We Love China and China Tolerates It

[WillSW]

Alright, another Chinese group to be reviewed. Quick overview because there's a lot of handwritten stuff.

 

Hero 616 [$5] - I bought three of these, which varied from nearly unusable to wonderful. Worth buying a few to get a good one, the less easy writers can be given away.

Hero 330 [$5] - A nice extra fine line, I got a good one but there's probably a chance the next would be scratchy. A '61' ripoff, I like the looks and the little "star trek" arrow makes me smile.

Hero 329 [$5] (Not pictured, given away) - A thicker line than either the 616 or the 330, a real medium, the one I bought has good flow and writes smoothly. I, however, don't really like how it looks compared to the other Parker wanna-bes. The cap, especially, is cheap and unattractive.

Hero 83 [$6] - A '45' derived design with a sharkmouth semi-hood. Great writer, I wish I could find it online. Very fine line, like the 330, but smooth, smooth. I wish it weren't ugly.

Hero 316 [$5.50] - Another one unable to be found online. Semi-hooded, a medium-fine writer that I accidentally filled with India Ink because it was sold to me as fountain pen ink and I cannot read Chinese. I cleaned it out and replaced the Hero Black (India) with Hero Blue-Black. It was smoother with the black, but I think if I filled it with any better lubricating ink it would be again the great writer it was. Not too appealing in looks to me, but sleek and a good gift pen.

 

Now, images and writing samples. A lot of them.

 

Top to bottom: 616, 330, 83, 316

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a94/willsw/chinn_4.jpg

 

A nib shot of the 616 and 330. This is the only shot of these because there are many to be found online.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a94/willsw/chinn_13.jpg

 

Hero 83

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a94/willsw/chinn_16.jpg http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a94/willsw/chinn_9.jpg http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a94/willsw/chinn_6.jpg

 

Hero 316

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a94/willsw/chinn_11.jpg http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a94/willsw/chinn_18.jpg http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a94/willsw/chinn_17.jpg

 

Now, writing samples. I wanted to be thorough.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a94/willsw/chin.jpg http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a94/willsw/chin_4.jpg http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a94/willsw/chin_3.jpg http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a94/willsw/chin_5.jpg http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a94/willsw/chin_2.jpg http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a94/willsw/chin_1.jpg http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a94/willsw/chin_8.jpg

 

These pens were all bought at Oriental Culture Enterprises, at 13-17 Elizabeth St. in NYC, except the 330, which was bought at a little bookstore farther down Mott St.

[AlejoPlay]

Do they let you open up the boxes and examine the nibs? I'd love to get a couple of the 616s and I'd hate to get a dud. The 83 and 316 look kind of interesting as well. I bought a 330 from Alan Koo once and I tossed it. The pen was too light and the nib was AWFUL, so I have a major aversion to it. My only other hero is an old school 329 which I love.

Edited January 8, 2008 by AlejoPlay

[WillSW]

Do they let you open up the boxes and examine the nibs? I'd love to get a couple of the 616s and I'd hate to get a dud. The 83 and 316 look kind of interesting as well. I bought a 330 from Alan Koo once and I tossed it. The pen was too light and the nib was AWFUL, so I have a major aversion to it. My only other hero is an old school 329 which I love.

 

They get the pens in packs of 10 or so (you can see unopened pack on the back shelf) and put them into trays. I tried examining the nibs, but realized I just don't know what to look for when I got back home with my less than great first 616. If you know what to look for, they'll pretty much leave you alone to play with the pens, I don't know how they are about dipping, I didn't ask. I don't know if they'd like you dipping half a dozen of the same pen. Buy some blue-black if you go!

[Ink Stained Wretch]

Regarding the fountain pen friendliness of Hero blue/Black ink: Not necessarily always all that friendly. It's real iron containing ink. I've had that stuff clog a fountain pen before. YMMV

[WillSW]

Regarding the fountain pen friendliness of Hero blue/Black ink: Not necessarily always all that friendly. It's real iron containing ink. I've had that stuff clog a fountain pen before. YMMV

 

Whether Hero BB has iron in it or not has been recently debated - are there any definite tests one can do to determine it?

[Renzhe]

Somehow I thought it was possible that the title of the thread was the name of a pen.

[incursive]

I have a couple of Hero 616s: one is a dud and the other writes like a dream. I use it for drawing more than writing and it hasn't let me down in years. I would definitely recommend anyone buy these pens as they really are a good cheap workhorse.

[andy1m]

I have half a dozen (or more I think) 330 and 331, good pens and great prices. I will keep looking for Hero's pen.

[HenryLouis]

I bought a 10 pack of 616's. I hope I get some good writers.

[LapsangS]

I bought a 10 pack of 616's. I hope I get some good writers.

 

Me too. I just ordered a similar 10 pack of H616

[someonesdad]

It definitely is a cr@pshoot getting a good Hero pen sometimes. I bought two packs of ten 616s for $11 per pack (delivered to US from Hong Kong) and have gotten a few good writers out of that bunch. My wife, who has the paypal account, did the ordering for me and accidentally also purchased two Hero 616 Jumbos from the same dealer for $4 each delivered to the US. One of those Jumbos has turned into my absolute favorite pen and is with me constantly. It writes like a dream with Noodler's black, Bay State Blue, and Herbin Perle Noire.

 

I've also got two Hero 332s (from a batch of 10 purchased for $10 about a decade ago) that write superbly; I keep them inked with PR DCSS blue and Fox red.

[HenryLouis]

It definitely is a cr@pshoot getting a good Hero pen sometimes. I bought two packs of ten 616s for $11 per pack (delivered to US from Hong Kong) and have gotten a few good writers out of that bunch. My wife, who has the paypal account, did the ordering for me and accidentally also purchased two Hero 616 Jumbos from the same dealer for $4 each delivered to the US. One of those Jumbos has turned into my absolute favorite pen and is with me constantly. It writes like a dream with Noodler's black, Bay State Blue, and Herbin Perle Noire.

 

I've also got two Hero 332s (from a batch of 10 purchased for $10 about a decade ago) that write superbly; I keep them inked with PR DCSS blue and Fox red.

 

I'm using the pens for Baystate blue as well.

[Nikhil]

i have 2 Hero 616's but they are not very durable at all

[Pepin]

Very nice. I enjoy your review. Cheap thrills!

[elsiezheng]

There are many fans of Hero 616 in China .

I love them.

They are the most classic model of Hero .

[Pauldavid]

Bought myself a 330 and an unidentified (at least to me) Youth 2 days ago. Filled it up with an old bottle of Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black (must have been a really old bottle, writing was rather light). While testing it out, the plastic on the underside of the Hero broke, leaving a glob of ink on the paper. The Youth however worked awesomely! Thinking of flushing it out and refilling it with some Black Skrip.