(Hero) Guanleming 956 Review

[daTomoT]

EDIT: Damn, most of my cropped images don't appear to be cropped! I'll try and sort it out later.

 

I recently received a new pen - a Guanleming 956 - through the Pay it Forward thread, here on FPN. I don't too often use PIF, but I thought I'd go out on a whim and put in for this pen, because it looked really nice. Guanleming is a sub-company of the Shanghai Hero pen company, probably most famous for their Hero 608, the Parker 51 reconstruction. This pen too, has a feature or two that reminds me of Parker. So, here we go.

 

Design, Appearance, and Quality

 

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s548/daTomoT/P1050126.jpg

 

The pen is conical in shape, being widest at the top of the cap and thinnest at the end of the pen. I personally quite like this shape, although it leads to something I don't like, which I'll talk about later. The material is glossed black plastic lacquer (gloss) with gold trims, but not to the extent of being gaudy, as some black and gold pens are. The gold clip is long, and somewhat Parker-esque in the feathered appearance, although it does not have the Parker arrowhead. The pen feels fairly solid, and does not bend. My model, although in excellent condition, has one or two scratches on the body, but it isn't new, so I'm not worried.

 

8/10

 

Weight and Dimensions

 

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s548/daTomoT/P1050130.jpg

 

The pen is 140mm capped, 120mm uncapped and 135mm posted; so you don't really gain much from posting. The reason for this comes back to the shape of the pen: due to the cap being wider than the tail of the pen, the cap posts really low down the pen, there being only 30mm of body between the end of the cap and the grip. Personally, I'm not too fond of this. Because the cap is large and the pen is fairly short posted, this can lead to the pen being slightly top-heavy, which is unfortunate. I write with the pen unposted. I haven't weighed the pen, but unposted as I use it, it is fairly light. Marginally lighter than the Pelikan M200, and significantly lighter than the brushed metal Parker IM. About the same weight as a Hero 6xx. Nice and comfortable for writing, but unfortunately loses points for not posting well.

 

6/10

 

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s548/daTomoT/P1050131.jpg

 

Nib and Performance

 

Now this is where the pen shines! After putting in for the pen, I did a little research, and found that the pen is supposed to flex a bit.. and it does! The nib is smooth when writing normally, and exhibits an even, 'true medium' line (in my opinion). A little pressure, and the nib can give some impressive variation. I haven't pushed it too far yet, as I haven't got too much experience with flex, but I'd say the line it flexes to is at least a BB. The 'snap-back' is good, and the tines are responsive, it's becoming a real pleasure! I admit I am unsure what material the nib is; probably gold plated steel, but it is a very pretty nib, too.

 

8/10

 

Bad Macro:

 

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s548/daTomoT/P1050135.jpg

 

Standard:

 

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s548/daTomoT/P1050140.jpg

 

Writing Sample (A letter to the previous owner):

 

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s548/daTomoT/Gl956-7.jpg

 

Filling System and Maintenance

 

This pen has an aeromatic(?) push-bar filling system, which can be pulled out to accept an international cartridge or converter. This makes the pen a versatile, easy filler. I'm not a huge fan of aeromatics, but it makes it a direct bottle filler, which is great. Low maintenance, easy to clean, although I can't detach nib from body right now. Simple stuff really, should suit most people.

 

7/10

 

Cost and Value

 

Wow, this pen excels in this area! Obviously mine was free but I believe it is one of the free pens from isellpens, although I'm not sure (I live in the UK, so I'm not sure quite what the deal is with ISP)). A pretty stable workhorse pen, with a nice bit of flex going on too. Really like it. I checked on the bay, and there's a few of these going at around $7, but that was only a real quick check, and I bet you can find it for less.

 

10/10

 

Overall

 

Well well well, wasn't this pen a pleasant surprise? I haven't done a pen review before, but I thought I owed it to get the word out on this fabulous and inexpensive pen! I can tell I'm going to really enjoy this pen! The overall score is..

 

39/50! That's 78%, and a lovely pen with just a few qualms I am not fond of.

 

All of the scores were given considering the price of the pen, not compared to a Montblanc! I am normally against Chinese pens, what with bad quality control and so on, but this is a really lovely item. I'm sorry my handwriting doesn't match up to it!

Edited November 24, 2012 by daTomoT

[rochester21]

Nice review. I really like the shape of this pen !

[daTomoT]

I too think it is a lovely unique pen!

[Newjelan]

Nice pen!

[richardandtracy]

Hmm, nice pen & available from YC Gao/ YC Pens (jewelrymathematics) on E-Bay for £4.56 or offer..

 

Hard not to get one really.

 

Thanks for the recommendation.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

Edited November 26, 2012 by richardandtracy

[zdeveric]

daTomoT,

 

"Nice and comfortable for writing, but unfortunately loses points for not posting well." - what do you mean under "not posting well"?

Do you mean that pen becomes shorter then capped or cap does not fit well on the barrel?

 

Regards

Zoran

[zdeveric]

Posted, my has length of 140 mm.

[Dickkooty2]

I was very impressed with this review and ordered the pen on 11May. It was delivered yesterday. From China. For $6.50. 'Nuff said.

 

I dipped the pen to see how that nib worked. Indeed, flex. As to the plastic, I am stroking the cap of a black Montblanc 256 with my time worn fingers, smooth from a life-time on the advertising agency loading dock man-handling rough wood jpeg shipping pallets. I can feel no difference.

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj157/dick168/guanleming%20_zpshzazuice.jpg

 

I like the screw-on cap. I don't like the tapered wide-end. It looks to me as though a Parker Duofold had been seen in one-point perspective ...

[http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj157/dick168/02591957_zpsdpbec66y.jpg[/

URL] … maybe it was ...

 

I don't want to keep this pen. I don't like how it looks. If anyone with a USA mailing address would like this nicely-retro except for the cone cap writing instrument for nothing, zero, zip, nada, niente, please drop me a note using the FPN secret decoder ring located in my ID card. First one gets it.

 

Best,

 

Dick