Hero 7022 Century "ice Flower" Fountain Pen

[BT-7274]

Hello and welcome.

 

About a month and a half ago, I decided to jump into fountain pens merely because this piece caught my eye in a store in China. Figuring that $10 for the pen itself really wouldn't hurt, I bought the pen.

 

The pen itself is presented fairly well; it was gift boxed in a decent Hero pen box (which was the wrong color, but that's insignificant) with a little booklet. The converter was also pre-installed inside the pen.

 

It has a nice amount of heft to it and actually has metal under the painted-on ice patterns, so it's good on that part. However, the cap is notoriously quick to let the nib dry out. It had to be sealed with candle wax.

However, after sealing the cap properly, the pen now immediately starts the moment the nib hits the paper, even after a few days of no use.

 

The pen is also fairly heavy, coming in at about 35 grams. The exact dimensions? It comes in at 5.5 inches capped, 4.75inches uncapped, .5 inches diameter, and ~6.5 inches posted. It's a big yet decently balanced pen, so it's quite comfortable to write with the cap posted. I use it whenever I can to take notes in class since it's comfortable and nice to use.

 

The nib is a slightly springy steel Medium nib with some gold-colored trim on it. Now here's the good part. Despite ringing in at a measly $10 (60rmb), it writes, at least to me, a wonderfully smooth medium line when inked with Noodler's X-Feather. This is on the Staples Arc paper, which is the only decent paper I have. However, out of the box, I did have the bad luck to discover that the tines were misaligned. A bit of pushing on the springy nib later, and all was well. To be precise, it occasionally feels like a nib on ice when presented with smooth, good quality paper. Thankfully, the sheer weight of the pen prevents the worst of this, so my handwriting remains somewhat under control.

 

Now, it is a C/C pen, so it accepts both international cartridges and int'l converters. Mine came with a converter, which seems to empty itself within 5-7 sheets, front and back, of writing. Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised, as it does seem to write fairly wet with the medium nib.

 

A few side notes: the cap is a snap cap, but it's a very robust one. Each snap is very loud and pronounced, so you know that you've capped the pen.

Also, the threading on the section where it attaches to the barrel is plastic while the threads on the barrel are metal. Not sure if it's really that bad, as it screws in place very nicely.

A bit of the painted pattern has also scraped off due to the clip being too tight. But, it did reveal that the cap and barrel aren't just cheap plastic.

The section also has a bit of a curvature to it, making it nice and comfy to hold.

Ink used (in background essay) is Noodler's X-Feather ink.

 

Otherwise, I will conclude it's a nice piece for about $10. Despite having misaligned tines at the start (probably bad luck), the Hero 7022 is still a nice piece to use and plenty of pen for the money.

 

Pictures!

A pretty nice looking nib ^

^ In the background, there's an essay I was writing. Since I was timing myself (25 minutes), it's not exactly a pretty writing sample, but you get an idea of how wide it writes.

Otherwise, this is the converter. It's a screw piston type, so it feels pretty robust. There's also a spring inside to break the surface tension of the ink.

 

This is my first review of a pen, so be easy on me .

Whenever my Lamy Logo arrives, I'll have another review up.

 

Anyways, thank you for reading.

[guilhermejf]

Nice review! I didn't know this pen.

[watch_art]

THat's pretty sharp looking! Thanks for the review.

[richardandtracy]

Thanks for the review. I have had my eye on one of these for a while but wasn't certain if the barrel was acrylic or metal. The question has been answered - as, unfortunately, has the next question about durability of the finish - probably not very durable at all if the clip has already scratched the finish.

 

Looks nice, but I'm left in more of a quandry now.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[BT-7274]

The finish is a bit fragile, but I wonder if one can get away with loosening the clip just a bit so it doesn't constantly scrape against the cap. I should mention, the "cap" of the cap can be unscrewed so you can get rid of the clip altogether, perhaps even replace it with a different one. Because when I say tight clip, I mean ridiculously tight here. It takes a great deal of force to lift the clip up to clip it to a shirt pocket or something of that like, so a looser replacement would be welcome.

[luvpens]

Thought I'd add to this.

Received mine this week - well, three of them actually...

 

Fortunately, mine wrote perfectly from the outset and I've had no issues with the nib drying out.

This really is a nice pen. The fit and finish is very good indeed.

I find it comfortable to write with posted or un-posted - seems balanced either way.

 

Everything has a quality feel about it - even the way the cap "clicks" on and off.

It's a dryish writer, but I actually prefer that most of the time. I like a little feedback, and the chance of bleed through is reduced.

 

Get's an A1 from me and only took 2 weeks to arrive from China, so good seller as well.

[ANAND ROY]

Hi,

Thank you for the review.

I was searching for a review for the same as ill be buying one soon.

Anand

[Gloucesterman]

A bit on the hefty side for me and I rarely like medium nibs, so I won't be in the market for it but your review is appreciated.

Thanks

[i4sgeorgiev]

Thanks for the review!

 

Nice looking pen. i will buy one next month...

[bob_hayden]

These are a bit hard to find now on eBay and identification may be difficult as there is another Hero 7022 on eBay that is an entirely different pen. Also, the photo links here do not load for me, and I can't help with that as FPN recently started refusing anything I try to upload. Anyway, I think the pen discussed here is black marbled with white while I do not think the latest 7022 could be described that way. The new one is available in red and blue and both 7022s come in solid black.

[bob_hayden]

Back to help with the pictures. I had planned to take some but you can find much better pictures than I could take of the pen under review here.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/245873-hero-7022/

 

I just received one of these today -- $9US postpaid from a reputable eBay seller. I'd have to say it looks like a cheap knock-off of the pen in those photos. Perhaps the main problem is that on mine the white marbling is very subdued. There is one angle from which the cap looks solid black. From some other angles it looks like a black pen with a bad paint job. The clip on mine was NOT too tight against the body but it was quite wobbly side to side. I am happy with the size of the nib but the two steps down from the barrel to the section followed by the section tapering down then up looked very awkward to me. Not a big deal until I tried to write with the pen. I found it uncomfortable to hold and tiring to write with. (Tired after one paragraph -- worse than a ballpoint for me.) For me it is a non-contender at $9 when good metal Chinese pens start under $2, e.g., Jinhao 886. However, if you really like the styling, and it feels fine in your hand, it does write perfectly well and in my limited experience with it I have encountered no performance problems. (I would not call it wet but I would not call it dry either.)

 

As to that "other" 7022, you can find photos and a review here.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/322439-the-other-hero-7022/

 

My favorite of the lot is the blue new model 7022 that posts. I sold the red and black ones that did not post. That may be what becomes of this one but I will at least keep it until the current load of ink dries out and continue to try using it.