Hero Blue Black Ink Review

Well, following a pen review, I'm following it up with an ink review. My favorite color when it comes to writing ink is Blue-Black. I spoke to my Mom some time ago and she told me that in the late 50s and 60s, Blue-Black was the choice of ink for many people. She told me about giant Parker Quink bottles that will be in the corner of the office and people coming up to fill their individual ink wells/bottles. I have seen those bottles for sale by the way. Seems like I'm stuck in that era too :P

So, since I already have the Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black (it comes out Grey when it dries) and 2 bottles of Vintage Parker Quink Solv-x Blue-Black, I thought the Hero might be a good thing to try. The Vintage Parker Quink Solv-x Blue-Black by the way is my favorite Blue-Black but its getting harder to find. I had reservations about the Hero. (I mean, it costs RM1.90). So I searched through FPN to see if there were any reviews. There were 3 and they all looked pretty ok. I took the plunge and got myself a bottle.

The ink comes in a cardboard box, not really that attractive, (I was hoping for some Communist-ish box art but uh..it was just plain). Its volume is 59ml and has the words "Treated with anti-oxidant and corrosion inhibitor" printed on one side of the box. The bottle is very old looking and is capped by a light blue cap. Smells like...ink. So instead of doing a custom handwritten review, I downloaded a review form off FPN and filled it up. Here's how it looks like:

Click to see a larger image.

A proviso here tho, scanners brighten up pictures a bit so, the actual image is slightly darker than this. What do I feel about the ink?

1. It sits between the Parker and the Pelikan
2. No Feathering, I like that a lot,
3. Drying time is rather decent, could be better tho
4. Water test hardly took off anything. This is very important as I (being the clumsy doofus that I am) am prone to knocking water all over what I write
5. The price! its cheap as chips! (cheaper lar)
6. Availability - I can get in many shops nearby
7. Flow is really good, I like the fact that it worked very well with my buttery smooth Hero 331 Nib.
8. Saturation - With a Fine point, this comes out very close to a real Blue black. When I wrote with the Pilot 78G-BB tho, the end result looked grayish.

So, Fine points work very well with this ink. This ink has also restored my faith in Hero inks and I might get a bottle of red and a bottle to black to make my long overdue Burgundy ink. If I was to rate this over 5, I would definitely give it a 3.8. Now, I gotta go find more of these. Just in case the inkocalypse breaks out. You just might never know. :P

Hero #331 review

Hey there! its been some time but um...I did a handwritten review of the Hero #331 that originally was posted in the Fountain Pen Network forums. A little different this time, its all in pictures. Enjoy!












PS. My photos are squashed for some reason. Click on 'em to see it in its entirety.