Advise On Selecting A Lamy Vista/Safari

[Opus104]

I want to pick up a Vista for everyday, casual use. I borrowed a friend's new Fine Safari and it seemed kind of thin and dry to me. Is that typical? My favorite pen now is a Pelikan 215, with a Fine point from Richard Binder that writes a wet, relatively heavy line for a Fine. Would I do better to get a medium point?

Edited June 8, 2007 by Opus104

[deitic_nib]

I just got my vista in the mail 3 days ago. I love it, mine isn't that dry, kinda wet but I guess it's all based on what you are used to. I think the fine nib on my Vista is just fine. Maybe the medium nib will suit you better, it lays down a nice wet line, a lot fatter than the fine tipped, but still manageble.

Good luck

 

Victor

[beezaur]

You can buy one of each, or get one pen and another section/nib assembly for around $15.

 

All of my Safaris are a little dry, but I would not say they wrote on the thin side. Two EFs and two Fs.

 

Alot depends on the ink too. Polar Blue is wide; Bulletproof Black is thin.

 

Scott

[R.ticle One]

I want to pick up a Vista for everyday, casual use. I borrowed a friend's new Fine Safari and it seemed kind of thin and dry to me. Is that typical? My favorite pen now is a Pelikan 215, with a Fine point from Richard Binder that writes a wet, relatively heavy line for a Fine. Would I do better to get a medium point?

 

A bit difficult to answer, perhaps. I've had Safari nibs that seem to get a bit wetter and thicker over time. I've also had ones (such as the 1.1 stub) that may be thinner than other ones of the same size - not by much though. I'm pretty happy with my XF nib, though my journal writing is pretty small. Sometimes it's a bit too wide for me, other times it's perfect. It is a bit dry, or rather, scratchy feeling on some papers, so it's slightly fussy. I do usually like how it writes in a Moleskine journal.

 

I suppose that from what I've read, the overall consensus is that Lamy nibs tend to write a bit wider than usual, sometimes wetter. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, here). Failing a decision between the two, I guess if you're able to, you can purchase both a fine and medium nib, and see which works the most for you - as far as nibs go, they're pretty inexpensive. I hope that this was at least of some help.

 

R.ticle One

[blueiris]

I used to have these pens and made a direct comparison with the same ink. I still have the Lamy Safari in F, but the others have new homes.

 

In my experience, in order of thinner line to wider:

 

-Safari F

-Pelikan F

-Safari M (to me, there seemed to be a big jump from Safari F to M size, and the Safari M is definitely wider than the Pelikan F)

 

Using the same ink in both the Pelikan M215 F and the Lamy Safari F, the Pelikan wrote wetter/darker, and the Safari F wrote drier/lighter. I got the Safari M after my Pelikan M215 found a new home, but it was about the same as the F in terms of how wet/dry it wrote. The Pelikan was still wetter than both of them.

 

The pens might vary slightly from one to another, but this was my impression, anyway.