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Hero 232 Blue - Black Ink


visvamitra

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SHANGHAI HERO LIGHT INDUSTRIAL IMP. & EXP. CO., LTD is the owner of “HERO” and “DOCTOR” brands of fountain pens in China. The brand is well known in China and around the world. You may find it interesting to know that in Poland in seventies and eighties of the last century Hero fountain pens were ones of very few available on the market. Therefore a lot of people in Poland, especially senior ones, share sentiment for this company and it’s products.

Apart from pens and other products company offers also inks. It seems the colors available at the moment are Red, Blue, Blue/Black and Black but I may be wrong. They offer a wider variety of colorful inks in China. I ordered some on Taobao but haven't received them yet.

Fabri00 sent me samples of some inks and there were two Hero inks inside tha package - 232 and 233.

fpn_1491235547__hero232_is.jpg

Hero 232 is well behaved blue black ink that has reasonable drying time and some other cool features. First - it's, it seems, iron-gall ink. It's fully water resistant. Like all iron gall inks it will look different with different pens and papers. As I have just a small sample I won't be able to tell you if it's fully safe for steel nibs. It just won't last that long.

The ink behaves well even on absorbent papers. It's probable it'll cause some bleedthrough on most absorbent and thin ones but my overall impression is definitely positive. The ink is cheap, well behaved and the color seems universal although tad on a boring bb side.

Drops of ink on kitchen towel

fpn_1491235756__hero232_rk.jpg

Software ID

fpn_1491236390__hero232_l_3.jpg

Color range

fpn_1491236408__hero232_l_4.jpg

Maruman, Kaweco Classic Sport, broad nib

fpn_1491236293__hero232_m_1.jpg

fpn_1491236452__hero232_m2.jpg

Leuchtturm1917, Kaweco Classic Sport, broad nib

fpn_1491236318__hero232_l_1.jpg

fpn_1491236350__hero232_l_2.jpg

fpn_1491236369__hero232_l_5.jpg

Oxford optic, Kaweco Classic Sport, broad nib

fpn_1491236140__hero232_ox.jpg

fpn_1491236470__hero232_ox2.jpg

Water resistance

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Thanks for the nice review and introduction especially for those in need. It is an IG ink and very well behaved. Also, nice and dark. Above all, it's the least expensive of all the IGs I know of... it's only the shipping that might cost just as much (depending on where you order it from, of course). :)

 

Mike

Life is too short to drink bad wine (Goethe)

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Thank you for the lovely review! I love your reviews, especially the hex code! Oh and also, I've seen these colorful hero inks from this one seller, but haven't seen them anywhere else, couldn't find any reviews either. I haven't tried them but the colors seem nice.

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Now this one is fantastic. A dark blue-black with no green overcast and great performance. I will get a pair of bottles when I visit China later this month. Can those who have been using it for some time vouch that it will not turn grey in the bottle after a year or two?

Hero #232 Blue-Black is my Waterman Florida Blue.

 

Your Kilometrage May Vary (#ykmv), a Philippine blawg about ink and fountain pens.

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Thank you for the review. I just ordered a bottle.

 

What is the difference between Hero 232 and Hero 202? I have a bottle of both coming to me in the mail now so I guess I will see. Does anyone know how they differ?

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I ordered some Hero 232 from ebay, but what I received was this:

http://frankb.us/images/www/232.jpg

 

It was packed very poorly, a couple layers of thin bubble wrap around the bottle in a plastic envelope - no box.

I got my money back and re-ordered from another vendor. It cost a little more, but it will be worth it if it comes intact.

 

This is where I re-ordered from:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/391642158144?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&var=660742131601&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

Now I just have to wait a few more weeks :(

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Thank you for the review. I just ordered a bottle.

 

What is the difference between Hero 232 and Hero 202? I have a bottle of both coming to me in the mail now so I guess I will see. Does anyone know how they differ?

I only have the #202 but comparing it to the scans here and elsewhere #202 is a lot more green/teal. I posted some pictures on my blog (link in signature). I'm not sure if it is also IG (don't have bleach in the house) but it is very water-resistant.

Hero #232 Blue-Black is my Waterman Florida Blue.

 

Your Kilometrage May Vary (#ykmv), a Philippine blawg about ink and fountain pens.

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Can those who have been using it for some time vouch that it will not turn grey in the bottle after a year or two?

1. As to the above, mine is 2-3 years old (always kept in the box and out of direct sunlight) and still blue-black, not at all grey.

2. As to others above... mine smells like soap too, better yet like the okay smell in a hotel restroom. Definitely not like phenol.

3. MIne was also poorly packaged. Box was bent/pushed together but the bottle was/is still intact.

 

All in all, for that dough, get a bottle if you can. :D

Life is too short to drink bad wine (Goethe)

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There's also a 402 Blue-black from Hero's Dux line that is really nice.

 

Thanks for another excellent review!!

fpn_1451608922__truthpil_signature_small

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I got my second Hero 232 shipment, this one was well packed in a cardboard box and arrived intact, so if you want Hero ink I recommend this guy: http://www.ebay.com/itm/391642158144?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

And it only took 9 days from China to California. I got broken bottles from two other ebay vendors who just put bottles into a plastic bag.

Edited by frankb3
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Thank you for this report on your ink's arrival; I ordered two different bottles of Hero Blue Black from him after reading your earlier post. I was very reassured when I received notification of shipping, which doesn't always occur from all Ebay Sellers. The condition & time of shipment is a pleasure to hear; I look forward to seeing mine.

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OOOOO cute little perfume bottles.

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

I would like to find a place where I could find these under 10 $ (with shipment included):

 

fpn_1491942136__hero.jpg

 

I just returned from Shandong province (major cities Qingdao, Huangdao, and Jinan) and saw only a few Hero Dux inks in the "box stores" but the selection was small, mostly 404 (carbon black) and 402 (blue-black). My guess is that a better selection can be found in the South, especially around Shanghai.

 

I am looking for 234 (carbon blue) and 202 (dark teal-blue-black). I have 404 and 232 (greyish black) and have found all the Dux inks I've bought to be well behaved, with relatively fast drying times and little feathering and bleeding except on the cheapest 20-lb bond.

 

Does anyone know of a complete list of Hero Dux inks, with numbers and descriptions?

 

Mike

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  • 2 months later...

 

I just returned from Shandong province (major cities Qingdao, Huangdao, and Jinan) and saw only a few Hero Dux inks in the "box stores" but the selection was small, mostly 404 (carbon black) and 402 (blue-black). My guess is that a better selection can be found in the South, especially around Shanghai.

 

I am looking for 234 (carbon blue) and 202 (dark teal-blue-black). I have 404 and 232 (greyish black) and have found all the Dux inks I've bought to be well behaved, with relatively fast drying times and little feathering and bleeding except on the cheapest 20-lb bond.

 

Does anyone know of a complete list of Hero Dux inks, with numbers and descriptions?

 

Mike

 

Your description of Hero 232 seems to match my experiences with Hero 202, but I'm wondering if my 202 is so dry and boring grey (i.e., no blue) because the iron gall in it has oxidized (the bottle has been sitting in the back of a drawer for 2 years).

 

From my searching on Taobao, I can only find these Dux (达克斯) inks available:

 

300-series (colored boxes)

[no 301 Red oddly enough]

302 Blue-black "Non-clogging Scented High Quality"

303 Blue "Non-clogging Scented High Quality"

304 Black "Non-clogging Scented High Quality"

 

TB22D8uXIgd61BjSZFEXXaBjVXa_!!135361674.

 

 

400-series (black and white boxes)

401 Red "Non-clogging High Quality"

402 Blue-black "Non-clogging High Quality"

403 Blue "Non-clogging High Quality"

404 Black "Non-clogging High Quality"

 

T2tZhRXk0cXXXXXXXX_!!665153267.jpg

 

None of these inks contain carbon and thus have large Chinese characters on the box (larger than the brand) that say "non-clogging" (不堵).These are marketed as being smooth writing as well and I totally concur.

 

The only difference between the 300s and 400s seems to be that the 300-line is scented while the 400-line is not. Hero's carbon ink is 234 (carbon black) and does not contain Dux in the name. 231, 232, and 233 are labelled as non-carbon although their bottles and boxes look similar to 234.

fpn_1451608922__truthpil_signature_small

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