Hero 233 Carbon Blue - $4 For Pigmented Blue Ink? Yes!

[Honeybadgers]

I bought a bottle out of curiosity and holy heck this ink is fantastic. It took a while to arrive, but was so worth the wait I bought five more bottles. $4 for 60ml, currently available at the time of this writing at this link here Bottle is a nice glass bottle with a good sealing cap.

 

It's a pigment ink, so make sure you shake it before filling, but I've not noticed any clogging, even in a large capacity piston filler.

 

I am absolutely in love with this ink. it's a saturated slightly pale school blue, which doesn't sound amazing, but it shades relatively well, is on the wet side, has played nice with all five pens I've inked (I've been using it for several weeks in a bent nib Delike Alpha) is plenty easy to clean, dries relatively fast, and is quite permanent. It is a blue, after all, so some of the color will wash away, but after a long soak it's still extremely legible. I don't normally love regular blue inks, but something about this just looks nice on every paper I put nib to. It plays well with garbage paper, only a little bleed and practically zero feathering. Dry times are middle of the road, and it doesn't smear.

 

Closest thing I could compare it to is Noodler's Liberty's Elysium, Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuyu-Kusa, Sailor Jentle Souten, Nemosine Neptune blue, and J. Herbin Eclat de Saphire.

 

For four bucks, you absolutely can't go wrong. It's a spectacular everyday ink with all the properties you'd want.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[UDog]

Nice looking blue and an excellent review.

[Flaxmoore]

Carbon... blue? Carbon is black. Wonder how they link the two, or if saying it’s a carbon ink is their way of saying pigmented.

[OCArt]

Thanks Honeybadgers for doing this review. I've used this ink occasionally for the past couple of years and agree that it is a nice ink at a very bargain price.

 

There are two other reviews here on FPN https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/321168-hero-233-blue-ink/

 

and https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/257418-hero-233-blue-a-hidden-gem/

 

My experience, color and results are similar to the second reviewer. In my test it was not waterproof--- a significant part of the ink washed away when a wet sheet of paper was allowed to sit overnight. I believe the "Carbon" is just an advertising phrase that has been applied to this ink by some sellers in the same way that some vendors from Asia are using the word "Suberian" to describe Pelikan pens! Hero does make a carbon black ink but it tends to clog any pen that is not used very frequently.

[Honeybadgers]

Thanks Honeybadgers for doing this review. I've used this ink occasionally for the past couple of years and agree that it is a nice ink at a very bargain price.

 

There are two other reviews here on FPN https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/321168-hero-233-blue-ink/

 

and https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/257418-hero-233-blue-a-hidden-gem/

 

My experience, color and results are similar to the second reviewer. In my test it was not waterproof--- a significant part of the ink washed away when a wet sheet of paper was allowed to sit overnight. I believe the "Carbon" is just an advertising phrase that has been applied to this ink by some sellers in the same way that some vendors from Asia are using the word "Suberian" to describe Pelikan pens! Hero does make a carbon black ink but it tends to clog any pen that is not used very frequently.

 

 

No blue inks are really that waterproof (and are also FP seafe, even diamine registrar's BB bleeds a bit of blue)

 

But if you let it sit for a few minutes it becomes relatively waterproof. My bottle is absolutely waterproof, I've been using it in my work pen in the rainy seattle winter, and it's a solid, solid ink for this task.

 

I did notice it clogged my piston filler about 5/6 of the way to empty, the pigment started clogging. so it is absolutely a pigmented ink. A quick flush had it running again though.

Edited January 28, 2018 by Honeybadgers

[AceNinja]

On 1/21/2018 at 6:35 PM, Honeybadgers said:

It's a pigment ink, so make sure you shake it before filling, but I've not noticed any clogging, even in a large capacity piston filler.

 

On 1/28/2018 at 10:33 AM, OCArt said:

My experience, color and results are similar to the second reviewer. In my test it was not waterproof--- a significant part of the ink washed away when a wet sheet of paper was allowed to sit overnight. 

 

On 1/28/2018 at 5:14 PM, Honeybadgers said:

But if you let it sit for a few minutes it becomes relatively waterproof. My bottle is absolutely waterproof, I've been using it in my work pen in the rainy seattle winter, and it's a solid, solid ink for this task.

 

 

I would like to chime in here.  I also initially thought that it is a pigmented blue ink.  But my experience is similar to @OCArt's.

 

In my test, my bottle of Hero 233A Blue (yes, with an 'A') is completely not water proof, it was able to completely lifted off paper, as if nothing was ever written, when soaked in water.  Even Diamine Sapphire Blue and Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue did a little better.  Note that the ink is allowed to dry for more than 24hrs before the soaking.  I don't know if there's a different between 233 and 233A, but my bottle is indicating 233A.

 

Here's my water test.

Aside from water proofness, I find this ink to be very very well behaved (in terms of no bleed through and feathering), flowed well, and its a lovely blue.  Good ink.

[Mech-for-i]

AFAIK , Hero never claim waterproof - ness upon the said inks though allowed to dry through the iron gall blue black and the carbon black are both indeed waterproof

[AceNinja]

I did see some online seller list it as "Carbon Blue", which might have caused the confusion.

Also, the ink numbering sort of implying that it's in the same line as the 232 Blue Black and 234 Carbon Black, 2 very water proof ink.  

Plus, it has generally lack of review online (at least the english reviews).

 

So one might've thought that 233 is a water proof Blue (like me).  Nothing against 233 Blue, in fact, I quite like it.

Just needed to clear up some potential confusion of it's water resistant capability.

[SLinkster]

On 1/21/2018 at 4:35 AM, Honeybadgers said:

$4 for 60ml

Found OP's 233 blue on AliExpress for $8.59 with shipping (add your own tax). Inflation is definitely a thing. Dither, dither. I have sooo much blue ink already...