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Has Anyone Bought A Genuine Hero 616 Recently?


WilliamTK1974

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This may seem like a strange question, but has anyone bought a genuine, non-fake, Hero 616 in the last few weeks or months?

 

The reason I'm asking is because I decided to get one, found one of those 10-pen multipacks on ebay (sold by seller xxfus), couldn't resist what appeared to be a bargain, and upon receiving the pens, am now of the belief that they're all fakes. I should have come here first...

 

What makes me think this is a combination of several factors:

1) The Hero 616 embossing on the cap is very sloppy and inconsistent. Some of the pens have this directly below the clip, and others have it offset. Some are less bad than others, but most photos of these pens show a sharp, cleanly embossed cap.

 

post-148959-0-21020200-1553916873_thumb.jpg

 

2) The cap jewel on a real 616 is a well-made shallow cone-like shape with shiny chrome plating. The jewels on my pens don't come to a sharp point, and don't have the shine of chrome plating.

 

post-148959-0-13835500-1553916755_thumb.jpg

post-148959-0-35653100-1553916840_thumb.jpg

 

3) The clip arrow feathers on real 616s tend to be cleanly pressed and sharply defined. Some of my pens have this, but most of them have shallow and inconsistent stamping there.

 

4) The section threads on a real 616 are supposed to be fine, and mine appear to be coarse.

 

post-148959-0-85982900-1553916805_thumb.jpg

 

5) A real 616 has a maker's mark stamped on the metal sac protector, which will be shiny and well machined. None of mine have a maker's mark, the metal is dull, and the machining looks cheap.

 

post-148959-0-05079500-1553916911_thumb.jpg

 

6) Lots of misaligned nib tines, feeds, nibs bent forward or backward etc in my lot.

 

I realize the 616 is a cheap pen and may not always exhibit the best manufacturing. But I've had one before, and just don't remember it being this bad. I'll get some pics up as soon as I can.

 

If you have bought one of these recently, would you mind sharing a few pics along with your purchase experience?

 

Thank you,

 

-William K.

Edited by WilliamTK1974
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Nah, definitely a fake .... Hero 616 always come with stamped legend on the sac protector and the cap finale always a cone, the line pattern stamping on the cap is also wrong

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Nah, definitely a fake .... Hero 616 always come with stamped legend on the sac protector and the cap finale always a cone, the line pattern stamping on the cap is also wrong

 

Does a real one have seven lines instead of eight on the cap?

 

This is a real bummer, though a lesson learned. I'm going to try and get at least some of my money back, and then get some real ones from a trusted seller.

 

One more question here: Are the real ones difficult to disassemble? I inked the one in the pics to test it, and have also tried to disassemble the section without any luck.

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well Hero 616 had over the years many different line pattern on the cap but current production usually are seen with the tight 11 line group, but of course its not an always ... sometime its seen with the loose 8 line group but the most important part is these lines are usually tight and evenly spaced out. Note that gold plated cap version had no line pattern on the cap. Personally I had never had real difficulty in disassembling a 616 , of course the primary task is getting the hood loose off the sealed bond and that is a job asked for with a hot water bath; you'll have to bath the section whole in there for a while until the sealer soften and screw the section off while its still soft ( else it would set again ). and while at it when its still pliable , clean it well both the coupler and the section / hood thread nd you will need to re apply proper sealen when re-assembling. Though in most cases I see no need to break the seal and I would recommend doing so if and only if a repair job dearly ask for it

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It amazes me how china counterfeits its own products.

 

That's why moonman is called moonman now. Apparently (per Bobby) their lecai eyedropper was being counterfeited to such an absurd degree (the 7-twist uncap models were apparently counterfeits) that they felt their brand recognition had gone down due to the shoddy quality of the counterfeits being associated with them, so they rebranded.

Edited by Honeybadgers

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

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When buying Chinese pens, dealing with the recommended sellers is a must. A List of sort can be digged up from old threads regarding the 616, M2, WS698 and 618. For your convenience, here's some eBay vendors which I bought from, and was satisfied with the transaction

 

mentag

jewelrymathematics

office_supplies_pen (aka Bobby, although he seems to stock far less pens than before)

art-pen-book-dy

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When buying Chinese pens, dealing with the recommended sellers is a must. A List of sort can be digged up from old threads regarding the 616, M2, WS698 and 618. For your convenience, here's some eBay vendors which I bought from, and was satisfied with the transaction

 

mentag

jewelrymathematics

office_supplies_pen (aka Bobby, although he seems to stock far less pens than before)

art-pen-book-dy

 

I found mentag and jewelrymathematics. Both showed pics of 616s for sale that appeared to meet all the standards, such as properly pointed finials, fine section threads, crisp imprinting on the caps and sac protectors, tipping material on the nibs etc. Jewelrymathematics even had a pack of 10 that appeared to be all correct. Downside to that is when looking at the sale where I bought my multi-pack, those the pens shown in those pics seem to also meet the correct standards...

 

But if y'all think he's trustworthy, I might be willing to take the plunge again. My goal is/was to use one of the pens to do a "gut swap" of a Hero 100 I have with a crack in the section, have at least one good 616, and then a few to share with friends and family who might want them.

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I bargained the seller into offering a $4.50 refund on an $8.27 purchase, and it could be telling that they don't want the pens back. Looking at the auction, there's nowhere in any of the text stating that the pens are genuine Hero's, just that they're 100% new and of high quality. There is one place where they say the pens are Unbranded, which I chalked up to a potential translation issue. It's a shame we have to go through auctions like this with a fine-tooth comb to find the deception, but such are the ways of the world sometimes...

 

I've sent a message to jewelrymathematics to check to see if his multipack is real, genuine Hero pens.

 

Edit: The seller jewelrymathematics responded to my question and stated that the pens are genuine, and that he goes to the factory and picks them up himself.

Edited by WilliamTK1974
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  • 3 months later...

I bargained the seller into offering a $4.50 refund on an $8.27 purchase, and it could be telling that they don't want the pens back. Looking at the auction, there's nowhere in any of the text stating that the pens are genuine Hero's, just that they're 100% new and of high quality. There is one place where they say the pens are Unbranded, which I chalked up to a potential translation issue. It's a shame we have to go through auctions like this with a fine-tooth comb to find the deception, but such are the ways of the world sometimes...

 

I've sent a message to jewelrymathematics to check to see if his multipack is real, genuine Hero pens.

 

Edit: The seller jewelrymathematics responded to my question and stated that the pens are genuine, and that he goes to the factory and picks them up himself.

 

I got myself one of those fake Hero 616 , but i also have almost every variants made of the Hero 616 and i can say that it is great difference in terms of quality between the fake Hero 616 and the real Hero's 616 .

All the sealers on the list are ok and they sell the real Hero 616 i bought myself a lot of pen's from all of them .

I love Fountain Pens, with hooded nib in the classic style, Parker 51/61 type .



Ionut - Marius

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I bought my 616 about 3 years ago for fun and paid 1,99 euro shipment included..., it's the real thing, a reasonably nice little pen, but it gets little use, it's on the verge of too cheap, light plastic feel...

but honestly how much cheaper would you want it...

I'w weary of chinese pens, too many disappointments, even the last two purchases from the new trend were bad

Moonman M100 very bad nib, it took me a lot of work to get it working almost well

Moonman M600s badly warped cap, unusable pen, waiting for replacement (fingers crossed)

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I bought a 10pack of the bigger version recently from YC Guo. (Jewelerymathematics). Genuine stuff.

In case you wish to write to me, pls use ONLY email by clicking here. I do not check PMs. Thank you.

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My goal is/was to use one of the pens to do a "gut swap" of a Hero 100 I have with a crack in the section, have at least one good 616, and then a few to share with friends and family who might want them.

The 100 and 616 are put together very differently. Probably only the nibs can be swapped.

In case you wish to write to me, pls use ONLY email by clicking here. I do not check PMs. Thank you.

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You need to use Baopals to buy from China. The text editor is not loading for some reason, so I can't embed the link.

https://www.baopals.com/

They translate sites on Taobao and provide English speaking customer service and support. They are worth the premium. I am in China and use them to buy pens. I have had no issues with the pens I have bought. I have bought eight pens so far.

 

It is interesting how in Beijing, I have seen no fake Hero pens in the five years I have been here. Fake Mont-Blancs to be had by the kilo in the right markets, but no fake Heros. Lots of pens from other stationery companies not known for fountain pens too.

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The 100 and 616 are put together very differently. Probably only the nibs can be swapped.

And none of their part interchange either not even the nib; many haf conception that they are but NO and spesking of such 100 is perhaps the one Chinese fountain pen that's easiest to get parts each and every part the 100 had is retail available

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The 100 and 616 are put together very differently. Probably only the nibs can be swapped.

And none of their part interchange either not even the nib; many haf conception that they are but NO and spesking of such 100 is perhaps the one Chinese fountain pen that's easiest to get parts each and every part the 100 had is retail available

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I bought a 10pack of the bigger version recently from YC Guo. (Jewelerymathematics). Genuine stuff.

YC is my go to shop, too!

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I really liked a small hooded hero pen but any movement outside of the house led to ink leaking in the cap and wetting the section. Was highly inconvenient.

 

Does the 616 have this problem too? If I remember, my hero 565 was less problematic in this way.

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