Lamy Ink cartridges vs anything else

[bengold]

I just bought a Lamy Safari with a medium nib. I've wanted a fountain pen for a long time, and this pen seemed like a good place to start. I really love the pen, but after looking around online, I'm trying to decide if I should get some better ink for it. I'm using Lamy's black cartridges right now, which seem to work well. The color is a bit light, but since I'm not really using the pen for anything really special (just school work and drawing), I think the Lamy ink is fine. That said, I'm guessing that after my 5 pack of cartridges runs out, I'll want to get some different ink to use with the converter. Since this is my first pen, I'm not really sure where to start. I would tend to drift towards Lamy's bottled inks, but those are probably less economical and not as nice as other options...

 

any suggestions?

[dizi]

Diamine makes good ink in million colors for reasonable money.

[jBeckett]

+1 for Diamine, hard to go wrong with them. Other fairly priced inks to check out with be J. Herbin, Omas (I can only speak for their Violet but it's wonderful) and Noodler's. I would be careful with Herbin and Noodler's though as don't usually like low quality paper.

[bengold]

Thanks! I'll check out Diamine, but It seems like everyone loves Noodler's as well. My local pen shop (not very local at all, really), has all of the inks jBeckett mentioned, so I'll have to make another trip there soon.

 

Is there any reason many people seem to dislike the Lamy inks?

[mooshi]

IIRC... I think some people like more saturated inks, and Lamy is a bit "watered down." I actually started out with Lamy Black and I've liked it fine. My go-to, daily ink is actually Lamy Blue-Black. I love the colour and the fact that it's a modern iron gall ink makes it even better since I'm in labs and such during school, where spills are prone. I hear Lamy Turquoise is nice though. o_O I wish Lamy made purple ink...

 

As for Noodler's, it's great. Tons of colour choices and great ink properties (lubricating, no "feathering," "bulletproof,"... etc.) to choose from.

 

My recommendation to new ink pursuers will always be Waterman Florida Blue though. Great colour and well behaved/low maintenance.

 

Those are the only 3 brands I've actually ever tried. Other ones, such as Sheaffers, Diamene, Pilot... I've only gotten small sample vials of.

 

-- Moo

[Ondina]

Waterman inks are great for both experienced and rookie users. Diamine is as well, with a broad color range. Herbin's inks range among the finest (I'm a bit puzzled about the warning of being careful with them, they are the safest inks out there..). Pelikan, Lamy, Mont Blanc, Aurora, R&K, and a long list of makers offer inks of characteristics that please any user. I second you should get a bottle of Waterman Florida Blue and a Herbin's Perle Noire, and then check the Index of reviewed inks here at the forum till you find what you're looking for. Welcome to the forum.

[gillyohan]

I think it would help us to know what colors you like in general, what you are writing for and on (school, work, legal docs, lab books, etc. and high or low quality papers). Where are you located (US, UK, etc.)?

 

I will give one recommendation for you and reasons why, but those reasons may not apply to you. Why only one ink? because you are still figuring things out, and too many options isn't too helpful at this point, IMO.

 

Lamy Blue-Black (bottled) - conservative color, can be used on low-quality papers, cheaper than most other bottled inks (at least where I get it.), not that difficult to maintain in pen (I only flush it out every few months with no problems).

 

Keep in mind, there is typically enough diversity of ink characteristics within any given ink brand to make it difficult to make umbrella statements. For example, not all Noodlers inks require high quality paper (in fact, and number of them work very well on low quality paper).

Edited May 16, 2010 by gillyohan

[bluemagister]

Diamine is excellent ink, well-priced and will behave in just about ANY pen. I'd also recommend the Waterman inks. Herbin is well-behaved, too. Aurora black has been recommended before, but I have no personal experience with it.

[bjornhansson]

I like Lamy's blue ink. The colour is beautiful and the ink is well behaved.

 

If you want to try another brand, Diamine would be a good choice. Diamine offers a wide range of colours and the prices are good! Waterman and Herbin inks are nice, although somewhat more expensive than the inks made by Diamine.

 

If price is not an issue, I would highly recommend the Iroshizuku inks made by Pilot.

[wallylynn]

o_O I wish Lamy made purple ink...

Lamy does have violet ink, but only in carts

[mooshi]

o_O I wish Lamy made purple ink...

Lamy does have violet ink, but only in carts

 

Oh yeah. I wish they had bottled violet inks...

 

-- Moo

[79spitfire]

Don't forget Scrip. It's low maintenance, affordable and easy to find. I use Blue-Black in my Lamy Vista with great results. I also like Noodler's black in my Charcoal Safari. I guess the only thing I haven't tried in my Lamys it Lamy ink I'll have to try one of the blue carts that came with the pens the next time they run dry!

[WendyNC]

One thing you might like to know is that Chesterfield ink is Diamine ink in a more limited color selection and bottled in pots that strongly resemble baby food jars. That's the downside. The upside is that, although the price has gone up, Chesterfield ink is still reasonably priced here, especially when you take into account the fact that if you buy two bottles, you get free shipping. I have five of these inks and all of them have performed reliably in every pen in which I've tried them.

[Liarbyrd]

Lamy uses a proprietary cartridge. You'll need to either get a syringe to refill empty cartridges or get a converter. (I know, it's obvious, but you said you were new to fountain pens, so...)

 

That said, Lamy blue-black is well behaved and works fantastic on low quality paper (like what I have at work). I have also never been disappointed by Waterman's.

[jBeckett]

Lamy uses a proprietary cartridge. You'll need to either get a syringe to refill empty cartridges or get a converter. (I know, it's obvious, but you said you were new to fountain pens, so...)

 

This actually isn't nearly as hard as it sounds. You can buy syringes with blunted tips (dispenser syringes I believe they're called) and as long as you have some water and paper towels near by there's really no mess or fuss. Just be sure to clean everything out well.

[bengold]

These reponses are all helpful. I'm actually liking the black lamy cartridges, but I'll probably check out some of the inks mentioned here when I run out. I bought a converter when I bought the pen, but I've read that refilling cartridges is better because they hold more. I'm not really a pen enthusiast, so hopefully I'll find a nice blue and black that I like and just stick with those.

 

I really want to find a black ink that doesn't bleed. I know the paper is part of it, but I've found that the lamy ink bleeds through the paper to opposite side even when using really nice Strathmore paper (though the Bristol paper didn't have this problem). I'm not sure what qualities would keep ink from bleeding...

 

I do a lot of sketching, so I'm not new to nice paper and art supplies, but I'm not really used to dealing with pen and ink (I mostly use drafting pencils).

[jpeck]

Just another thing you may want to be aware of is that Safari is a bit of a dry writer, so no matter which ink you put in it, you'll get slightly lighter saturation than using the same ink in other wetter pens.

[willprice94]

+1 for Diamine, hard to go wrong with them. Other fairly priced inks to check out with be J. Herbin, Omas (I can only speak for their Violet but it's wonderful) and Noodler's. I would be careful with Herbin and Noodler's though as don't usually like low quality paper.

I have to disagree about noodlers, it doesn't feather on cheap paper, i use it in school all the time and its my favourite ink at the moment (thats the black bullet proof). I also like diamine though i've only used about 4 colours yet i like them, nice and rich, i found that delamere green and poppy red feather a bit on cheap paper. Might want to take that into account if your going into exams with them . . .

[cletusvonarmand]

Ive had nothing but great success with noodlers bp black in a safari. It is a very dry writer compared to others out there.

[watch_art]

i had the converter for a while and didn't like the capacity. just doodling at school and writing down attendance and things like that, i'd run out of ink before 2pm. that got really old really quick. so i got rid of that and epoxy welded the holes up in my safari barrel and now i use it as an eyedropper. i'll post pics later, but it's SO much better. and i don't like the lamy ink much. too light. i prefer darker bolder colors.