Hero 383

[KrazyIvan]

I would like to thank watch_art for requesting I post this review after he saw a picture of it in a post from earlier today. I had it planned in the back of my mind but am just now getting to it.

 

While browsing eBay back in October I came across this Hero 383. It was from seller yespen whose name I had seen on this forum as a reliable seller of Hero pens. The pen grabbed my attention because of it's elegant lines. It looked so out of place when compared to your typical Chinese fountain pen offerings.

 

I read up on the dimensions and visually compared it to my desk ruler. Hmmm, a little on the short side but I have smaller. I wish I would have taken down the weight info since I don't have a scale. The pen is 130mm capped, 113mm without a cap and 157mm posted. It is about 13mm in diameter at its widest point and 10mm at its narrow point. The barrel is black enameled brass. The cap and section are chromed. The "jewel" is black. The nib is a little on the small side and measures 19mm from nib point to the base of the section. It is also 6mm wide at the shoulders. It is marked "HERO 22K GP" but no other markings as to nib point size.

 

This pen writes wet but is a fine line. Flow is very good and the tines were aligned out of the box. I did note that there was some drag when writing even on Rhodia paper. Closer inspection showed that the nib had a little bit of oxidation on it. I ran it a few times on the finest grit of my buff sticks and noted a nice shine afterward. It writes perfectly smooth without being a skating maniac.

 

The converter is a Parker slide style converter that I know has a bad reputation around here. I have not found any issues with it as of yet. The only thing that might bother some people is the smallish capacity.

 

I paid $17.90 for the pen with free shipping. As I understand it, this was new old stock of a discontinued model. I have been looking on eBay for more but have not seen any as of yet. I also searched FPN for this model and did not come up with anything other than my own posts about it. Google similarly returned no results.

 

EDIT: It looks like yespen has some more in stock. They list the nib as medium. My pen is no where near a western medium. (Usual no affiliation disclaimer applies)

 

I find the pen a very good value for the price. Its understated elegance is something I admire about it. I enjoy using it as a daily writer at work very much. All that is left is the pictures. I hope nobody minds that I am linking to the set.

 

 

Edited December 24, 2011 by KrazyIvan

[watch_art]

Awesome! Thanks. I'm so tempted to pick one of these up - must resist though. Bigger fish to fry.

[lovemy51]

that's a very handsome Hero pen. thx for sharing, Ivan!

[APHK]

Thanks for the review - good looking pen.

[AlanE]

Nice looking pen. Just ordered one from yespen, they do have some in stock.

 

Thanks for the reveiw.

 

Alan

[Uncle Red]

Cool, thanks Ivan

[KrazyIvan]

Thank you all for reading.