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Hero 1000 First Impression


ajcoleman

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I have had my Hero 1000 for less than 48 hours, but so far I am quite pleased. The Hero 1000 is a high-end version of Hero's Parker 51 clones. Picture a Parker 51 with an extra fine nib, a glossy black lacquered metal body, and a shiny chrome cap, and you have an idea of what this pen is like.

 

The pen is very well-assembled, and does not have the feel of a cheap knock off. From what I have read, the less expensive P51 look-alikes seem to be hit or miss on the quality control, but this pen is spot-on. Being all metal, it has some heft, but is a nice size, well-balanced, and comfortable to use. The metal cap makes it just slightly back-heavy posted, but not uncomfortably so. The cap has thin plastic insert so it closes or posts without marring the finish at all. The cap press-fits on firmly to close, but does not click. The clip grasps a shirt pocket firmly. It is not an arrow shape, but gracefully tapers to the end. The top of the clip is labeled "HERO." The bottom of the cap is labeled in Chinese for Hero 1000, and is stamped MADE IN CHINA in English on the back.

 

The nib is a very fine stiff gold nib, but is smooth, wet, and arrived aligned and well-adjusted. The nib is fine and stiff enough that I am sure carbon forms would not be a problem. The flow is moderately wet, and the pen leaves a nice even line. The nib is not scratchy, but not smoothest I have used. It has a bit of tooth, and is nice to write with. The pen is fitted with a standard squeeze bar "converter" but I am not sure it is removable, so perhaps converter is not the right term.

 

The pen arrived in a nice gift box, inside a thin cardboard sleeve. It is clearly a Chinese pen. The box, the instructions, a plastic tie-on tag, and a little insert card (the guarantee perhaps?) are all in Chinese.

 

Of course any full review of a pen like this would seem to require a detailed comparison with a Parker 51, as well as the other Hero P51 clones like the less expensive Hero 100, but I don't have any of those. Judged on it own merits, however, this is an attractive, well-made pen that seems well-suited as a gift. It looks professional without being ostentatious, and is solid and rugged enough to be a daily user in a school or office. At $40, it is a very good buy.

 

Finally, hats off to the top notch service from Todd Nussbaum at isellpens.com. I placed the order Tuesday morning and the pen was in my mailbox Thursday afternoon. Can't get much better than that!

Adam

Dayton, OH

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.

-- Prov 25:2
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I owned one of these for about six months. The nib was very good and the pen felt quite solid. Mine developed some issues pretty quickly, though. The white lacquer dot on the end of the barrel peeled off revealing the brass circle which quickly began to tarnish. The black grip screws on to the section, and would often come undone when trying to remove the section to fill the pen. Eventually, this plastic grip wouldn't screw back on properly and it leaked ink into the cap and on my fingers.

 

Overall, a decent writing pen. I hope you have a bit more success with yours than I had.

 

BTW: the cap actually will snap closed if you press it hard enough, but then it is quite difficult to remove.

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I owned one of these for about six months. The nib was very good and the pen felt quite solid. Mine developed some issues pretty quickly, though. The white lacquer dot on the end of the barrel peeled off revealing the brass circle which quickly began to tarnish. The black grip screws on to the section, and would often come undone when trying to remove the section to fill the pen. Eventually, this plastic grip wouldn't screw back on properly and it leaked ink into the cap and on my fingers.

 

Overall, a decent writing pen. I hope you have a bit more success with yours than I had.

 

BTW: the cap actually will snap closed if you press it hard enough, but then it is quite difficult to remove.

If you bought the 1000 from me just return it for exchange. I have had very few issues with this model and they have been well received.

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Adam,

Nice review and glad you like the pen. This is a fairly new pen by Hero and so far they have been well received. Hero pen has raised the prices on the solid gold nibs but they are still considered a great value.

Best Regards,

Todd

post-1976-0-68535500-1316149075.jpg

post-1976-0-30357800-1316149100.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Nice, are they going to make a flighter model?

I don't think so, I have been on Hero's website and this model is not listed. Well there is a 1000 but it is a different pen. If you want a flighter (all metal) you can get a 100.

Have fist, will travel

My deviantArt page

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I bought a hero 1000 flighter model. It weight is more then the normal version.

I like it a lot. But I prefer to have a western medium or broad nib.

 

I had to resort to ebay to buy my Hero 1000 flighter .

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I bought a hero 1000 flighter model. It weight is more then the normal version.

I like it a lot. But I prefer to have a western medium or broad nib.

 

I had to resort to ebay to buy my Hero 1000 flighter .

I am having the same problem, the stores in Shanghai, the city where it is made, don't have it and the people don't know about the pen. I wonder if this is a limited edition pen or only a limited run like the Parker 200.

Have fist, will travel

My deviantArt page

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I owned one of these for about six months. The nib was very good and the pen felt quite solid. Mine developed some issues pretty quickly, though. The white lacquer dot on the end of the barrel peeled off revealing the brass circle which quickly began to tarnish. The black grip screws on to the section, and would often come undone when trying to remove the section to fill the pen. Eventually, this plastic grip wouldn't screw back on properly and it leaked ink into the cap and on my fingers.

 

Overall, a decent writing pen. I hope you have a bit more success with yours than I had.

 

BTW: the cap actually will snap closed if you press it hard enough, but then it is quite difficult to remove.

 

I know this is an old thread, but I discovered the joys of the Hero 1000 fairly recently and experienced exactly the issue you had with the grip right out of the box brand new. Basically there are two places on the pen that need to be sealed better to prevent leakage, 1) where the collector friction fits into the aerometric filler are and the screw on grip section that covers the collector/nib/feed system. On my first fill out of the box, I had blue ink leak out, but now that I have sealed it up with silicone grease, it works perfectly with no leakage. Probably orange lacquer or rubber cement will work well too, but I like to be able to easily disassemble the pen for cleaning. The Hero 1000 has a lot of really nice features about it.

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  • 7 months later...

I too had problems with leakage at the same place on the screw threads. I did a fix using plumbers tape just a thin layer on the screw threads. So far, it seems to work. The pen is great aside from the leakage problem. Perhaps they need a re-engineered fit on the threads. I also have several of the 616 pens and have not had them leak yet.

 

I also have a 336 and had some leakage on the threads where the aerometric filler sits and I fixed this one with some thin CA at the bottom of the threads such that the top of the barrel still screws on to the lower half.

 

Hope this is clearly stated.

 

Eric

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