Hero 100, 616, 329s Reviews

[Sailor Kenshin]

We should form some kind of Hero 616 club.

[Mike]

I bought two regular Parker 21s, and 21 Super, from pen merchants on eBay. All claimed the pens had been checked and cleaned and inspected; two even including writing samples. Two of the pens leaked - one from the filling mechanism, and one from a crack in the hood - and the third had a damaged nib and possibly an issue with the filling system.

 

I gave up on Parker, and bought a Hero 616 from ISellPens. It's a smooth writer, doesn't leak, and never skips or is slow to start, even after sitting for a while. It cost a fifth of what the cheapest Parker 21 cost me. What's not to like?

 

I use Noodler's Eel Blue in mine, just because I have it and like the color. It works beautifully.

[lynxcat]

darn, now i really want a hero 100... but isellpens.com uses paypal for credit card billing, and i have serious trust issues with paypal, to the point where i refuse to deal with them.

 

oh well, i can't really justify $30 for a pen right now anyway, so in case there's somewhere else to get these pens without doing business with paypal, nobody tell me! :-)

[jaqcp]

I just got some 616's in yesterday for my sons. I figured they would be good pens to train on as there was little monetary loss if they destroyed them ($15 delivered for a package of 10 off eBay!). The ones I inked with Pelikan 4001 write like a dream (though one may tend to leak a bit, we will see). However, getting them to fill with ink was a chore! I had to take the outer cover off the aerometric filler and manipulate the sac with my hands to get it to depress enough to fill. Otherwise it would just cycle the same ink in and out over again and never fill completely. Apart from that annoyance, the writing is wonderful! Time will tell if I will buy more Heros. When they destroy these, we will check out deals on Parker 21s or 45s before I go the cheap route again.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Though I can hardly believe it, I've heard there are Hero knock-offs. Did you get the genuine article?

 

The squeezy-filler is a little reluctant at first but there's some sort of technique to fill it. I think you have to keep depressing it and then count to five or something.

 

I know I read it here on FPN!

[PhotoJim]

The 616s are really not bad pens, especially for the money. I have a real Parker 51 on its way here so it will be interesting to see how much better the genuine article is. I expect it to feel a lot better, due to the higher quality of materials.

 

The real problem I have run into with the 616s is that they are fussy starters with certain inks. Waterman Florida Blue works great in them so this has become one of my favourite everyday inks.

 

I'm about to try Parker Quink blue-black; I expect it to work well also.

[Sailor Kenshin]

As a rule, Heros respond beautifully to the 'pen' inks like Waterman and Skrip, or even J Herbin and Diamine, but they do NOT like thick, sticky formulations (Levenger, etc.)

 

This is why I have to flush my 616 after I write it out. I mixed a batch of who-knows-what inks, and though the color is a gorgeous navy blue, it's a little thick and gloppy.

[Ed Ronax]

Excellent review, thanks.

[bluemagister]

I got a pack of 616s from Speerbob and I love them! I have one with the Hero Carbon ink that I use every single day and I've found that Bad Belted Kingfisher is EXCELLENT in the 616. It just writes and writes without stopping!

 

We DO need a Hero 616 Fan Club!

[kenship]

bluemagister, I have a bottle of Hero carbon ink which I purchased from a dollar shop (very Chi. dollar) for 1 dollar here in Toronto, Canada.

 

I've heard carbon ink is dangerous and I stopped using it, what makes you go for these carbon ink?

 

Kenneth

 

I got a pack of 616s from Speerbob and I love them! I have one with the Hero Carbon ink that I use every single day and I've found that Bad Belted Kingfisher is EXCELLENT in the 616. It just writes and writes without stopping!

 

We DO need a Hero 616 Fan Club!

[dogpoet]

I'm with Grigo, I'm afraid. The one 616 I've used was pretty dreadful. (More down to the cap not being airtight than anything else, but still annoying.) Probably a Friday job, but I don't fancy buying a pack of ten to see if I can find a couple of decent ones mixed in with the dreadful ones.

Now the Hero 330 I have is pretty good. Not brilliant, but a nice reliable pen with a pretty smooth nib for a not quite XF, and one that was cheap enough that I wouldn't be heartbroken if I lost it.

[Sailor Kenshin]

 

 

I just got some 616's in yesterday for my sons....

 

... However, getting them to fill with ink was a chore! I had to take the outer cover off the aerometric filler and manipulate the sac with my hands to get it to depress enough to fill.

 

You are my new best friend. I slipped the metal caps off the sacs of two of my 616s and now I can watch the ink fill!

[Nam Nguyen]

What does it means when he says that "it's a great flighter"? What does the word flighter mean?

What are the differences between the stainless steel hero 100 and the regular black version? Is the plastic on the regular black one durable?

Also, how does the size of the hero 100 compared to the pilot 78g? I like the write with the cap posted so I hope it's not too cap heavy.

[ThirdeYe]

What does it means when he says that "it's a great flighter"? What does the word flighter mean?

What are the differences between the stainless steel hero 100 and the regular black version? Is the plastic on the regular black one durable?

Also, how does the size of the hero 100 compared to the pilot 78g? I like the write with the cap posted so I hope it's not too cap heavy.

 

I haven't used a Hero 100, so I cannot comment on that part of the question but a "flighter" is a Parker term for a stainless steel pen.

[PDW]

A piece of useles information I've just noticed: the barrel of the 'new' 329 (the one with a metal jewel at the non-writing end) looks very similar to the Parker 65's barrel, apart from the jewel being solid metal without a plastic tip.

 

What's the Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese?) for Frankenpen?

Edited October 30, 2011 by PDW

[JLT]

FWIW, I've been using the same 616 Jumbo as a dedicated Baystate Blue pen for over two years. Never a problem and the pen writes very well indeed. You can count me in on the 616 fan club!

[APHK]

I received a set of 3 616 Jumbo's last week: one was very smooth, 1 acceptably smooth and 1 horribly scratchy. 2 out of 3 for USD13 is not bad (provided they do not fall apart).

[rjbull]

Please, what are the differences between the Hero 329 and 100? Gold vs. steel nib? Other things?

[Seele]

Please, what are the differences between the Hero 329 and 100? Gold vs. steel nib? Other things?

 

I am playing crash test dummy and building a collection of hooded nib Heros and Wing Sungs. The 100 is the top of the range model with gold nib, designed to match or surpass the Parker 51. The 329 was a ground-up design as a budget model but they did such a good job it became a perennial best-seller. The "new 329" as opposed to the original "Star Trek 329" is a little less nice, according to most reviewers, and along with the 100 it is also faked quite extensively.

[Arnab Sain]

if you use those pens , u might loose interest about fp