There's Something To Be Said For Cheap Pens...

[woleizihan]

It matters to me. If it's authentic and doesn't write well, it means I'm not buying any cheap Heros or any Hero at all. If it's fake and doesn't write well, I might try to buy from a more reliable source next time. Of course for those who are not going to but Heros at all, it doesn't matter.

[WJM]

At these low prices, does "real" or "fake" or "authentic" even matter? At $2, isn't all that matters whether it writes or not? They're all made of plastic and metal and include a converter (squeeze). And they don't all work, no matter which factory they come from. There's no collecting value to any of them, "authentic" or not. So who cares.

I beg to differ, there's quite a difference in quality between actual Hero 616 and those sold in 10-packs, at least in my experience.

Edited February 11, 2018 by WJM

[TSherbs]

Cool. Most of them write well, so I don't care. Like with people, as long as they treat you well, do you care where they came from? I don't. Moreover, my guess is that these pens' performance is more reliable than our ability to accurately assess the actual factory origen of a 616. Especially since so many opinions are never definitively corroborated. People just post stuff.

[TSherbs]

I beg to differ, there's quite a difference in quality between actual Hero 616 and those sold in 10-packs, at least in my experience.

How so? Other posters here have said the contrary. Again, the quality may be rooted in something other than the factory of origen. We seem to want to generalize and categorize here, but I don't see how that could be accurate or predictive or worth the effort for a $2 pen.

[max dog]

I dunno; my wife bought me a 10-pack of Hero 616s for around 35USD a few years back, and they've done very well.

 

 

It's actually more complicated than just "authentic" and "fake". In my understanding, there are three different kinds of 616s out there: those produced by Hero's primary factory in Shanghai; those produced by other Hero's factories; those not produced by Hero at all. The $35 10-pack is unlikely by the Shanghai factory but might come from other Hero's factories. If that's the case, it's not what I would call fake even though it might not be as good as those from the Shanghai factory. It's just like pens from different Parker factories. There might be a difference in quality or QC, but those don't make the pens fake as long as the production is authorized by Parker itself.

 

Is it just me or does this discussion sound a bit silly, when we start talking about authentic vs fake ultra cheap Chinese pens where any form of QC is absent. It just becomes a game of probability whether you get a pen that writes properly or a dud.

Edited February 12, 2018 by max dog

[TSherbs]

word

[JayKay3000]

My favourite cheap pen at the moment is the Jinhoa 911 because it looks classic, a bit like a 51 / 61 in metal, but uses a cartridge converter. Grip is nice. Feels solid and writes really smooth. It's an EDC pen that's just cool to use. The Jinhoa brand seems to produce some of the better pens.

 

I went on a cheap pen adventure and brought a bunch of different cheap pens spending less that $30. The fun part is not that I got a bunch of pens that all write well. By getting to try a lot of pens that had various grips and weight I was able to work out what I liked using which is different from what I like when browsing. Big nibs look awesome, but can be awkward or impractical in reality. I was then able to narrow down the number of pens to the ones that I could and do use every day from the stuff that was a bit 'ooh, that's cheap and interesting'. So further on I can now shop more informed for a more expensive pen.

 

It's fun to have these cheap pens because someone can try a fountain pen without spending loads of money and it may even help keep fountain pens around.

[oneill]

My favourite cheap pen at the moment is the Jinhoa 911 because it looks classic, a bit like a 51 / 61 in metal, but uses a cartridge converter. Grip is nice. Feels solid and writes really smooth. It's an EDC pen that's just cool to use. The Jinhoa brand seems to produce some of the better pens.

 

I went on a cheap pen adventure and brought a bunch of different cheap pens spending less that $30. The fun part is not that I got a bunch of pens that all write well. By getting to try a lot of pens that had various grips and weight I was able to work out what I liked using which is different from what I like when browsing. Big nibs look awesome, but can be awkward or impractical in reality. I was then able to narrow down the number of pens to the ones that I could and do use every day from the stuff that was a bit 'ooh, that's cheap and interesting'. So further on I can now shop more informed for a more expensive pen.

 

It's fun to have these cheap pens because someone can try a fountain pen without spending loads of money and it

may even help keep fountain pens around.

10/out of 10 for being wise and choosing a brand which excels itself no matter what JINHAO&BAOER both

made by the same company,I have been singing their praise for about 15 years from memory since I used to Edit

their webpages for them,I always reward tradies who do a job at my place with one of these pens and I always get good reports back from them,some pens do have little problems such as the convertors are sometimes not so good,

get over that and you will have a great pen for years,If you want to have one of their Best Pens then treat yourself to a pen of theirs which uses 2 names its The Abalone or The Mother of

Pearl pen,I have 3 of them in my collection. Oneill

Edited February 13, 2018 by oneill

[WJM]

How so? Other posters here have said the contrary. Again, the quality may be rooted in something other than the factory of origen. We seem to want to Generali ze and categorize here, but I don't see how that could be accurate or predictive or worth the effort for a $2 pen.

For starters, all three of my Hero 616s (two "Jumbos" and one small one) fill properly and write properly. The "fake one", whatever it is, leaks horribly - and it's not just an occasional drop of ink on the paper, the whole ink capacity can be easily dumped out of the pen with just hand movement. Not that it has much ink capacity to begin with as the squeeze filler barely draws any ink. This is a common problem with Chinese aerometrics (although all three of my 616s fill well without any problems), but most of them you can get more or less full by trial and error. I was never able to do so with the "fake Hero 616".

 

I had this "fake Hero" (several actually) for a few years. I mean the ones with the longer section and size somewhat between the small 616 and Jumbo. When I finally got a "proper" 616 I was surprised by how much better it was. Sure, it's still a $3 pen and has its problems, but it's definitely better than the "fake" one.

Edited February 13, 2018 by WJM

[Sailor Kenshin]

For starters, all three of my Hero 616s (two "Jumbos" and one small one) fill properly and write properly. The "fake one", whatever it is, leaks horribly - and it's not just an occasional drop of ink on the paper, the whole ink capacity can be easily dumped out of the pen with just hand movement. Not that it has much ink capacity to begin with as the squeeze filler barely draws any ink. This is a common problem with Chinese aerometrics (although all three of my 616s fill well without any problems), but most of them you can get more or less full by trial and error. I was never able to do so with the "fake Hero 616".

 

I had this "fake Hero" (several actually) for a few years. I mean the ones with the longer section and size somewhat between the small 616 and Jumbo. When I finally got a "proper" 616 I was surprised by how much better it was. Sure, it's still a $3 pen and has its problems, but it's definitely better than the "fake" one.

Except they're not actually aerometric fillers, but squeeze fillers as you also state.

 

And I LOVE my 616s, and nearly always have one in rotation. I also have a few aerometric Parkers, including a 51, and while anyone can see there is a build quality difference, the 616s are more pleasant for me to write with.

[TSherbs]

For starters, all three of my Hero 616s (two "Jumbos" and one small one) fill properly and write properly. The "fake one", whatever it is, leaks horribly - and it's not just an occasional drop of ink on the paper, the whole ink capacity can be easily dumped out of the pen with just hand movement. Not that it has much ink capacity to begin with as the squeeze filler barely draws any ink. This is a common problem with Chinese aerometrics (although all three of my 616s fill well without any problems), but most of them you can get more or less full by trial and error. I was never able to do so with the "fake Hero 616".

 

I had this "fake Hero" (several actually) for a few years. I mean the ones with the longer section and size somewhat between the small 616 and Jumbo. When I finally got a "proper" 616 I was surprised by how much better it was. Sure, it's still a $3 pen and has its problems, but it's definitely better than the "fake" one.

 

Why the "fake Hero" in quotation marks? Is this to indicate that you are making an assumption? My point was that we can't really know what's "authentic" with much certainty, and there is public disagreement about which are which--and that ultimately there isn't even agreement about which are "better" in quality (beyond our own individual anecdotal and limited experience).

[TSherbs]

Except they're not actually aerometric fillers, but squeeze fillers as you also state.

 

And I LOVE my 616s, and nearly always have one in rotation. I also have a few aerometric Parkers, including a 51, and while anyone can see there is a build quality difference, the 616s are more pleasant for me to write with.

The one in my pocket is green and writes. I can vouch for these things. Nothing else can I vouch for. I have no idea where it was made. I bought it on ebay from a vendor that I don't recall and who did not vouch for the provenance of the pen in any way (nor would that be any guarantee, either).

[WJM]

 

Why the "fake Hero" in quotation marks? Is this to indicate that you are making an assumption? My point was that we can't really know what's "authentic" with much certainty, and there is public disagreement about which are which--and that ultimately there isn't even agreement about which are "better" in quality (beyond our own individual anecdotal and limited experience).

It is to indicate that I don't know what exactly this is. I don't know whether it's a fake or it's just another factory's production, or perhaps even another company, commissioned by Hero or not. Those pens were frequently referred to as fakes in the recent past, however ubelievable may it seem that anyone would counterfeit a pen which costs $3-5 to begin with.

As I said this "fake" not only performes much worse than my other 616s, but also looks a bit differently. The section is longer than in both small 616 and Jumbo (and Parker 51) and it's a bit smaller than Jumbo I think. I'm not sure, I don't have it at hand right now, but from what I can remember it's similiar in lenght to Jumbo but a bit thinner.

[ParkerDuofold]

Hi all,

 

I have to admit,... there was a time in the past, when I was right in the center of this fray myself... but think about it... all this back and forth pecking at one another's gizzards over a $2 piece of junk.

 

What's that worth to ya?

 

 

Just my two cents...

 

 

Be well... and enjoy life.

 

 

- Anthony

 

 

Typo.

Edited February 14, 2018 by ParkerDuofold

[TSherbs]

 

It is to indicate that I don't know what exactly this is. I don't know whether it's a fake or it's just another factory's production, or perhaps even another company, commissioned by Hero or not. Those pens were frequently referred to as fakes in the recent past, however ubelievable may it seem that anyone would counterfeit a pen which costs $3-5 to begin with.

As I said this "fake" not only performes much worse than my other 616s, but also looks a bit differently. The section is longer than in both small 616 and Jumbo (and Parker 51) and it's a bit smaller than Jumbo I think. I'm not sure, I don't have it at hand right now, but from what I can remember it's similiar in lenght to Jumbo but a bit thinner.

 

[Tseg]

My 2 cheap pens are my Pilot Metropolitan, which cost <$15 and the Fountain Pen Revolution Indus, which lists for $17 but was a free promotional gift when i bought the Triveni Jr. (another fantastic pen). This Indus freebie wouldn't write out of the box... just a very pale bit of ink could be laid down with its 1.0 stub nib. A significant ink flow problem. I poked and proded at the nib for a few months with no success. Finally 1 day removed the nib, took a razor to the ink feed channel really manhandled 2 sheets of copper to the nib. When I reassembled and tried writing I was dumbfounded how amazing this pen began to write. No skipping or hard starts. Very nice juicy flow and super smooth. It has a massive ink resevoir with piston fill. Other than some small ripples in the plastic nib and around ink window this pen's performance and build quality is on par with my 10X more Pelikan M120. The section size is identical to the M120, this is slightly longer and has less of a step up to the barrel, so ergonomically I would say this is more comfortable than that ~$150+ pen. I currently have a number of excellent writing pens and this one ranks right up among them. Out of the box I was about to throw it out.

 

[sidthecat]

I got a Jinhao with another purchase and I gave it to a co-worker. He loves it to bits, and he prefers it to his Auroras.

[akrohn2010]

Love my Pilot Metro! Had a Jinhao with a Goulet nib that I also enjoyed as much or more than some of my pricier pens but gave it to a curious co-worker. I since decided to limit my collection so am saving for more grail-like pens.

Edited May 19, 2018 by flyingpenman

[przeklasa]

I started buying $1 and $2 pens to use as practice pens...to practice my nib smoothing skills. 10 and 15 packs are perfect for this. Lots of pens at a low price. I can destroy 5 pens using my nib smoothing "technique" and apply what I learned on the remaining 5 pens. I'd wind up with two great writers, two good writers and one that was just okay. I was quite surprised at how wonderfully I could get these pens to write. For the money, you simply can't do better at improving nib smoothing/adjusting than taking a 10 pack and smooth, smooth, smooth, tweak, tweak, tweak until the pellet on the nib is completely worn off, then take another pen and continue the process, until after several pens undergo this abuse you find you can actually smooth a nib to (almost) perfection.

 

After a couple years of this process, I accumulated about twenty pens that perform darn near as nice as my pens that cost me $200 back in 1989. This is a bitter pill to swallow. Sure, the cheapie pens are not AS NICE as my wonderful old pens which I cherish, but by golly they are fantastic writers especially when you consider the price.

 

Now my quest is to purchase very inexpensive fountain pens and try to get them to write darn near as wonderfully as much pricier fountain pens. Currently I have about 60 pens priced between $1 and $15 that are superior writers. No they don't flex, or have springiness, or other such qualities we all hear about in high end pens. But they sure do write smoothly and if I lose them, no big loss except for my time.

 

There are inexpensive fountain pens out there that will surprise you. A few are great out of the box. Many can use a bit of easy nib work that anyone can do who has basic nib smoothing/tweaking experience. Some need lots of work to get the best out of them. But they are well worth the money and time.

 

Here is a partial list of my low cost pens:

 

Hero 616 Doctor

Hero 616 "large size"

Hero 616-2 smaller size

Hero 266

Hero 329

Wing Sung 659

Oliver 69ht

Oliver demonstrator piston filler

Airmail 55

Parker Beta

Parker Vector

Kanwrite Apex Slim

Camlin 22

Serwex 77

Airmail 67t

Jinhao 992

Jihhao 991

Pilot Varsity

Thornton disposable

 

My complete stable of low price pens number about 150. I have so many because I often buy the 10 and 15 packs. About 50 of the pens are perfect writers. My goal is to continue to improve my nib/feed skills. I could not do this without these low priced, but great value, fountain pens.

[Arkanabar]

It's my understanding that Hero is regarded as a premium brand with high name recognition and QC throughout India and the People's Republic of China, and apparently around 80% are pretty good writers, and most of the rest at least work. The fakes are said to be unspeakably shoddy, with few if any being even marginally serviceable.