Hero Model 001 - 360 degree

[KendallJ]

QUOTE (tonydacrow @ Feb 14 2007, 11:43 AM)

I just looked at pics of the Parker 180 on the internet and the Hero 360's nib is almost identical. So; did the Trident steal from the Parker 180? Did Parker steal from the Trident? Did the Hero steal from both? (OK, we all know the answer to the last question.)

Well as I understand it, the Shanghai Hero Pen company is what results when the Chinese govt nationalized the factory of the Parker Pen Company back in the 50's.

 

Needless to say, the resemblences are probably not coincidental. Although, I think the Parker 180 might be from teh 70's...

[Nihontochicken]

I just got my Hero 360 from Cutepens. Bad news (well, not really, but given the near "immediate gratification" as from ordering from, say, Isellpens) was it took over two weeks to get the pen (note it is mailed from India). Good news, the shipping is included in the stated sales price, and it is sent by registered mail.

 

General impression - well, it's a "moderately cheap" pen. Not terribly cheap looking, about the same level as a Hero 616, though quite different in actual appearance. No one will be looking for a bird splat on the end of this one. I'm not enthralled by the chromed cap top in contrast to the nicer blue anodized aluminum cap main body and pen barrel. And the pinch on the end of the barrel looks funky (but it does provide an intentional positive click-stop to post the cap, just like the conventional cap closure stop at the nib end, an interesting feature). The chromed clip looks very much like that of a Sheaffer TD, not my favorite shape by a long shot, does look thin and cheap, but it is spring loaded a la a Hero 100, and works rather well.

 

Okay, so how does it write, and does it compare to the Sailor Trident? Well, I don't have a Trident, so I can't answer that. But, given the aim of the Sailor, to be able to write at any rotation, similar to a BP pen, how does the Hero 360 do? Well, close (I guess), but no cigar. The Hero 360 has four tines as compared to the Sailor's six. When writing with with the nib "flat" on the paper, it does okay, flows well, but is, well, not scratchy as much as draggy. When writing on its "side", it flows the same or maybe slightly better, and is actually less "draggy". But when rotated such that a tine, rather than a split, is squarely on the page, it can skip and not start. When I mess with it (rotate the position or increase the writing angle) to start flow, it will generally write when put back into the tine (not split) down configuration, though perhaps more dryly than the more favorable configurations.

 

Sooooooo, I think it's a good (and certainly less costly) attempt, but it doesn't quite fulfill the requirement, writing well at any rotation. I'm guessing that the six tine arrangement of the Sailor Trident is the best trade-off between writing ease, nib strength, and manufacturing cost. If only I had a Sailor Trident to be sure!!! Donations?

 

Edit: "... so I can answer that." ---> "... so I can't answer that."

Alzheimer's strikes again.

Edited March 3, 2007 by Nihontochicken

[MYU]

I can't remember where I saw it, but I read a review of the Sailor Trident and despite the novelty of the design, the reviewer listed some notable flaws.

 

Yes, if left alone for a week or so, it is a hard starter. I guess it's not true for the Hero. But let's say you left it for a month and forgot you had ink in it--I imagine it would be a real chore to clean (for either the Hero or Sailor).

 

And if the nib ever needs tuning or repair, I think you can pretty much forget about it. The way the nib is designed and bonded together, it doesn't look like a nib meister would be able to do much with it.

 

Still... it's a definitely conversation piece for many fountain pen writers.

[Nihontochicken]

QUOTE

Yes, if left alone for a week or so, it is a hard starter.

 

Yes, I understand that nib clogging was a major debit of this particular design.

 

QUOTE

And if the nib ever needs tuning or repair, I think you can pretty much forget about it. The way the nib is designed and bonded together, it doesn't look like a nib meister would be able to do much with it.

 

Yup again, as related to the first problem, the nib could not be taken apart for cleaning or repair. Too bad, it still looks like a promising concept. I tend to think it could still have success if done a bit better, like possibly with three two-tined (or six single-tined) nibs held withing a tube or flow adjusting collet, which assembly could be taken totally apart, something like a Parker 51 nib and feed. Then again, I have this same hang-up on pen design in general, as I believe that any well designed pen should be constructed so as to be easily dismantled without damage to all its separate parts and then reconstructed by the average user, with no special tools required, and also no need to deal with adhesives such as shellac. I mean, why not? Okay, maybe it's too much to ask that pens be simple, straight forward and robust.

[deitic_nib]

Thanks for the review, I have been wondering for a long time the difference between the 2 nib and the 3 nib designs.

[ngfchen]

 

In fact ,I've never seen it in China.

But I believe hero factory makes very good pen.

[acolythe]

In the "60's when we were allowed to write in school with fountain pens ( required to write with fountain pens) I recall seenig a nib much like this on a relatively cheap Sheaffer pen. It was fine on one side and medium nib sized on teh other

any opne know what it is?\was?

[Univer]

Hi,

 

That would be a Sheaffer Stylist, c. 1966-8 - a pen that may have been inspired by the Parker 45, and may in turn have inspired the Parker 180, which featured a similar reversible nib.

 

Here's a thread discussing the model; scroll down for an image: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=25827

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

[sam]

i ordered one of these off ebay...from cutepens.com seller...

my wife really liked the design of the sailor trident...which is out of my price range...

and this was the next best thing.

don't have it in hand yet...hopefully my wife remembers to bring it with her...

but i can confirm that it is shipped from india.

and it did arrive a little scuffed up.

will post a detailed report as soon as i get a hold of it

[acolythe]

Hi,

 

That would be a Sheaffer Stylist, c. 1966-8 - a pen that may have been inspired by the Parker 45, and may in turn have inspired the Parker 180, which featured a similar reversible nib.

 

Here's a thread discussing the model; scroll down for an image: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=25827

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

Thanks Jon

Miune was al plastic and I recall having two, the feeds split with no or perhps minimal trauma. I was sorely disaapointed becasue at the young age i was, I thought that they were the coolest things

Barry

[Tournevis]

I just got myself one Hero 001-360, fine nib. I got it from cutepens.com on the recommendation of the posts on this thread and the buying experience was quite good. I also got a Hero 616, fine nib.

 

I have to say that... I really don't like the Hero 360. It's a fine pen. It's very well made, well-balanced, really nice looking and the nib design is quite smart. But I don't like it. It's way too thin for my hands. And I have tiny hands!!! Most "manly" pens are just too big for me so I always go for smaller pens, but this one is just too small. My hand cramps up after just a few words. Quite surprising. However, were it bigger, I don't think I would like it either. It writes like a Pilot V5 Hi-Tecpoint Rolling Ball Pen to me. Weird. I'll come back to give it a try again, but the first experience was not positive.

[Sagar_C]

Sorry to dig this topic again. I bought a Hero 360 today. I want to share my opinion. The pen is not quite like sailor trident, it is more like parker 180 --- when it is held slanted. It starts behaving more like trident when one holds it near vertical.

[iggers]

I just got two Hero 001 pens, and I'm impressed. Not the absolute smoothest writer, but comfortable to use. I write with it (alternating with a couple other pens) making notes on a lined pad during an all-day meeting. My Parker 51 Vacumatic Frankenpen (gray - black - gray) is much nicer, but that's a no brainer.

[denton2221]

I just recently bought a Hero 360 and while I do like the pen, it seems much more like a ball point than a fountain pen, which could be the point. Mine seems to be a little scratchy, but I think I just need to run the nib over some high grit sand paper. I am using Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue and it comes out pretty good. Mine seems to be pretty well put together so I have no complaints in that department, not to mention I got the pen for $3.88 plus shipping from isellpens.com.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I have a black Hero given to me by a friend. It's an interesting pen, and I think isellpens still has them (don't know how many or what colors are left).

 

Whatever ink was formerly in this pen caused a blobbing reaction when I filled it with a relatively benign test ink (probably Skrip Blue). It was tough to clean, but that's not a factor of the pen itself.

[Aramchek]

When trying to clean mine I accidentally discovered how to disassemble it - which made cleaning it well a lot easier once I had located all the parts that went flying!

If you remove the metal sleeve you can see the breather tube inside the sac. Simply squeeze the sac around the tube and push the tube towards the front of the pen, and the nib, feeder, and tube comes out.

 

I don't much care for mine - the feel of the nib against paper isn't very pleasant, it is too small to hold well, and there is a sharp edge next to the section. Also, due to the lack of inner cap, it quickly dries out and is difficult to get started, and even then, it skips. The first one I bought I couldn't even fill, but I got it replaced.

[Spector]

very nice! where did you buy it from?

[Arnab Sain]

hero pens are not well made ,they r just worthless.Its available in India less than a Dollar because of illigal chinise traders but its not smooth,its scratchy,it hardly write...

Anyone wanna buy??

Its your choice ...

[awa54]

There were some fanciful specifications bandied about in this thread regarding how many "nibs" each of the pens have, so I thought for the sake of posterity I'd provide my observations based on close-up images of each nib system mentioned:

 

The Sailor Trident does indeed have six writing surfaces divided by slits in the tipping that allow ink distribution from the three-tipped, one-piece over-feed. There appear to be at least two variants of how the slits are cut in the "nib" body, if you search for images of the Trident nib, you'll see what I'm getting at here. It also appears from the images I found that the nib assembly is actually one elaborately machined and saw-cut piece.

 

The Hero 360 seems to use a thick bodied (maybe around 0.75mm?) flat nib with a large spherical tipping pellet that features a second shallow cross-slit in the tipping at 90 degrees to the actual feed slit, effectively giving it four writing surfaces. I assume that the second cross-slit is there to give better ink distribution around the point. The feed seems to be a symmetrical over-under type.

 

The Sheaffer Stylist, Parker 180 and Parker Classic (yeah, I know the Classic and even late production 180s weren't billed as two-way writers, but they still work passably well that way), all use fairly conventional single slit nibs, however they're flat in cross section, allowing them to have similar pen to paper geometry when writing inverted (unlike "two-way" open nibs before them). The Stylist and earlier production 180s were intended to offer two different line widths when flipped (i.e. medium one way, fine the other), but were not intended to write at off angles to these two tipping profiles. The later 180s and the Classic also function this way (or at least they do if you're lucky enough to get a nib that has good polish on the top part of the tipping), though they weren't intended for that use and the "top" tipping isn't intentionally ground at a different width from the primary tipping, so you might or might not have two line widths available.

The Stylist nib unit appears to have a symmetrical over-under feed, while the two Parkers look to have asymmetrical over-under feeds, though the metal "upper" portion of the 180 nib unit might only be there to mechanically support the nib.

 

Of the mentioned pens, I only own a Parker classic, but have used a 180 and a Stylist before and spent several hours chasing down pictures of tear-downs and nib closeups for all the pens mentioned.