What is your opinion about the Lamy Safari?

[Feanor]

You'll be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't like their Safari.

 

Price and utility. It's a great pen.

 

And if you would like a demonstrator version, get the Vista.

 

I have a Vista, and I haven't been impressed. It's a 1.5 italic nib which makes a line barely wider than my 0.8 Sheaffer calligraphy pen. Even at that width, the feed just can't keep up with the nib. And yes, I've cleaned it out with dish soap, used several inks, etc. The only advantage it has over my Dollar demo (which, I might add, cost less than half as much) is the clear section, so I can see the ink in it. I don't think I'll ever get another pen in the Safari & friends line.

[13KnifeThrower13]

I have a Charcoal Safari - XF nib, a blue Al star - F nib and am awaiting a Vista (clear Safari) with a F nib and convertor. I have been pleased with both of my Lamys. The Al star is now in the possession of my 16 year old. I use the Safari for everyday writing, including writing checks (duplicates) and filling out forms. It gets duty as a journal writer, note taker and even lumber marker (I teach a carpentry class) It remains in my pocket all day. I intend to use the Vista for the same sort of tasks (except for the lumber marking!) My students love to grab my pens and write something!

I am gonna get the charcoal fine....

[Alice L]

I had four Al Stars and one Safari, and I loved them all! They are great!

 

One of the Al Stars went to live with my then-six-year-old grandson when he expressed an interest it. He loves it! The hot pink Safari I had to give to my 5 year old granddaughter, who thinks it's absolutely the best of pens. She uses it every day, and her penmanship (cursive) is beautiful.

 

So now I'm down to three Al Stars and no Safari , and I'm trying to justify replacing the ones I gave away. :ltcapd:

[13KnifeThrower13]

Personally, I think they are like potato chips - you can't have just one. I am up to 9. I have also bought them for each of my four sons and one daughter. This morning i bought one for a friend of mine. My friend really liked my Lamy All-Star in Rasberry and I actually saw one at a store this morning and so bought it for her.

You can buy me the charcoal black fine nib! =D

[79spitfire]

I have 2, a charcoal Safari and a Vista, I love them both. I use the Charcoal at School when I'm teaching, it's loaded with Noodler's black, the Vista I keep Scrip blue black. I would suggest the F, I find the EF a touch scratchy. Great quality for the price.

[13KnifeThrower13]

I have 2, a charcoal Safari and a Vista, I love them both. I use the Charcoal at School when I'm teaching, it's loaded with Noodler's black, the Vista I keep Scrip blue black. I would suggest the F, I find the EF a touch scratchy. Great quality for the price.

thanks for the info!

[Possum Hill]

Personally, I think they are like potato chips - you can't have just one. I am up to 9. I have also bought them for each of my four sons and one daughter. This morning i bought one for a friend of mine. My friend really liked my Lamy All-Star in Rasberry and I actually saw one at a store this morning and so bought it for her.

:roflmho:

 

When I posted that I had three I forgot the three I bought for gifts.

[Parse Error]

It's currently my main inked up pen, and the Vista's awesome. It just looks nice, and it's an extremely reliable pen... I dropped it on the NIB a couple of times. Other than the nib sometimes protesting and slightly splattering ink (which I don't really mind at all) on the rare occasion, then it's really nice. BTW -- I have the black M nib, which seems to have a more rounded tip.

 

For some reason, my mom calls it cheap since it's made out of plastic and seems to want to break at any given moment. So unless if you grip your pen in a really peculiar style then you can't go wrong with a Lamy Safari.

[Fuddlestack]

Whether you end up liking them or not, I think everyone who is interested in FPs should try one. The great thing is that you can buy nibs for half nothing and swap them around, trying out a whole range of widths from needle to spade without the risk of ending up with a expensive pen you don't like. Re the triangular section, I started out disliking it, but now I rarely notice it, and when I do I quite like it. The Saf would look wrong without.

 

I have two, running with M and OB nibs. I really like the OB.

[View from the Loft]

I have a Vista, and I haven't been impressed. It's a 1.5 italic nib which makes a line barely wider than my 0.8 Sheaffer calligraphy pen. Even at that width, the feed just can't keep up with the nib. And yes, I've cleaned it out with dish soap, used several inks, etc. The only advantage it has over my Dollar demo (which, I might add, cost less than half as much) is the clear section, so I can see the ink in it. I don't think I'll ever get another pen in the Safari & friends line.

 

Send it back to Lamy then. The feed on my Al-Star keeps up easily with my 1.5i nib, so long as I don't use one of the known drier inks. Was happy with Quink black, Waterman black, Penman ebony and Diamine midnight blue.

[Torrilin]

For general writing, I would suggest a fine or extra-fine nib. (In my experience, Lamy nibs tend to run broad.)

 

Huh. I have two mediums. One writes medium, the other writes a bit finer than I like. It might be the too fine nib still isn't clean of oils, so I'm working on writing out the cartridge in it.

 

The inks I have available are Lamy Blue-black, Private Reserve Midnight Blues, and Lamy Violet. So there's definitely a range of wet vs dry... and the regular medium writes fatter with the Lamy Blue-black than the Private Reserve. Weird, since according to reviews, the Lamy ink is drier.

[dexaco]

I find that triangular grips don't suit me at all. My fingers end up on the edges, and it's uncomfortable. But all my Lamy pens write wonderfully!

 

I sanded the grips on my four Safaris to take the edges off. Still awkward, but more comfortable.

 

I love the Lamy Nexx. Even though it does have a triangular grip, it's soft. And it's inexpensive enough that I've considered trying to modify it to either file off the edges of the grip, or even turn the nib so my fingers end up in the right spot for the grip.

+1 on the nexx. If Lamy made a version with a more elegant cap I could see my nexx (nexx M) collection growing! I have three, with 1.1 and 1.5 italic, both modified to left oblique, and a fine.

 

Derick 

[Penman222]

I have a very positive opinion of the Safari. I have 3 Safari, a Vista, and an Al-Star (2 broad, 2 medium, and a 1.1 Italic) and although they may feel and look sort of cheap, they are very durable and reliable writing pens. I am a pretty big guy so their length and grip work out really good for me.

 

Since I am an 8th grade Math teacher I usually take 2 or 3 Safari pens to school each day in a pen case with a different color ink. I would never take one of my "better" pens to school under any circumstances, so I am happy I that discovered the Safari line for that purpose. I even let the kids use them sometimes and I have yet to encounter a single problem.

[dmmcf]

I think the Safari is well-made and a bargain at the price, but I'm one of those who don't care for the triangular grip. I eventually gave mine away, persuaded by the "life's too short" argument to use something I like better.

[dracodoc]

hey guys! i was looking at some fountain pens yesterday, and i found the Lamy Safari for around $23. i would like to know what your opinions on this pen are, so i can decide if i want it or not! i would also appreciate it if you would let me know what nib width is the most suitable for general writing, and what brand of ink writes the best. THANKS!!!

 

I love my Safari. Yesterday I tried some expensive pens with gold nibs, turned out that I like my Safari better.

But only you will know which nib width is best for you, I suggest you have a look at the writing samples of different nibs.

You need to consider paper together with ink. The pen itself don't have specific requirement on ink. I'm using Private Reserve, it's OK but not waterproof, so I'm going to try Noodler's later.

[omicron]

"One of the strangest side effects has been the puzzling situation whereby a white person will sit in an independent coffee shop with a Moleskine notebook resting on top of a Apple laptop. You might wonder why they need so many devices to write down thoughts?" http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2009/02/24/122-moleskine-notebooks/

 

So, i herd u liek Safari, so we put a safari in ur safari, so you can blog while you blog!

[Spector]

I would definitely recommend the safari. I have it in XF and it is very reliable and smooth writing although the XF is much wider than a japanese extra fine if that is what you are used to.

[13KnifeThrower13]

"One of the strangest side effects has been the puzzling situation whereby a white person will sit in an independent coffee shop with a Moleskine notebook resting on top of a Apple laptop. You might wonder why they need so many devices to write down thoughts?" http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2009/02/24/122-moleskine-notebooks/

 

So, i herd u liek Safari, so we put a safari in ur safari, so you can blog while you blog!

please dont spam in my topic.

[HDoug]

I have a Vista (the clear Safari) and five AL-Stars (the aluminum Safari). So I'm definitely a fanboy. I like the AL-Stars more because the sections are all identical and translucent. Some inks occasionally need encouragement after sitting a while and I can monitor the ink inside the feed and contrarotate the converter piston if I want to "wet" the feed without burping ink all over the place. Identical feeds also means I can take the ink and nib I of my choice and put it in the body I want. In practice, I don't do this much because it confuses the heck out of me after a while. The five AL-Stars are equipped with the following nibs: Two with factory EFs, two with self-ground italics of around .4mm, and one nice and easy italic stub of about .5mm.

 

Doug

[13KnifeThrower13]

I have a Vista (the clear Safari) and five AL-Stars (the aluminum Safari). So I'm definitely a fanboy. I like the AL-Stars more because the sections are all identical and translucent. Some inks occasionally need encouragement after sitting a while and I can monitor the ink inside the feed and contrarotate the converter piston if I want to "wet" the feed without burping ink all over the place. Identical feeds also means I can take the ink and nib I of my choice and put it in the body I want. In practice, I don't do this much because it confuses the heck out of me after a while. The five AL-Stars are equipped with the following nibs: Two with factory EFs, two with self-ground italics of around .4mm, and one nice and easy italic stub of about .5mm.

 

Doug

thanks!