Lamy Safari

[ht1]

Thank you. Pictures can be deceiving. I'll be buying a Safari soon.

[ht1]

One more question. Is the clear Vista the same size as the Safari?

[saintsimon]

One more question. Is the clear Vista the same size as the Safari?

It is the same pen in clear plastic.

[ht1]

My Lamy Yellow Safari, and my Lamy Clear Vista arrived today. I didn't know what to expect from pictures I had seen, and the descriptions I've read here. They are great pens. I like lightweight plastic pens, and they are smooth writers. They are thinner near the nib than I expected, but I like the different cut. These pens and the Rotring Core actually feel better to me than Waterman Phileas and the Kultur when I write a lot. Thanks to everyone for the help. I think I'm going to have to have the red one, too.

[diogenes]

I have bought a Lamy Safari (the aluminium model) and put a 1.1 mm stub on it (as it is used for Lamy Joy). I really love this pen with this nib! It is a really great writer for not very much money. BTW, I have filled this pen with Waterman Blue-Black and for the first time I really like this ink. The Lamy has a much richer fluency than my Pelikan M215 and the color of this ink looks much more intense an darker now.

[Armchop]

:meow:

Hi peeps,

sorry to dampen everyones' enthusiasm on whole forum for the transparent Lamy's but I think they are horrible IMO!

One of my students has a demonstrator Safari and it looks cheap and nasty like a bic.

And as it is made with "crystal" plastic it is all chipped and cracked. Like a bic.

If you want a bic buy a bic! I have loads of Safaris in aluminium, smooth solid colour

plastic and matt solid plastic. They all look great! The whole point of use FP lovers is that we hate bics. Anyone reading this who is thinking of getting a Safari go for the opaque ones and I'd suggest a few more bucks for the Al-Star it is well worth it.

 

Please no death threats from demonstrator lovers!

 

Armchop

[Apollo]

The Vista does feels a bit cheaper than the Safari and is my least favourite Lamy, but I have to admit that it looks interesting. Given the choice, I'd choose the Al-Star followed closely by the Safari. They're great beater pens for the money and they won't let you down.

[alexalex]

They all look great!

Beauty's in the eye of beholder

 

The whole point of use FP lovers is that we hate bics. [...]

No, it is not. I don't hate bics I'd hate writing with them - and so I try to avoid BPs as much as possible. But I don't hate ballpoints.

 

However demonstrators are such a silly looking pens I'd be ashamed to use it in public place

 

Regards

alex

[isellpens]

I find the Lamy a nice knock around pen for the money and I use the All-Star in silver blue. They are also very comfortable to hold with the grip section. They are light weight and posting is easy too. They really make a nice beginner fountain pen too. I gave my sister one to try who just couldn't get into fountain pens until she used a Lamy. She likes it so much that she used it on all her Holiday cards and signs the kids school papers. So, it took this pen to convert her over and she just loves it. I sell the Lamy All Star for $28.00/ Safari for $18.99. I think these are the best prices on the web

at: www.isellpens.com .

[WilliamK]

Do any of the chain office supply stores in the US sell the Safari? Made2shop.com has them right now for less than $20, but I'm a bit impatient and don't want to wait for the mail to bring it.

 

On that topic, it seems like someone recently posted that they'd bought a pen at one of the chain stores that that looked exactly like a Lamy Safari, only it had a different brand name and was packaged on a blister card.

 

Does that sound familiar to anyone?

[al_write_well]

Hi! Thanks for the great Lamy review which influenced my recent purchase. Also thanks everyone for their additional comments. I am enjoying my blue medium nib Lamy Safari which seems to be performing very nicely. I especially like the very light weight of the pen and the consistent flow of ink making for a very even line. But I would prefer the blue ink to be a bit more permanent on the paper. I tried washing the ink off the paper and most of it disappears. I don't think it would be a good idea to write checks with the Lamy blue ink. Fortunately, I have a good screw converter for this pen, so I can try some other inks. Good luck everyone with their Lamy pens.

 

Regards,

Al

[scribbler]

Not sure if you still want to know this, but the VP fine (on the decimo) is finer than the Lamy Safari EF.

[omasfan]

Hey, I find it funny that you all love the Lamy so much. I grew up with Lamys and Pelikanos in the German school system.

Whenever I see a Lamy today, I am reminded of my time as a little boy. They might be good writers, especially if you consider the price, but due to their ugliness (plug-ugly!!!! Only surpassed by the rotring core) I've never really been drawn into buying one for myself as an adult. I just need an aesthetically appealing object in my hands today, that is why I don't like Lamy anymore. Thank goodness, there are nicer German pens available. And for an aesthetically appealing pen you don't have to spend a fortune. I appreciate your love for the Lamy though and I think you've written an excellent review.

[dwmatteson]

Do any of the chain office supply stores in the US sell the Safari? Made2shop.com has them right now for less than $20, but I'm a bit impatient and don't want to wait for the mail to bring it.

 

On that topic, it seems like someone recently posted that they'd bought a pen at one of the chain stores that that looked exactly like a Lamy Safari, only it had a different brand name and was packaged on a blister card.

 

Does that sound familiar to anyone?

William - Are you maybe thinking of the sighting of a Lamy Vista at Borders? I recall a thread that mentioned that the Vista (think Safari but as a clear demonstrator model) was available there. I'll post a link to the thread if I can find it.

 

Okay: here's the link to that thread.

 

Don M.

 

[edited to add link to previous Vista@Borders thread]

Edited January 5, 2007 by dwmatteson

[stephen82]

They might be good writers, especially if you consider the price, but due to their ugliness (plug-ugly!!!! Only surpassed by the rotring core)

I don't think the Lamy is ugly -- I like the utilitarian look and they serve a utilitarian purpose for me. Of course I also have more stylish pens that balance out my need for, well ... style. Now the Rotring Core is ugly, and the first time I saw a photo of it I was amazed that people actually purchased them. But a close out sale tempted me -- and now I have three. I'll likely not use them in many professional situations but I love they way they write.

 

I think the Safari/Vista is an excellent value -- performance vs. cost.

[hatherton_wood]

Its a pity about the clip design I think - it so much looks like a school pen that I don't like using mine too much in public! If you don't show the cap its fine in my eyes.

[shahrincamille]

Hate to be the spoiler here.... but my experience with my Safari had been anything but pleasant. A disappointment considering that everyone here has something nice (looks aside as beauty is in the eye of the beholder) to say about the Safari.

 

I got my black Safari (with a very cool, black M nib) from the 'Bay a couple of months back. It came along with a blue cartridge, mint in its unopened blister pack.

 

It started up well enough, laying down a nice wet line, though with a little bit of 'tooth', but as you progress the flow skips intermittently. And forget about those 'fast signatures' - you will certainly get a good stretch of 'invisible' line to it where the ink just refuses to flow.

 

I took out the nib and gave it a good wash, bought a convertor and flushed it with water, but still this random interrupted flow occurs.

 

It certainly is way below the standards of my other relatively cheap steel-nibbed pens, the Phileas and the Pelikan M205 Demonstrator

[djuna]

I'm sorry you've had a less-than-stellar experience with your Safari, shah--it's certainly frustrating when we've all been raving about how great they are.

Maybe you should try flushing it with water with a tiny drop of dish soap added--I've read that recommendation on the boards many times, and it seems to work for a lot of people.

Good luck.

[shahrincamille]

Thanks djuna. I'll give it a try and post a report here later.

[ht1]

My Lamy Vista acted this way, even after I cleaned it several times with ammonia and water solutions. If I wrote slow and pressed down a little it wrote well, but fast writing would produce skips. This was my first nib that did not respond well to cleaning. I wasn't going to pay anyone to work on it when I can buy another for about the same price as the repair and postage. I removed the nib and the two grooves in the feed looked clogged with some kind of residue. Using a very small jeweler's screwdriver, I carefully ran the screwdriver through the grooves. It works fine now. I know nothing about repairing nibs. I don't know for sure that I didn't create future problems, but I was just going to toss it in a drawer. If I get a few months writing out of it I'll be better than I was.

 

ht

Edited January 6, 2007 by ht1