Lamy Safari Fountain Pen - Charcoal - Fine

Excellent fountain pen! Cartridges easy to change, and pen has no leakage. Writes nicely and makes my quiet times a true pleasure.

When you first learn the basics of fountain pen writing, you need a no-nonsense pen that writes reliably, consistently, helps you learn the best way to hold a pen, is sturdy enough to be dropped off the desk more than once, and doesn't cost an arm and a leg.The Lamy Safari does all of that.And when you are ready to go to the next level, try different nibs, or try bottled ink instead of cartridges, the Lamy Safari is still there with you. Since it's a cartridge/converter pen, you can choose how you feed it ink. And if you are capable of putting a one inch long piece of Scotch Tape over your nib and pull it straight out, the nib comes right off and can be replaced by any other Lamy nib (except Lamy 2000 nibs), to include the $130 14k gold nib. Lamy even offers stub nibs in different sizes compatible with the Safari.The nibs are usually steel, and relatively stiff, so line variation is minimal at best. If you put too much pressure on it, and ruin the nib, you can get a replacement from online retailers in 4 regular sizes (EF, F, M, B) and three stub widths (1.1mm, 1.5mm, 1.9mm) as well as a "Cursive Nib) that's designed to write East Asian scripts, starting at $16 each. Installing your new nib takes about five seconds, wait for the feed to fill the nib slit with ink (you can help to prime the nib by squeezing a drop of ink from your cartridge/converter), and you're back in business.The pen's grip section is tri-lobed; the round nib sections has three relatively large flat spots on it to help guide your fingers to hold it in a way that gives you maximum control and the least amount of fatigue. If you've used a different grip to hold your pens/pencils, this may present a bit of a learning curve, but if you have no "bad habits" to unlearn, you'll be writing like a pro in no time.If you're coming from the world of Biros (ballpoint, gel rollers, rollerballs), it will take you a couple of writing sessions to teach your hand that you don't have to press down on the pen to get it to write. The stiffness of this pen's nib will be forgiving for too much pressure without damaging it. A properly tuned fountain pen should be capable of leaving a clearly defined solid line by you holding the tail end with two fingers, the nib on the paper, and you pulling the nib on the paper; downward pressure on the nib is not required, unless something is wrong with the nib, or the ink.With the sturdiness of this pen, and very little abuse, this pen can easily last 20 years...that means it can take you from grade school all the way to your ABA exam...or whichever career goal you have in mind.

This is a quality pen at the right price. The ink flows effortlessly. The cap seals well. I have carried on my pocket - I don't recommend doing so- without any issues. Since purchasing it, I have noticed that the lovers of fountain pens keep it in high regard. I now know why. I highly recommend it.

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.

Writes smooth, ink flows good. I love the black nib. Don’t forget to buy the z28 converter if you want to use bottle ink. Great deal on a great pen.