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Hello again to all my FPN friends, I happened to have 2 pens of similar flow and nib size inked with these and thought it might be helpful to compare them. Both are iron-gall inks and somewhat similar in color. However, at least in my experience, Hero 232 is much drier than Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black. It's so dry that it stopped flowing at all in the pen I used for this comparison once the converter wasn't completely full. The dryness may be due to high iron gall content. I assume this because when I flushed the pen, there was a notable strong smell of fresh blood that I've only experienced before with the super-charged iron gall ink ESSRI. Hero 232 usually has the same smell many other Chinese inks, as well as Pilot Blue-Black, but when mixed with water in the sink the iron smell took over. So all you vampires out there will probably enjoy Hero 232. General observations: - The Hero is drier than the Pelikan. - The Hero is darker and more saturated than the Pelikan. - The Pelikan shades easier than the Hero. - The Hero can produce a nice, deep indigo when fully saturated, slightly reminiscent of my favorite Kung Te-Chung. - In China, the Hero is one tenth the price of the Pelikan. - Both are iron gall inks, but not so much as to harm your pens or leave sediment behind. - On absorbent paper, both are almost completely waterproof. The Hero looked completely unchanged, but some slight fading with the Pelikan. - Both are great inks if you have wet pens. The pen used for the Hero 232 writing is a Pelikan P30 with soft 14k broad nib. The pen used for Pelikan Blue-Black writing is an ebonite FPR Himalaya fitted with an extremely flexible steel Artus/Degussa oblique broad ("BS") nib and feed. I just scribbled this out on a cheap notepad, so I don't know how different they would look on better papers like TR or Rhodia. Comparison Close-ups: Hero 232 Close-up: Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black Close-ups: