Hero Red Ink

[Pauldavid]

After falling in love with the Hero Blue-Black Ink that I recently bought, I tried looking up the reviews for the rest of the range in FPN's excellent index of reviews. Funnily the review for the Red was missing. I remembered seeing a few bottles in the shop where I got the Blue Blacks. Well, went there yesterday (this is in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur btw) and also picked up a bottle of Hero Black (normal version, not the carbon one) in the hopes of blending that and the Red into a Burgundy ink. So, Red Ink in hand, I quickly wrote up a review (no printer in the house so I kinda copied out one of the FPN ink review forms) Here's how it looks like: (I scanned this and the result was a little brighter than normal)

 

 

 

 

Now, to my eyes this doesn't look really red, it has a pinkish tinge to it. Also, this ink is not as resistant to water as is the Hero Blue-Black. The box also seems to be slightly old, with the print not being as crisp as the newer boxes. Its priced at RM1.90 (about USD 0.60) so definite plus point there. Pity there were only 2 of them left and I got one (I bet the other one will still be around 6 months down the line) Apologies for not comparing it with other reds, I don't have any and don't want to shell out cash for that half dried out ancient bottle of Pelikan 4001 Red that was sitting in the shelf next to the Hero. So, there ya go, nice price, nice ink. Now, I shall go try making that Burgundy tonight

[Ed Ronax]

Nice review, nice colour, thanks.

[zhangvict]

Nice review, nice colour, thanks.

Yes, it is a nice color, though I find my Hero red to be more than moderately saturated. I think its in between moderate saturation and Noodler's grade saturation.

 

I thought I'd also mention, the ink has a floral scent. Its nice, though a tiny bit artificial. The scent isn't strong enough to make it a 'scented' ink, but you will notice it when filling your pen from the bottle. Some Herbin inks also smell nice like this. In fact, someone could put this ink in a Herbin bottle and get away with it.

 

Well, went there yesterday (this is in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur btw) and also picked up a bottle of Hero Black (normal version, not the carbon one) in the hopes of blending that and the Red into a Burgundy ink.

 

Good luck mixing! Also, If you pick up a bottle of Hero blue and mix it with your Hero red, you'll get a very tasty-looking blackberry juice color. Sorry, I forgot the proportions I used, but try a 1:1 mix and then adjust by adding more blue or red or water(if it ends up being too saturated).

[Pauldavid]

Well, the resulting blend was a beautiful Burgundy! Thanks for the tip about the Blueberry. Will give that a shot.So far I've only found the Hero washable Blue. hmmm...i gotta go find more mixing bottles

[zhangvict]

Whoops! When I said Hero Blue I meant Hero Washable blue. Sorry for the confusion I caused!

[Pauldavid]

Oh, thats within reach. I shall go look for it tomorrow

[polyisoprene]

I remembered seeing a few bottles in the shop where I got the Blue Blacks. Well, went there yesterday (this is in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur btw) and also picked up a bottle of Hero Black (normal version, not the carbon one) in the hopes of blending that and the Red into a Burgundy ink. So, Red Ink in hand, I quickly wrote up a review (no printer in the house so I kinda copied out one of the FPN ink review forms) Here's how it looks like: (I scanned this and the result was a little brighter than normal)

 

 

I'm somewhere in Kuala Lumpur, and would really like to know where exactly is this shop that you are referring to. I have a hard time finding Hero fountain pens, let alone Hero Inks. Would really love to try out the whole range of Hero inks.

[Pauldavid]

Sorry about the late reply. Hero inks and pens can be found in Old Chinese Bookshops. Petaling St is a good place to start. I got my inks in Seri Kembangan and my pens in a small shop near the Cheras Pantai Hospital. Good huntin'!

 

I remembered seeing a few bottles in the shop where I got the Blue Blacks. Well, went there yesterday (this is in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur btw) and also picked up a bottle of Hero Black (normal version, not the carbon one) in the hopes of blending that and the Red into a Burgundy ink. So, Red Ink in hand, I quickly wrote up a review (no printer in the house so I kinda copied out one of the FPN ink review forms) Here's how it looks like: (I scanned this and the result was a little brighter than normal)

 

 

I'm somewhere in Kuala Lumpur, and would really like to know where exactly is this shop that you are referring to. I have a hard time finding Hero fountain pens, let alone Hero Inks. Would really love to try out the whole range of Hero inks.

[freewheelingvagabond]

The colour is nice, but is more pink than red.

[foodee]

I just bought a bottle of Hero Red Ink for $1.99 in New York Chinatown. Unlike the previous review, I am very disappointed with the ink. I had bought 10 Hero 329 pens from eBay and used Noodler's Bulletproof Black ink. That ink worked well with these 329 pens and gave me an extra fine line without any skipping. Unfortunately, when I used the Hero Red, the line was quite dry and skipped often. Since I used the same pen, it's definitely an ink problem and not a pen problem. As such, I do not plan to buy any more Hero's ink. (FYI, the color of my ink is the same as the reviewer's picture...more of a pink than a red.)

[Oldtimer]

i got my Red Hero Workers Students ink from Amazon and liked it enough to use it on a Pilot Metro or DOLLAR pen to strike out errors and notes over notes. Not shining through as a serious ink and even buying from Amazon, the box was torn and obviously some ink had spilled on it and they had "repaired" it with tape. it's pinky at most but a usable ink for non serious matters that others will not read. On my experience it dried fast although i did not make a water test to see how well it took it.

 

I am always looking for cheap inks for my not so expensive pens and this one plus their Blue, fit the bill. I would not use this ink on a letter or serious communication, just for my daily stuff and doodles.

 

 

Edited August 25, 2014 by Oldtimer

[arcadeflow]

Reminds me of Lamy Red. Never occurred to me to check out Chinese inks before...

[TSherbs]

bleh

[polyisoprene]

I finally managed to find my very first bottle of Hero Red (and a Hero Washable Blue, but that's another story). Did a test run, and found it quite nice looking.

 

Did a blend of one-part Hero Washable Red with two-parts Hero Blue-Black, and the resulting colour turned out quite a nice shade of purple. Actually, I was in the midst of getting a shade of purple using Quink inks as stock, but didn't really get the shade that I was looking for. Along the way, I came across the Hero Red. So I thought to myself, why not use the Hero inks as stock instead of Quink? And the rest is, as they say, is history...

[TimTheZaj]

How would this compare to noodlers red black in terms of viscosity

[polyisoprene]

Can't really compare to Noodler's, since it's almost non-existent where I come from. The only away to get Noodler's is only via Internet order.

 

Anyway, compared to Quink Red (the modern rendition), Hero Red looks about the same saturation (maybe slightly less), except that the shade is a little more "cool-tone" than Quink. I personally find Quink to be slightly bias towards orange tinge, while Hero is bias slightly pinkish/blueish.

 

It's also a fairly wet ink, again similar to Quink in general.

[amberleadavis]

i got my Red Hero Workers Students ink from Amazon and liked it enough to use it on a Pilot Metro or DOLLAR pen to strike out errors and notes over notes. Not shining through as a serious ink and even buying from Amazon, the box was torn and obviously some ink had spilled on it and they had "repaired" it with tape. it's pinky at most but a usable ink for non serious matters that others will not read. On my experience it dried fast although i did not make a water test to see how well it took it.

 

I am always looking for cheap inks for my not so expensive pens and this one plus their Blue, fit the bill. I would not use this ink on a letter or serious communication, just for my daily stuff and doodles.

 

 

 

 

Hey, I recognize the paper!

[amberleadavis]

@Paul David - Thank you for doing the review! You don't need the form, your review was terrific!

[Art]

Nice review and nice ink. I like the color. I'll add a bottle to my purchase list.

[truthpil]

I just picked up my first bottle of this red (#201) here in China for about US$0.60 and was about to write a review of it, but after putting it in a pen I see that it looks the same as Pauldavid's batch if not a little even less saturated. To me it looks like a washed-out light red that appears pink because of the white paper showing through. As someone who has been using Diamine Poppy Red for years, it is way too unsaturated for me. It definitely won't be something I use to grade homework with as had been my original plan. It's also very dry and I had a hard time at first getting it to flow in a Hero 616.

 

I'm intrigued by the idea of mixing it with other Hero inks to make something that looks better. Has anyone come up with a good ratio to make a nice burgundy or red-black with this ink?