Hero 332

March 28, 2008

Today I received a big envelope from Thailand. It was the package I ordered from Robert Speerbrecher, also known as Speerbob. The package was ordered 12 days ago at E-Bay, so it arrived a lot earlier as predicted.

In the package I found twelve Hero 332 Fountainpens, green, burgundy and black, four of each color. I Bought them at $39.99 +$9,00 for shipment.

I picked out one and filled it with Sheaffer Skrip Black. The filling proces went as it always does. I had to squeeze about 12 times to fill it at an acceptable level. After a quick wipe, I tried the pen. And guess what? It writes like an Hero! A nice XF, not as smooth as a Jinhao, but it smooth enough.

To do some benchmarking I took my 329 next to it, and for me, it are indentical pens. The 329 has been used intensively for 2 months, and is a tiny bit smoother. The nibs look identical, so I screwed the 332 nib in the 329 body. It fits exactly! The forms of the body differ. The 332 however, has a notch, so, when you close the cap, you feel exactly if it's closed. The 329 is a little vague. The cap has a different for and color. It fits quite well on the pen.

To me the 332 and 329 are the same pen. I like the 329 a bit better, but that's only a matter of taste.

Which on do you like best?

March 31, 2008

Hi, Well, being the guy who sold them to you, I have a comment. I like the 332 better. I like the design of the cap a bit more and like the less rounded barrel end. So for me it is just the looks. Mostly likely the nib is the same on both and they would write about the same. I think they are a great pen for the price. I have more of the 332 and 329 in mu SPEERBOB eBay store. Cheers, BOB

April 9, 2008

From the pictures looks like they are great writers, I must admit. I just can't get adjusted to the looks ( I dislike even the original 51 ones). Also, what keeps me from buying Oriental pens is the nib; I like broader lines and dislike fines, extra fines, etc, to an unreasonable point. But I must admit that for those of you that enjoy fine liners, they are good every day workhorses.

Thanks for taking the time to make the review.

October 4, 2008

I have a few 330 and 331, and they looked similar to 332. I like this pens a lot. Very good writer and very cheap also.

October 17, 2008

These pens can be either very good or very bad. I should know - I have four. Each one costs $1.20, in Singapore dollars. Very cheap.

November 4, 2008

These are good pens for the money. A coworker was in Hong Kong 8-10 years ago and picked up a box of 12 for me (exactly the same as these) for $10. I have 3 or 4 left (probably gave the others away and probably a few were no good). They're easy to take apart and clean. The line width on the pen I'm currently using is about 0.3 mm; turn it upside-down and it will be about 0.2 mm. I'm using it with MB black, as that's all the bottled ink I have on hand at the moment.

I like a wider line for general writing, but these are good for writing in cramped spaces.

I don't care for the fill type (rubber tube), so one of these days I'll convert one of my remaining ones to an eyedropper pen and see how that works.

May 22, 2009

I'm not a big fan of chinese pens, but I've just got my hands on a 10 year old Hero 332 that writes very good, even filled with Pelikan black, which is a rather dry ink. I guess that at 5$ each, you can't go wrong with one of these.

May 27, 2009

Which on do you like best?

I just ordered a 329 from hisnibs.com, so my vote goes for the 329. Your new pen looks as though it writes beautifully. I wanted a new toy but didn't want to spend what a Decimo would cost right now, and I'm blown away by the quality of the Pilot Petit 1. I thought I might as well try the low end of Asian pendom.