Hero 360

The Hero 360 Degrees (the pen name includes the little degree circle) is a very light and thin metal fountain pen designed to be easy to use from any angle. I liked it enough to order a second one, but it's definitely a $3 pen. Pictures will be up later when I sort out my photo difficulties.

The nib is oddly shaped, it's squarish instead of flat, and the feed is on both sides of the nib. I'd call it a semi-hooded nib design. It does write from most angles, but only wrote well from one angle, and the nib was more prone to catch on paper, which I put down to the weird nib design. So long as you can tolerate the feedback, it's a very comfortable pen to write with, and I found myself reaching for it over my other lightweight everyday writers. It writes close to a US/EU fine, thin enough for regular writing and thick enough to show ink colors and shading.

The 360 has a snap-on cap, but the cap stays on it even when dropped or tossed and I never had the cap come off no matter what happened (unlike the Pilot Metropolitan). I never had to worry about what happened to this pen and if it was going to explode ink on me. It's an aerometric pen with Hero's cheap-feeling aerometric filler, but the metal sheath and press bar can be easily removed to expose the sac, which makes filling much easier. I didn't have issues with the pen leaking on my while writing, and overall it was simply a very reliable pen.

The 360 comes in several solid colors, with a chrome clip and cap accents. It's a very attractive looking pen, and all the color options are at home with either work or play (3 shades of blue and black). I originally got a black one, and then bought a light blue one because the (lack of) weight and the sturdiness compared to other snap-cap pens impressed me. Once I smooth the nib a bit, I think the 360 may be a permanent part of my rotation as a go-to quick work writer.