Replacing Lamy Safari - Twsbi 580?

[FayeV]

 

Right now I'm going to get the Pilot Metropolitan (Gold, Zigzag, M) because I really can't see anything online wrong with it, especially for $25 (including the CON-50 converter and shipping to Canada from Goulet as per recommendations in this thread). It actually costs exactly the same at the local pen store, but without the CON-50, which is a must for me. Funny thing, my eleven-year-old brother walked in on me researching, and we're going to get one for him too (Black, Plain, M). He's had a Lamy ABC before, which he lost after only about two months of use! It runs in the family apparently.

 

I think you'll be very happy with the Pilot Metropolitan. I've had mine for almost 2 weeks and it is one of my new favorites. It writes smoothly, looks much nicer than you'd expect for a ~$15 pen, has a good weight to it that does not make it feel like a cheapo pen, and is easy to replace if lost. I just wish the fine point nib was available when I ordered mine. I'm going to wait for that to come out before ordering a 2nd Metropolitan.

[flyingfox]

Great, Metropolitan is a fantastic choice! They are cheap enough that you can get two, fill them with different colors, so that, if you want to color code something, it will be easy to. Or get a plumix as well, transplant the italic nib onto Metropolitan body, fill it with fluorescent ink, and you have a refillable highlighter!

[Moose22]

Why is the Con50 a "must" for you?

 

Metropolitan is a great pen. $15 an it is absolutely remarkable at that price. I own a couple and have given a couple as gifts and they all worked well right out of the box. My Prera with an F nib and a Metro with an M nib are go to pens.

 

There's a lot of love for the Safari around here but I just don't get it. I've owned three. A bad one was my first fountain pen and people online SWORE it was a fluke so I bought another as a gift for a friend. It was OK, I guess. Then a third and it took all kinds of nib tweaking to get it to write adequately. They write OK now, but not better than the metropolitan and definitely not better than the TWO metros I can get for the same price.

[Drone]

I don't know about the CON50, but the squeeze converter that comes with the Pilot 78G is nothing but trouble. It hampers ink flow and you can't see the ink level through the sac. The first thing I do with the 78G is toss the converter and syringe fill a Pilot proprietary cartridge. So if you're having flow problems with the Metropolitan, suspect the converter.

 

I have heard the 78G nibs will fit in the Metropolitan. That opens up the possibility of using different sized nibs in the Metropolitan, including the nice B nib from the 78G which is really a juicy stub. When they're in-stock, you can pick up a 78G from http://www.stationeryart.com/ for $7.45 plus a few dollars International shipping from Hong Kong. Check out the Safaris too while you're there, they're pretty cheap. Don't forget the Z24 converter if the Safari's don't already come with one. (No, I don't work for Stationeryart.)

 

Finally, I have been using the "Colour" ink refills for the Pilot Parallel Pen in my 78G's for some time now. It is a great colorful ink that flows and behaves well in the 78G despite the box saying the ink is "only" to be used in the Pilot Parallel Pens. I have experienced zero problems with the 78G and the Parallel Pen Colour ink cartridges. So extrapolating, I'm pretty sure you won't have a problem with the parallel pen ink in the Metropolitan either.

 

Good luck with your new Metropolitan... David

[FayeV]

There's a lot of love for the Safari around here but I just don't get it. I've owned three. A bad one was my first fountain pen and people online SWORE it was a fluke so I bought another as a gift for a friend. It was OK, I guess. Then a third and it took all kinds of nib tweaking to get it to write adequately. They write OK now, but not better than the metropolitan and definitely not better than the TWO metros I can get for the same price.

 

My Safari must be related to yours. I was looking for an inexpensive everyday pen to carry around, one that I wouldn't mind losing since it would be easy to replace. I ended up picking up a Safari, a Metropolitan and a couple other pens. I wanted to love the Safari. It begs to be an EDC pen. We had a good first week; it must have been the "honeymoon" period. The Fine nib wrote a bit thick and I was thinking of ordering an Al-Star with Extra Fine nib to get a thinner line. But after that first week, the pen started to write dry. I'd get no ink or almost no ink out of the pen. And this was using the Lamy ink cartridge that came with the pen. You would think that the Lamy ink should work well with a Lamy pen.

 

In comparison, the Metropolitan has written smoothly ever since I got it. Great ink flow. This is an easy pen to use. The Metro is personable, unlike the cantankerous Safari.

 

Yes, my pens are anthropomorphic.

[AnonymousMuggle]

Why is the Con50 a "must" for you?

I just don't really trust the funny bladder thing to last as well as the stronger looking plastic of the CON-50. My brother thinks the bladders are cool so he didn't bother.

 

One thing I'm quite impressed with is the level of quality control Pilot have still seemed to manage to maintain at such a low price point. I love the Safari a lot, but it must be said that I was super lucky with my nib. My sister's F nib is scratchy and really dry, just generally unpleasant, as is the M on one of my classmates' Vista. But from what I've seen in reviews, no one has complained of anything particularly drastic with the Metropolitan. I really do wonder how much Pilot make from each one, the sale price being so low. I guess they can make nibs cheap due to their being nearly identical to the Prera's.

 

Goulet sent me a notice within 12 hours saying that my order has been shipped. So one more satisfied customer to the list I guess! Hope USPS doesn't take too long, I haven't had experience with USPS before (Canadian), but I'm trying not to get too excited yet as I've heard they can be slooooww, to Canada at least. I have a love-hate relationship with online tracking. Convenient, but causes me to refresh the page irrationally as if the package will actually move faster.

Edited April 26, 2014 by AnonymousMuggle

[Blue_Moon]

I don't think you'll be disappointed with your Metro. They're great pens. However, when you're able, I would get a second pen, whether another Metro or a Lamy, as a backup.

 

Edited to add: By the way, Welcome to FPN!

Edited April 26, 2014 by Blue_Moon

[a.lachlan]

As others have suggested, try a Metropolitan (or MR as they're called here in the UK), they're great and inexpensive, or go for an AL-Star. You may not like the idea of spending more just for the aluminium body but in my opinion it's worth it, I think it feels soooo much nicer and tougher (all the better for a school/student situation).

 

I have the TWSBI 580 and, although a very nice pen, I don't think it's one I'd take to school, it just doesn't feel strong enough, and it writes very wet so basically slaughters cheap paper.

[Moose22]

I don't know about the CON50, but the squeeze converter that comes with the Pilot 78G is nothing but trouble. It hampers ink flow and you can't see the ink level through the sac.

 

 

Odd. I have a half dozen Pilots with this converter and nary a problem on any of them. Three 78Gs three Metropolitans. I was writing with a 78G in fine just this afternoon, in fact.

 

I don't understand how it can hamper ink flow. What, specifically, does it do for you? How does it cause this problem?

[AnonymousMuggle]

Thanks everyone again for the advice! The Metropolitans arrived today and they are spectacular! I foresee many happy years of writing with mine!