Experimental studies of the cylindrical sintered-copper wick heat pipes were carried out to investigate the capillary heat transfer characteristics. Six models of the sintered-copper wick heat pipes were manufactured and tested to evaluate the heat transport limitations and the thermal characteristics. Also the performance of the heat pipes was analyzed theoretically and compared with the test results. The heat pipe models are divided into two sintered-wick groups and the nominal particle sizes are $180{mu}m$(wick #1) and $200{mu}m$(wick #2) respectively The experimental results showed that, the porosity of wick #1 was higher than that of wick #2, and also the wick #1 was generally superior than the wick #2 for the heat transport capability. The maximum heat transport rates were increased as the wick thicknesses and the vapor temperatures were increased.