Lamy Safari Fountain Pen - Charcoal - Fine

I've owned numerous Lamy Safaris over the last thirty years and have a nuanced respect for the brand. Lamy makes my all-time favorite fountain pen, the Lamy 2000. The Lamy pedigree is sophisticated quality. And, for the most part, the Safari fulfills this heritage.There really isn't much which differentiates the writing experience between cheaper Lamy pens. The Safari writes like an Al-Star, which writes like a Vista, which writes like a Logo, which writes like an LX. Nibs and feeds are all the same. Nibs differ only in width.I'm fairly sure there is no difference at all, save materials used for barrels and caps and available colors, between the Safari, Al-Star, Vista and LX. All have the Safari shape, a wire pocket clip, identical nibs and ink windows. The Safari is made of plastic, while the Al-Star and LX are made of aluminum, with the Al-Star anodized in a variety of cool colors combined with chrome clips and the LX in some funkier colors (rose gold) with ma

Just a fantastic pen. Nothing negative to say about it. Writes very well.

The nib is wonderful, it's balanced well, and I love writing with it.

I had a Safari years ago and it never wrote this nicely. They must have improved the nib. Great value for a first fountain pen

This is my favorite pen and the only one that I have written with since it arrived! Its fun to use the fountain pen and every sign shows its an authentic lamy! The box is correct, it came with the cardboard ring and blue ink on it like an authentic lamy!

I love this pen! Totally worth the price—writing is easy, fluid, and feels incredible. This is the perfect pen for beginners or people like me, that don't really care that much about fountain pens but still want an amazing pen. It's made of plastic but it still feels nice—it's premium and it looks amazing. Writing is smooth and effortless, it never leaks, and refilling it is so easy. This is my second fountain pen (I also have the Pilot Metropolitan) but I prefer this one so much more.

This is my second Lamy fountain pen. The first is a medium nib, and this one is a fine nib. There's some difference between them, but I wish this fine one would make sharper lines.The Lamy ones are the smoothest to write of the pens I have. They have a buttery feel while writing. The ink comes fast even after long periods of time without using the pen.In my opinion, it could be a little heavier, but that's a personal preference. They are good and inexpensive fountain pens, great for beginners, and great if you don't want to worry about losing or ruining a high-level pen.

Pros- Great price for an excellent entry level pen. Cheap enough to see if you'll enjoy writing with a fountain pen.- Low key- Durable construction- Comfortable grip- Window to see ink levelCons- Not very durable finish- A bit bulky for pockets, pen holders and notebook spinesAs a child going through school I was very enthusiastic about my writing instruments. The need for putting pen to paper has been on the decline until recently. Now in my early 30's my corporate job requires a certain amount of hand-written note taking to organize my thoughts. I wanted to see if I could reignight some of that same enthusiasm for hand-writing with this pen. I can happily say that over the past 9 months, this Lamy pen served as a gateway for the other 2 pens I have bought recently.The following are the highlights for this pen:1) Buy the refillable cartridge.Provided you don't lose the pen, the cartridge and ink will pay for itself in money and time saved from having to order refills etc. The act of refilling the cartridge and dipping the nib also keeps the pen from getting clogged . If the pen does ever get clogged, you can also use the catridge to purge water or ink through to clean things out.2) Use the fine nib.I find that thick/artistic nibs may cause the ink to seep through notepaper or blotch and make my handwriting (even more) difficult to read. The Lamy typically comes with a fine nib, but if you're given the option, I would suggest sticking with it.3) Low key and comfortable.This Lamy pen is mostly made of plastic (with exception of the clip). While it means this is not the perfect anniversary gift or graduation present, it is something I look for in a functional "workhorse" pen. Aside from the materials and grip being comfortable it is not cold to the touch. This is something you wont think about until you own a metal body pen. I am not one to collect and compare time pieces (....watches), tie clips, money clips and business cards. I do not want to project the image of being a pompus executive when all I want to do is enjoy the mundane task of taking notes during a meeting. One of the pro's for this pen is how low key it is. This is a working pen that looks good, but not obnoxious.4) Durability.The Lamy is solid and had survived many drops, accidental throws and countless disassemblies for refilling the cartridge. While the mechanics are solid, the aesthetics have been about average. More specifically, the subtle matte finish on the plastic body has worn a bit inconsistently. The spots where I handle the pen the most are now polished, which gives the overall pen a bit of an uneven finish. Take a look at the spacebar on the keyboard you are using right now. The effect is less pronounced, but very similar. While this is obvious to me, only someone paying close attention would notice.5) Bulky.Not something you would think of when shopping for your fountain pen, but this Lamy does not fit into the compartmentalized pen holders in all of my briefcases. Due to the large body and squared off ends (as opposed to the traditional "torpedo" shape), it can be akward getting this pen into the compartments when I am in a rush. The size and shape also makes it difficult to fit into the spine of my notebooks.Overall, this is a great pen for the price. I took away 1 star because of my durability and size obserations, but recognize it is due to the way I use the pen and my specific applications. I would still recommend this pen to others.

Before I write anything else I have to mention that the ink provided in the ink cartridge in this fountain pen does smudge/smear/run across a paper surface when exposed to liquid/water. It spreads across the wet part of the surface creating a bluish spot/water mark. Whatever had been written becomes difficult to read. I recommend avoiding using this ink when writing on/signing a check or other important document because it may be rejected if it becomes wet for any reason. Use an ink that is labeled as being waterproof and test it on a small piece of paper(step 1: Write something. step 2: Wet under faucet for a short time.) before using the ink.Now about the Lamy Safari pen itself. I bought it because I wanted to get away from using "disposable" pens that I feel are wasteful. I first used a Fountain pen about 20 years ago, when I was in school. After that I used only Ball Point pens and their variants. I became accustomed to Ball Point pens, but recently I have become uneasy about the amount of resources that I am wasting throwing away "disposable" pens. Because of this I decided to give Fountain pens another try.I bought the Lamy Safari pen with a Lamy Pen Ink bottle and the Lamy Z24 converter. I should have waited before buying the ink. The ink I assume is the same type that is used in the ink cartridge that was provided with the pen. I described the problem with the ink above. I chose the Lamy brand because of the good reviews.I put this pen to the test in an office environment in the workplace, this pen is not sitting on a desk at home. I am still using the original ink cartridge.I quickly noticed how much more time I need to prepare the pen to write vs. a Ball Point with its single push mechanism. The Lamy pen in storage is capped, to avoid ink leaks or accidentally writing on something. The cap has to be removed and placed somewhere(most of the time on the opposite end of the pen). Then I have to turn/flip the pen nib into a comfortable writing position where the metal "top" end is visible. With many modern Ball Point pens you just have to press down on a "button" on the pen and the writing tip/nib/point is exposed and is ready to write.The pen is not always ready to go, I frequently have to press down the nib on paper before I start writing, otherwise all it does is scratch the (standard office) paper. Once the ink starts flowing it writes relatively smoothly but the ink has a tendency to stop mid-way while writing a word forcing me to stop and go back to re-write the word(s). This is annoying.The Blue Lamy ink also seems to change color. At one point it writes dark, at another point it writes with a lighter shade, sometimes it looks like black ink. I am not exactly sure what causes this change in color as it can be light and dark in the same sentence written at the same time. I have already purchased a bottle of Noodler's Polar Blue ink which I intend to test as soon as the Lamy ink runs out in the cartridge. Hopefully it performs better.One thing I like about the Lamy Safari Fountain pen is the "ink level" window on the side which should tell me when the pen will soon run out of ink.The pen's price of $20+ is a little too high in my opinion. Considering the materials used and quality I think these pens should be in the $10-15 price range. Modern Ball Point pens have rubberized grips, while this Lamy Safari pen only has a triangular shaped plastic grip.Overall I would give the Lamy Safari Fountain pen(with Fine nib) 3.5 stars, because I think it could be better(especially the ink). I am considering buying one again(potentially as a gift, but I would immediately replace the ink cartridge with the converter), but I also want to try cheaper Fountain pens from Parker and Pelikan.Update 2/1/2013I tried this Lamy Safari pen with Noodler's Eternal Polar Blue Ink and this pen writes better with that ink than it did with the Lamy Ink cartridge. And the Noodler's Ink is waterproof, which again the Lamy Ink is not. This has expanded the usefulness of this pen.