Hero 9201 Fountain Pen is Garbage

I've been getting into fountain pens lately.  I bought my wife a Lamy Safari (Neon Coral) and she loves it.  I also got myself a Pilot Petit1 and a few Platinum Preppys to play with.  So I thought, maybe I'll get something that looks a little nicer, less plastic, but still cheap.  I wanted a pen I could use at work, but if I left it in a conference room I wouldn't be that upset about.

I thought about the Fountain Pen Hero 616 , which is a Parker 51 knock-off, but I don't like the look of the hooded nib.  Instead I saw on Amazon a Hero Fountain Pen 9201 . Nice black pen with gold looking features and a built in converter. I did a little looking online but found no real reviews of this pen.  Since it was cheap I pulled the trigger.

The Pen

A simple classic looking black pen.  Nothing remarkable, but better looking than a plastic Bic or Uni-Ball. Respectable weight, and i like the feel unposted.  Posted it's back heavy.  There is also an overly tight clasp that I can't seem to attach to anything. 

The pen comes with a converter.  The converter doesn't use the usual twist piston but instead has a slider attached to the piston.  Loading it with Noodlers Baystate Blue took about four piston pumps up and down and its still only about 70% filled.

The nib is nice looking.  the gold around the grip is textured.  Again, unposted its got decent hold and balance.

The Problem

It writes like crap.  I'm new to using a fountain pen.  My Pilot Petit1 is very smooth, and a bit overly wet, but I enjoy writing with it.  This thing is scratchy, hard to start, dry, basically everything bad about a fountain pen rolled into one. 

There is a tiny bit of flex in the medium nib, but it starts and stops constantly at a decent rate of writing.  In some cases most of the first word is just missing and I have to find scrap paper to get the pen going again.  I hate it. Its junk. Its like a dried up ball point you get at a hotel.

Save your money folks, a Platinum Preppy writes way better for half the price.  Otherwise get a cheaper Lamy and be happy.