Hero 360 degree fountain pen

[MrClegg]

I often wonder why people put so much time and effort into re-inventing the wheel. What was wrong with the old wheel, they certainly weren’t as Ghenkis Pod would have made them (sorry you need to watch carry on films to get that); so why invent a “new” fountain pen?

I don’t know if it’s been done before and if it has how successful was the result, but the Hero 360 has, to me at least, a new nib that, as the Ebay advert stated “can be used at any angle”. So my curiosity peeked I decided to bid on it and, if I won, see what it was like. As I’m writing this review obviously I won!

 

To start with the pen came in a box, not the original, just packed in with another pen but that’s not a big thing for me because if my pens are in their boxes I don’t use them!

 

The pen is a nice matt finished dark indigo colour with silver coloured metal appointments that suits it quite well. The cap and body of the pen have a white jewel like end, it looks nice but is subtle. It’s a plain design, understated I would call it, with the Hero name engraved on the clip and Hero written on the base of the cap in small text.

 

It’s a narrow bodied pen: 9 mm across the body and perhaps 10 across the cap, but not so narrow it’s difficult or uncomfortable to use, it’s also quite a light pen, with ink just 17 grams, and certainly one anybody could use hour after hour without discomfort.

Pen length when capped is 13.2 cm, 11.8 cm open and 15.2 cm posted. The balance is really quite good and posted or not it has a nice even feel when in your hand.

 

The cap when closing has a positive feel and a clearly audible click as it makes it ‘home’. The clip seems to be very solidly attached but still has plenty of flexibility so should survive endless uses, assuming you put it in your pocket.

 

The filling mechanism is with a squeezable bladder that works fine although it doesn’t seem to draw in that much ink even after a couple of squeezes, but there might be a better technique to that and I simply haven’t looked into it yet.

 

Obviously though the key element for this pen is this 360 degree nib, namely does it work? Well the quick answer is yes it does. The longer answer requires a little explanation... The pen certainly can be picked up, opened and used just as you would a ball point pen, but there are some differences to how it writes depending upon what part of the nib touches the paper. The nib produces a fine line, however at certain points it produces a wet(ish) fine line and at others a drier marginally finer line. It’s not a dramatic variation and you would have to really study the writing to notice but the extra ink in the wet areas makes the text look a little darker than when written in the drier area.

 

So how does it feel? The areas that produce the wet writing is smooth, OK we’re not talking buttery smooth here but it is pleasant to write with, in the areas that write slightly drier you can detect the slightest hint of scratch, it’s not so noticeable that it gets on your nerves but it is a slightly different feel to the smooth.

Do I find it annoying, no not at all in fact I kept turning the pen around in my fingers to see if it was present anywhere else, because it’s not present on all the quadrants it might just be one small area of the nib isn’t polished quite as well as the rest.

 

Writing with it is quite nice, it’s takes a little while to get beyond the odd trident style nib section but once I stopped myself looking at it I found it very easy to write with and just like any other fountain pen except; you don’t have to think about the position of the pen in your because it doesn’t matter. I’ve not encountered any skipping or sudden excess of ink and as it’s a Hero I doubt I ever will if my long term work pen is anything to go by.

 

Its overall quality is much like any Chinese pen: perfectly acceptable and assuming it goes into full scale production and it maintains these standards I don’t think many will have much to complain about should they use one.

 

At the start I mentioned re-inventing the wheel, I’ve been thinking about it for a while and I can’t make up my mind why they developed this pen. Who did they have in mind as the principal users? I quite like it and it’s certainly unusual, but I wouldn’t use it in place of a standard nib. Perhaps they think it’s ideal for novice fountain pen users? That may be true but if you learn to write with ink using a pen as easy to use as this, would you want to move onto a normal nibbed pen?

 

I do like it and it will make it into my pen rotation list but unless you want to own something of a novelty pen I couldn’t in all honesty suggest you buy one, there’s nothing wrong with it but if you want something different I’d suggest a stub.

 

And what did I pay for this technological advancement in fountain pens? I won it for a staggering UK 3.43 ($5.25) plus UK 5.20 ($8) P&P, do I think it’s worth that - yes

 

The ink in the writing example is Waterman blue-black and the paper is an 80gsm note book that I use to practice upon, it’s a nice enough quality with which I’ve never seen bleed-through or feathering.

 

To sum up: a good usable pen with perfectly acceptable build quality and nice subtle styling. An easy to use nib, good balance, good weight and a steady writer, so all in all a practical everyday user pen anyone could use.

 

Craig

 

I've added the writing sample - were I less of an idiot I'd have done so before. In the large text block the top is written with the finest point the lower in the broader point. I magnified them for comparative purposes, it's subtle but there is a difference.

Edited May 3, 2010 by MrClegg

[Ed Ronax]

Thanks for the excellent review. That really is an interesting nib.

[Fuddlestack]

Fascinating review, Craig, thanks a lot. That nib looks as thick as a ham sandwich. Hum. I think it's going on the gimme list.

 

John

[wallylynn]

I have a set of these from isellpens.com One of them is dedicated to BSB. A bright blue pen for my bright blue ink. No box, just some plastic/cellophane baggies.

 

The nib is indeed a thick slab of steel and something I think can withstand heavy handed ballpoint pen users and carbon copies. In all likelihood, they'll write and not notice anything amiss at first. It DOES NOT look like a fountain pen.

 

If I hold the pen at a high angle, there's no problem starting. If I hold it at a low angle, sometimes, I hit that spot between the tine gap and it doesn't write until I rotate the pen.

 

Do keep the pen protected. I put mine in my bag and the plating is already scratched a bit.

 

The metal sleeve over the sac does come off. I just squeeze the sac directly with my fingers.

 

Anyways, I bought mine because they were orders of magnitude cheaper than the Sailor Trident. I imagine the Trident would work better with 6 tines instead of 4 and Sailor-brand quality control, but I'm satisfied with my Hero 360. I should ink the others. That's why I bought the set instead of just one.

[ZeissIkon]

Look back in history, and you'll find Sheaffer made a pen with a nearly identical nib in the early 1970s, followed a few years later by the Parker 180. Hero's used this same design on at least two other models, as well, the 70 and the 001. I've got two of the 70s, and I can confirm that excessive pressure (intentionally applied, as a test) is capable of affecting the writing of the nib, though it didn't produce a visible bend. That said, the pressure that did this was applied on the flat, and more than would have been required to write through a five-layer carbonless form (probably closer to what would be needed to do embossing on brass sheet).

 

My two pens with this nib are currently in my "out of service reserve" storage bin; I've got too many really good (vintage) pens now to be willing to fight with ones that (like these did) dry out in a couple days and are hard to clean. I'd pull these out, though, if I were working in an office again and needed to keep a pen handy as a loaner -- as noted, the average ball pen user won't hurt these, and they are genuine fountain pens, filled with bottled ink.

[professionaldilettante]

I've seen a nib cut like that, except it was cut 3 times into 6 tines. I forgot who made it, anyone know?

[ZeissIkon]

I've seen a nib cut like that, except it was cut 3 times into 6 tines. I forgot who made it, anyone know?

 

That's the Sailor Trident.

[Spector]

hmm seems more like a novelty but seems interesting none the less

[farseer911]

Yours looks different than mine, I have the Hero 360-001 what is the model on yours? I like the look of your better. Where did you get it?

 

 

 

opps never mind I just reread the post, it was an ebay buy.

Edited May 5, 2010 by farseer911

[mihaixp]

I really think that this Hero 360 degree fountain pen is a bargain considering the qualities that you emphasized in this review.

 

Thank you for showing it to us.

[mr dodo]

I'm 5 years late to this thread, but to those saying this pen is probably just a novelty, I'd contribute that if you're someone who needs to write carbon copies and would like to do so with a fountain pen, this is by far the best pen on the market for that. It is also really handy if you sometimes need to lend out your pen to ballpoint users who may abuse a less substantial nib. I keep one in my draw for each of those reasons.