Hero Carbon Ink: Initial Review

[fabrimedeiros]

I love Hero 234 High Carbonic! I used to pay US$ 4,oo and it's the blackest ink I've seen and also the smoothest . IMHO it's smoother than Aurora Black.

 

This ink is safe, and I've been using in my Pelikan M800 and MB 146 for 3 years without issues. The only negative point is that this ink dries fast in the nib, if you keep the pen uncapped (> 5 min).

 

Fabricio in São Paulo

[majorworks]

Six months after my comment on this review (see post #10 in this thread), I've given the Hero 234 "advanced carbonic" black ink another try. This time, I've used it to fill my Varuna Garuda's Pilot CON-70 converter. I'm cautiously optimistic about it. It flows OK in this pen, which it didn't in my Hero 5020. The ink isn't quite as black as I remembered it being, though. I think I've been spoiled a bit by Noodler's Black and Herbin Perle Noire, both of which seem considerably darker than the Hero ink, carbon or not. And yes, I did shake the bottle well before filling the pen.

 

But so far, so good. It does dry pretty quickly and writes smooth. I'll stick with it for a while.

[saint inky]

I've been using Hero carbon ink in several Sailor pens (a mid-size 1911, a full-size 1911, a Somiko, and a Procolor) for some time now with no problems whatever. I think it's every bit as good as Sailor Nano ink (and obviously a lot cheaper).

[bluemagister]

MrLoco and I have found that it works best when diluted substantially (about 40% water to 60% ink). This keeps it from drying out and clogging so much. However, since it IS carbon ink, it needs a pretty wide feed channel, just like Platinum Carbon Ink.

[kwpalzang]

Is Hero Carbon becomes as "dangerous" now as BSB?

 

An ink is an ink is an ink...

 

Not so. For ~99% of the time, yes. With this particular type of ink, no.

Carbon inks are ALWAYS particulate inks. They will always be suspensions of solid particles. No matter how small the particles are, this is always so. Even carbon inks from reputable companies such as Pelikan will be more prone to clogging your pens than say, Waterman Florida blue; this is just the nature of the ink. "Normal" fountain pen ink is not pigmented. It is a dye solution. This renders them fairly harmless. There is a difference, but for the most part, you are right: An ink is an ink is an ink... Take note that iron-gall inks might be considered part of this category too. It isn't a carbon ink, of course, and by no means is a carbon ink an iron-gall (just clarifying here), but they are both higher-maintenance ink varieties.

[kuno]

I had a bottle of Hero black once (can't tell if it was Carbon Black) but that ink had clogging and flow issues. Good to know at least they're getting better. We need every fp company out there we can get.

[Jadedgn]

This is lovely ink, but I'm still recovering from a bad experience with it. A pen I bought(ebay) had a little of this ink in it mostly dried out. I'm still cleaning bits of black carbon sludge out of my pen.

 

The color of the ink is very nice, but I would only use it when I can be absolutely certain that it won't dry out.

 

 

 

~Jade

[WirsPlm]

I bought this ink to try out (less than $5 a bottle is a great bargain for a carbon ink) and so far I like it quite a bit, I've used it in a EF nib and a M nib and it worked well in both of them, it's a bit of a dry writer (doesn't lubricate as much as some inks) despite going on wet but it works well in both pens so far and goes on a nice black that gets a little bit matte when it dries.

[frenchguy86]

I bought this ink to try out (less than $5 a bottle is a great bargain for a carbon ink) and so far I like it quite a bit, I've used it in a EF nib and a M nib and it worked well in both of them, it's a bit of a dry writer (doesn't lubricate as much as some inks) despite going on wet but it works well in both pens so far and goes on a nice black that gets a little bit matte when it dries.

I have pretty much the opposite experience: very wet, lubricate a lot and it stays a really dark saturated black when drying.

 

Downside: takes a lot of time to dry( more then 30 sec on rhodia and clairefontaine paper) and on cheaper paper (copy paper and moleskin I tried) it SPREADS very much. My medium pen will write like a broad and my fine pen like a very fat medium... But they make them really smooth. Also no bleedthrough, but showthrough on most paper.

 

For reference, Hero 233 Blue behaves the same way as 234 Carbon Black for me. No shading but a very saturated blue. Hero 232 Blue-Black, and Hero 201&231 Red(same formula different bottle) behaves so differently then Blue and Black that their formula must not be related at all...

Edited March 22, 2014 by frenchguy86

[WirsPlm]

I have pretty much the opposite experience: very wet, lubricate a lot and it stays a really dark saturated black when drying.

 

Downside: takes a lot of time to dry( more then 30 sec on rhodia and clairefontaine paper) and on cheaper paper (copy paper and moleskin I tried) it SPREADS very much. My medium pen will write like a broad and my fine pen like a very fat medium... But they make them really smooth. Also no bleedthrough, but showthrough on most paper.

 

For reference, Hero 233 Blue behaves the same way as 234 Carbon Black for me. No shading but a very saturated blue. Hero 232 Blue-Black, and Hero 201&231 Red(same formula different bottle) behaves so differently then Blue and Black that their formula must not be related at all...

I'm having a hard time imagining a carbon ink that can feather/spread like a dye ink (completely different chemistry than dye inks, carbon inks use particles so the capillary spreading kind of can't happen), are you sure you're using the Carbon black ink and not the regular Hero black ink? The whole point of carbon ink is that it's permanent and writes well on all kinds of papers, I'm using the carbon ink on regular office paper that work provides and on $10 notebooks from office supply stores and it works great. If the ink you've got is feathering a lot I don't think it can be a carbon ink since carbon inks don't work like that (from what I understand, if anyone knows more about carbon inks please feel free to chime in). If a dye ink is behaving the same way I think you got a bottle of the dye black ink instead of the carbon ink.

 

For me, the ink goes on wet but it's not a wet writer in that it doesn't provides as much glide as other inks do, and it dries at a reasonable pace on regular paper but does take a while on heavier paper (15 sec on 32lb weight paper), I haven't tried it on coated papers though. It does stay a nice dark black, but it's noticeably shiny while wet and dries to a matte look.

 

Also Hero 232 is an iron gall ink so yes, the chemistry is completely different from both carbon ink chemistry and regular dye inks.

Edited March 22, 2014 by WirsPlm

[frenchguy86]

you are probably right, it might just be an impression I have when witting with it. here's a sample with different paper, same pen, a Parker 100 it as no flex at all and I'm writing with it without putting any pressure. Seeing it in person it looks much broader then in the scan.

http://i.imgur.com/0SA0Coh.jpg?1

Edited March 22, 2014 by frenchguy86

[79spitfire]

I used this ink (a recent purchase) in a Noodler's Konrad and it was really perfect. No drying out, no skipping, no feathering. It just worked.

 

My only complaint (if you can call it that) is it's hard to clean out, but after spending the time, no staining.

[Tweel]

Spreading to a broader than usual line is the experience I've had with four carbon inks -- Pelikan Fount India, Higgins Fountain Pen India, Pen & Ink Sketch Indian Black and Hero 234 Advanced Carbonic. My notion is that they're loaded with surfactant to help counter clogs, and that causes the spreading.

[Fabienne]

Just got my bottle of 234 and have to fool with it a while longer to make a definitive pontification about it BUT here is my first impression set:

 

It arrived in a smashed Hero box which was wrapped in a lithium battery box. The Hero box had black ink all over the inside and was squashed up inside the battery box. So much for elegant presentation (for $4.50 what the h*ll do you want). I opened it up and the bottle was in tact, though somewhat smutty from the leaky trip...all was dry. When I took the top off I noticed that on the underside of the inner cap there was a red circle where the liner was and it had two Chinese characters on it. Sweet! Nice touch!

 

I loaded a modded Ahab and started to test. I noticed the ink was a lot thicker than the average, lines were VERY Broad when writing with 234. BROAD. It takes a long time to dry (>15 seconds). It is a very lube-loving ink, my pen just skated across the page. It is not deepest black, it's black but not as black as Noodler's. It does not feather on cheap bad paper at all. There is a bit of bleed through and nib coating....not nib creep, this stuff coats the nib when you dip it in the bottle and does not recede.

 

Moar later, but this is interesting stuff!

[dorala1]

This ink, bought as a package deal from Speerbob (whose eBay store is WONDERFUL!) to evaluate the ink in fountain pens. I really do love this ink, especially when it breaks down to about $3 US a bottle (Speerbob has a good deal on a 10 pack of this ink). The ink is thick, black, rich and lays down a wonderful line with no feathering detected. Since I am not yet sure of pH and particle size in this ink, I'm only using it in a Hero 616 until I can run some further tests of my own. One little thing that keeps this from being a PERFECT ink is that after awhile (overnight, for example), the ink flow stops completely, but I'm not sure if this is because of the ink or the pen. Although the ink does have a nice, glossy sheen, I didn't see where it was only for use with dip pens. I put Noodler's Bad Belted Kingfisher in another 616 and it works flawlessly, so I am pretty sure the cap seals and such are OK...this ink might just be really, really thick. I love that the solvent smell is minimal and the ink itself behaves much like other carbon inks in that whatever bonds with the paper is PERMANENT. You can see this in the water and bleach tests. I also have a couple of other inks for comparison, including gel pens.http://bluemagister.com/InktestHeroCarbon1.JPG

[dorala1]

Hello!

I picked up some of this ink at tmart.com, and I am very pleased with my purchase. I agree with one of the comments that said it is almost as good as the Sailor Nano ink. I put it in a Platinum 3776 Koi. No skipping or starting problems at all.

All the best.

Thomas Connell

[WirsPlm]

I've done an accidental stress test with this ink and thought my results might be interesting for someone. I put this ink in a Hero 360 (a fairly wet pen), used it for a week and then forgot about it for a month or so (oops), when I realized this I flushed the pen out with water (not all the way until it ran clear, because I don't care that much about a $2 pen, but some) and refilled it with the same Hero Carbon ink. The pen seems to write fine (or at least, no worse than it did before) and aside from the sac being stained a light grey I don't see anything gone wrong with the pen. I've also got a Pilot Penmanship that's been sitting around for about the same length of time with this ink, I'll update when I've cleaned and refilled that one.

[mb146]

Greetings to all. I ordinarily do not write comments or endorse this ink, but I would like to share my experience with this Hero 234 "Advanced High Carbonic Ink". I recently bought four bottles ($3.75 each) from a local store that were filled with 56 ml. of black ink. The bottles came in their original carboard box. I noticed that there seemed to be some dried ink on the outside of the bottles. When I opened each of the bottles, the seals did not appear damaged, so I assumed the dried ink was from the factory during processing? The bottles did not not appear to have been totally filled to the neck of the bottles.

 

I filled a Chinese 359 Summer fountain pen (medium nib) using a converter. I used the pen without any problems from the start. After several days, the ink did appear to leave a dried residue on the nib and seemed a bit thicker than commercial fountain pen ink, but continued to write without a problem. The flow of the ink seemed smooth (not too wet, but not to dry) with consistent coloration. The ink was very dark in color, with very little feathering on regular multipurpose copy paper (92 bright). The ink dried on the paper very quickly. I tested to determine if it was permanent by rubbing it with water. There was some smudging, but the ink did not wash off. I also soaked the paper in water, the ink did not wash off, but rather only faded and smudged a bit but was still legible. Pretty permanent in my opinion!

 

The pen was used for aproximately two weeks and when the ink ran out I refilled it and used it for another two weeks. No problems were encountered. When I washed the pen out, there was some very minor staining of the convertor, but it did not seem to affect its function. As an experiment, I did add 1 - 2 ml. of plain water to the ink bottle to change the consistency of the ink and shook the bottle to mix it well. It did make the ink thinner, and it performed just as well (if not better) than before I modified it.

 

In conclusion, I would confidently use this ink in any of my lower priced, everyday use fountain pens. In my opinion, the quality control in the production of the ink is questionable. To err on the side of caution, I would not take the chance of putting this ink into my beloved Montblanc fountain pens or any expensive fountain pens. My recommendation is: Chinese fountain pens + Chinese ink = Unbeatable fun experience. Enjoy!

[WateryFlow]

I've just found this ink on ebay and came here looking for reviews (thanks for the reviews!). Gosh! It's incredibly cheap at £3.39 a bottle inc P&P from HK. And even though the QC and issues(staining etc) seems to be hit and miss it doesn't seem to be any worse than Noodler's in that respect, so i think it may well be a very good and cheap alternative for a permanant ink

Edited July 16, 2014 by WateryFlow

[Tweel]

-- Except that Noodler's doesn't eat the gold plating off of nibs, which is what Hero 234 did to my Waterman Harmonie (mentioned in another thread).