Hero 616 parker 51 knock off

[edteach]

I bought one of these pens. It was 1.36 shipped. It works very well. can not say its a parker 51 but it is not bad either. Its worth more than 1.36. I can not get a pack of gum for that these days.

[KBeezie]

More of a clone than a knock-off, pretty trivial yea. Mainly because it's actually marked as a Hero.

Now this question will boggle your mind: Are you sure it's not a Counterfeit Hero 616? :D (there have been issues of fake 616s)

A forum thread on that topic : http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/207829-review-of-fake-hero-616/

[edteach]

WTF, they make counterfeit clones? Do they just make crap to make it? What is the point? Well I did a bit of research and I believe I have a knock off of a clone of an original. China is taking us down a rabbit hole. Some photos.

[edteach]

So I looked for YesPen on ebay and it seems this seller is either gone or under a different name. Who sells Original Hero 616 pens? I was wanting one for EDU. This one of mine is OK but I do have to take the aluminum hood off to squeeze ink in the bladder. The metal bar does not seem to work.

[edteach]

I bought a hopefully original Hero three pack from Mentag on ebay. From what I have read this guy is the former YesPen. Supposed to sell real Hero pens.

[mrcharlie]

Ever since I read those threads on FPN (I first read them 2012) I've been skeptical about the claim of fake/counterfeit Hero 616s.

What is more likely? A) Hero produces the pens in more than one factory in more than place in the country, and perhaps even with a couple slightly different versions of the basic design. And the build quality is highly variable, even within batches that all look alike. B) Some other Chinese company produces pens, reverse engineered from the 616, but with some different specs in the length of things and thread size and the like, and labels them as Hero 616 to undercut what is already a very cheap pen (even in China). The build quality is often much worse than the "real" 616s.

I guess I haven't seen anything that conclusively proves the latter to my satisfaction, so I tend to believe the former [but I admit I don't know]. Pictures of different pens not matching doesn't prove they weren't all made by Hero. The links to yespen's ebay pages about real/fake 616s were gone by the time I read the forum items, as best I remember, but yespen was still an ebay seller under the name yespen back then, I think.

FWIW, the "jewel" of my pen looks like the "real" 616 from the pictures in the FPN topic, but everything else identifies it as a "fake". Mine cost me $0 (it was a throw-in gift when buying a Sheaffer from a well known online pen store), and it writes and works as well as my genuine Parker 21.

To fill the 616 well (or fake 616, if that is what it is), you need to pull off the sac protector and squeeze the bulb directly (several times of course). For some reason I always put it back on instead of just throwing the sac protector/ineffective squeeze bar away. Also the fill tube fell out/off the feed, and I had to grasp it through the sac and push it back down into the section until it stayed on/in, and then the pen filled correctly.

[edit]
I'm going to order a few 616s from mentag including mostly some 616-2 models. Because a 616 with a bright blue or yellow barrel? Hell yes!

[edteach]

Ever since I read those threads on FPN (I first read them 2012) I've been skeptical about the claim of fake/counterfeit Hero 616s.

What is more likely? A) Hero produces the pens in more than one factory in more than place in the country, and perhaps even with a couple slightly different versions of the basic design. And the build quality is highly variable, even within batches that all look alike. B) Some other Chinese company produces pens, reverse engineered from the 616, but with some different specs in the length of things and thread size and the like, and labels them as Hero 616 to undercut what is already a very cheap pen (even in China). The build quality is often much worse than the "real" 616s.

I guess I haven't seen anything that conclusively proves the latter to my satisfaction, so I tend to believe the former [but I admit I don't know]. Pictures of different pens not matching doesn't prove they weren't all made by Hero. The links to yespen's ebay pages about real/fake 616s were gone by the time I read the forum items, as best I remember, but yespen was still an ebay seller under the name yespen back then, I think.

FWIW, the "jewel" of my pen looks like the "real" 616 from the pictures in the FPN topic, but everything else identifies it as a "fake". Mine cost me $0 (it was a throw-in gift when buying a Sheaffer from a well known online pen store), and it writes and works as well as my genuine Parker 21.

To fill the 616 well (or fake 616, if that is what it is), you need to pull off the sac protector and squeeze the bulb directly (several times of course). For some reason I always put it back on instead of just throwing the sac protector/ineffective squeeze bar away. Also the fill tube fell out/off the feed, and I had to grasp it through the sac and push it back down into the section until it stayed on/in, and then the pen filled correctly.

[edit]
I'm going to order a few 616s from mentag including mostly some 616-2 models. Because a 616 with a bright blue or yellow barrel? Hell yes!
I had to remove the protector also. I could not get much ink in using the pressure bar. My pen has a slight bit of scratch and writes not bad. It does no leak as some have had the problem. I bought three of the vintage Hero 616 form Mentag who has photos with the yespen water mark. People seem to think he has the original if that is what they are pens. Anyway, I am all in at 99 cents for my current Hero and 7 bucks for the vintage three pack shipped. We will see, the three pack on the way look like the versions said to be original or of better QC. They have the bigger protector and pressure bar. I am not worried too much. I have wasted more money than that before. Its more that its an interesting research project.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Oh, yeah, I always remove the metal tube. Anyone know an alternate use for them? ;)

All my vintage Hero 616s and 330/329s are magnificent workhorses.

A friend sent me a leaky 616 which is an obvious fake; its proportions are different from both the regular and jumbo 616. I also have a drooling modern 332, have diagnosed the problems, but can't quite fix either without breaking down both pens completely.

[KBeezie]

I think the only realistic reason for any company to clone a knockoff is simply to try to steal buyers within the same market place (ie: eBay etc) if said pen is popular enough, and pretty sure the Hero 616 is popular enough since it's one of those top suggestions for a cheap $1 pen. It's not like they require much effort to do so (copy that is).

[Wade]

Well, this is starting to make more sense. I bought a 3-pak of 616 Jumbos off eBay, they were absolute junk. All three pens wrote poorly and leaked, then when I tried to disassemble them to sort out the leak they all three fell apart. They were in the trash bin within a half hour of opening the parcel. I know quality control is what it is, but it boggled me that all three of my pens could be such crap when I keep hearing from others who love these pens. Never occurred to me that someone would do a knockoff of a knocked off knockoff LOL. Crazy people, oh well they can have my $4, they'll probably get better use out of it than I did.