this pen design. All of this is a quirk of the Parker design, so this isn't the fault of the 601 clone. In fact, the 601 includes ink windows that the original didn't. As long as the windows don't leak, it's actually an improvement over the original, while keeping the features of the original. In conclusion, these pens are for curious vintage pen enthusiasts or vintage Parker 51 addicts that want to have a cheap clone for everyday use. These are good pens for their price point, considering their job is to clone an expensive quirky vintage pen.