I try and learn something new every day and yesterday I learned that if I want a fountain pen to show off or impress my friends, the fancier brands of Chinese pens are beautiful and they write well.
But if you want a fountain pen to write with and use like a hammer get a Hero 616 or better, a 616S.
One billion Chinese schoolchildren can’t be wrong.
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Hero (Doctor)
The Shanghai Hero Pen Company, popular for its Hero (Chinese: 英雄) fountain pens, is a Chinese company. Founded in 1931 as the Wolff Pen Manufacturing Co (Chinese: 上海华孚金笔厂), it was renamed in 1966 to the current name. Later on it is generally referred to as "Huafu" which is a Pinyin rendition of the Chinese name.
Some of its brands of fountain pens include Hero, Wing Sung, Lucky, Huafu, Xinming, Guanleming, Xinhua, and Gentleman. The design of some of its Hero pens such as Hero 100 and 616 resembles that of Parker 51.
By the 1990s, the company's Hero brand of fountain pen had earned a high reputation among Chinese, and had come to be known as the best in the country. Hero pens were also popular in the world during the 1980s and 1990s.
Hero Pens are also popular in India.
Xxxxxx
Hero has forgotten how to make a bad pen. The product is utterly perfect, for what it is. The nib points are coated with an iridium alloy, and they fill easily, write smoothly, don’t skip, and their fine nib is exactly what I like, better than any fountain pen I’ve ever used.
I think the reason a lot of Hero pens are Parker 51 clones is Parker did the research to make the perfect fountain pen about 80 years ago.
You can buy a Hero pen for $3.
But the nine dollar 616S is a deluxe version you’ll like better, because it’s a little fancier and prettier.
In China and India about two billion people write in calligraphy every day.
Hero has an excellent reputation in those markets for good reason.
They work.