I have had quite a few Jinhao X450s, both in fountain pen and rollerball configurations. I have always found them very good. This one has a pleasing golden finish, but it's not shiny gold as the photo suggests, it's more a sort of yellow lustre. I don't mind it now that I have got over my initial surprise. The main negative with any X450 is that if you post the cap on the end of the barrel, it's pretty likely to fall off. You can avoid this by posting the cap with a pretty hard push, but I have come to the conclusion that it's easier not to post. Another thing I find is that the refills are a bit variable. Some of them write smoothly and some of them are scratchy. But the refills are so cheap that you can afford to throw half of them away. A funny thing is that the black section, between the barrel and the cone leading to the pointy end, has three grips around it. This was developed for the fountain pens to ensure that the nib was the right way up, but it's not necessary for the rollerballs. I'd have thought they could redesign that. I will be giving two of these pens as Christmas presents but I think I'll stick to Parker rollerballs myself. :)23/12/16 I just received another example of this pen and this one is more like gold in colour.30/12/16 I ordered four of these pens over the Christmas period and I have now received all four.