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The Lamy Safari Is Just As Good As Any Other Pen. There: I've Said It.


lurcho

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I had a terrible experience with my first encounter with an M200 nib last year.

 

I really was expecting something stellar, something different, and even new, and special, from my first steel-nibbed Pelikan, having owned a M800 from about 2000, and a M250 from about the mid-2000s.

 

You know - more flex than the M250 (or similar/identically-built M400 nib), like so many reviewers have remarked upon on this website.

 

But despite buying from one of the three or four established online Pelikan dealers, and getting a nib swap (and after explaining my disaffection), I was no better off. The nib was poor.

 

So I worked on it using a Tesco 4-surfaced nail-polishing block, and wrecked it.

 

I'm now, with my new-found expertise (joke), going to try and stub it, using the same instrument that I ruined it with, since I have nothing to lose (and since, also, finding great joy with an enhanced-flow Pilot 78G).

Edited by lurcho
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Deleted because it was written under the effect of alcohol, and therefore drivel.

Edited by lurcho
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I would love to get a Sheaffer snorkel for 15 $! Wasn't lucky yet.

 

It was a deal not easily repeated, as it involved a dearth of pictures, all of them bad, and the seller having no idea how to label the ad to get quality hits. It was labeled "Fountain Pen". I identified it as a Snorkel Special, but I really had no idea what sort of condition it would be in when I got it. Turned out rather well but might easily not have.

I know my id is "mhosea", but you can call me Mike. It's an old Unix thing.

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I bought a M Safari (and a converter, because I am a thoughtful woman) last week for a colleague who had been eyeing up my pen roll. He's delighted with it, and I wouldn't have bought it for him if I didn't think they're very nice pens. I've got a couple of italics of different sizes (both Al-Stars, but it's the same nib), and they're pleasant to use, reliable and solid little beasts.

 

But I wouldn't say they're "just as good" as one of my old flexy Watermans; or as my beautifully engineered VP with its lovely raden finish; or as my butter-smooth Pelikan 400 and its gorgeous piston mechanism.

 

They're still pretty darn good though, especially for the price.

Quite well done! And very well put.

Everything is impermanent.

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Other than the high price points of the precious metal Lamy fp's, I think Lamy makes a wonderful line of great fp's at a general price point. The modern industrial design compliments the minimalist utilitarian look of these pens. I own a couple of them. Lamy Vista, All star and special edition all black. For the price and German quality, you can't beat the price. I can't say I've ever had a problem with them.

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The Safari is a great pen if you go with a medium or broad nib. The fines just do not write well. The feed design is one of the best. The only other cheap (really cheap) pen that might be better is the Waterman Jif. It writes well with any size nib and will not blot. The only con with both of the pens is that they do not hold much ink, even with a cartridge. If you add an oring to the Jif, it can be used as an eyedropper and holds an enormous amount of ink, and still won't blot. The Safari feed with a broad nib works so well I put one in my Aurora 88 and it is fantastic! With the Safari you are stuck with a cartridge (the converters are junk). The old cheap Pelikans sold in art stores way back when are also great with any size nib. Good luck finding one at the old price though.

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With the Safari you are stuck with a cartridge (the converters are junk).

 

What problems did you have with the Lamy converters? Mine aren't junk, and I am happy that I could put one in my old Diplomat pen which I now can use again. I haven't used both converters for very long, though, so I'd like to be prepared for future problems.

Iris

My avatar is a painting by Ilya Mashkov (1881-1944): Self-Portrait; 1911, which I photographed in the New Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

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What problems did you have with the Lamy converters? Mine aren't junk, and I am happy that I could put one in my old Diplomat pen which I now can use again. I haven't used both converters for very long, though, so I'd like to be prepared for future problems.

 

I've been using a Lamy converter for about three, four years now. No problem to date. I got a new one to go with my new Safari, and it's been working to my satisfaction.

Tes rires retroussés comme à son bord la rose,


Effacent mon dépit de ta métamorphose;


Tu t'éveilles, alors le rêve est oublié.



-Jean Cocteau, from Plaint-Chant, 1923

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I don't think the con holds as much ink as the cart. And the cart has that little 'reserve well.' That's about the only problem.

My latest ebook.   And not just for Halloween!
 

My other pen is a Montblanc.

 

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Some of the old converters leaked. It sounds like the newer ones work properly, which is great news. Since they do not hold much ink, you will be refilling them often and hopefully checking that ink is not getting behind the piston. Because the Safari is such a popular pen, perhaps Fountainbel can be convinced to design a better converter for it that holds more ink.

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I received a Safari from a friend as a gift and I love it. I bought a converter for it and have a 1.5 mm arriving tomorrow. I inked it with Akkerman Passage Blauw and I love clipping it to my Filofax and using it as a daily pen. It's never leaked and has been extremely dependable.

 

This said, one of my favorite pens is my Bayard LE 4. I just adore the flex nib and the pen is just beautiful but I won't bring it to the grocery store to check off items on my list. It's just impractical for this use.

 

Same goes for my jewelry. I love my Tag watch and wear it just about every day but if I'm biking or hiking, I'll wear a watch that lends itself to those pursuits.

 

For some people, a Lamy Safari is steak, and that's all right.

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I have a Safari, and I only use it for the 1.5mm italic. If you want a great and inexpensive writing tool, try the Cross Solo. Steel gold plated nibs made by Pilot. The Solo is very, very good, and better than the Safari, better than a whole lot of pens that cost more.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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Please forgive me for this.

 

This is an exercise in benign trolling. It's sort-of meant to be provocative.

 

I am so annoyed by the consistent inability of very expensive FPs to perform as exquisitely as their price merits that I have generally abandoned them in favour of two cheapos, namely Lamy Vista medium, and a Pilot Varsity (it's called a V-Pen in Britain).

 

Both pens needed tine-spreading and feed-hacking. And that is significant.

 

And nothing writes as well as my circa-2000 M800, with a stubbish-ish point.

 

I must confess that I have a penchant for cheapness. expensive notebooks and paper inhibit their ubiquitous use for me, i.e., scribbling. And I would much rather have a pen that I can afford to lose if I take it out of the house, and pens are the kind of object (like lighters, if one smokes) that are most likely to walk away.

 

And so, despite the delights of the lovely, lovely pens that have passed through my hands over the last fifteen years - Montblanc 149, OMAS Paragon (old-style), L2K (great, but it has a cracked section, and Lamy didn't want to know!) - now that I have a 10X loupe to adjust tines with, and the courage to bugger-about with tine-separation, and feed-cutting, I now have the ability to buy safaris or Vistas that are simply marvellous if they are made wet enough.

 

There is no way that the fifteen quid I have to shell out for one of these pens can be beaten.

 

I also like cheap notebooks, and Oxford (Hamelin, actually, that also do the Black N' Red notebooks, all with the same Optik paper that easily beats Clairefontaine/Rhodia), makes little Moleskine-size notebooks for £4 (casebound) or £1 (spiral).

 

As I said: I am trolling benignly.

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Lamy is one of the best German fp ma u factoring companies around. LAMY offers a wide range of practical functional pens with great nibs that write fairly smooth. For anybody that's wanting to start a collection, Lamy is my first recommendation.

 

I use two Lamy pens daily. A vista in a med nib and all star in fine nib stealth black.

 

Love these two pens and I use them daily.

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Utility and aesthetics are 2 very different values. The law of diminishing returns works against getting proportionally more utility out of more expensive items. The originator of this thread, I believe, is expressing the frustration of spending more and not getting the improved utility one expects.

 

Aesthetics - that's another story. A beautiful object is worth whatever you think it's worth.

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The Safari is a great pen if you go with a medium or broad nib. The fines just do not write well. *snip*

*Emphasis/underline mine.

 

This has been my experience as well, and there's something about the ultraplastic feel of the Safari in my hand that just doesn't suit me personally. I'm not knocking the pen and I do appreciate that it's something I can toss in my pencil case and throw in my backpack without feeling the slightest twinge or worry, but for my own daily use I like having something a little more..(searching for the right word)... not dignified, but maybe grown-up is the proper word. The safari is a good pen, but it's lacking gravitas... or... something. (That sounds waaaay more pretentious than I mean for it to sound).

Mine's a black matte EF with a black nib (which I admit is a cool design feature). Just never had that visceral connection with the pen that I have had with many other pens (even a lot of less expensive pens like many of my hero616s etc).

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I like the Safaris myself. I have about a dozen of them, mostly M with one B and one F. The non-Ms, interestingly, are the oldest pens I possess and I can't get the nibs off them to replace them, although I tend to prefer the Ms now. The F isn't too bad but it's just not my reach to pen. They are very comfortable to write with though, very lightweight but long. They fit nicely in my hand.

 

I'm really not inclined to argue about them - they were designed for a specific purpose, they've clearly outgrown that population, and interestingly enough, they appear to be something unusual - a cult object which is pretty much ubiquitous in its market and if this place is anything to go by, most people who use fountain pens either have or have tried one. And there are more than a few enthusiastic collectors of them. In one respect, they have clearly captured a lot of imaginations.

 

I write with Caran d'Ache fountains and ballpoints as well. The nice thing about having a bundle of Safaris is that it allows me to have a much greater range of pens inked up. The one thing I truly love about fountain pens is ink, and the breadth of available inks to me. Seen in that light, it's easier to acquire 12 Safaris than it is to acquire 12 Caran d'Aches or, next on my hit list, ST Duponts. But, you know, for everyone, ymmv etc etc etc....

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It also might be how your desk or your environment is set up. As I said previously, I live in van der Rohe's playground, and pretty much half the city is Bauhaus. Minimalist shops are scattered throughout the town. So, Lamy Safari fits in there like it was meant to be there, along with my attire.

 

But would I be lovingly using Safari in Auntie's Tea Shop in Cambridge? No... that's too Victorian.

Tes rires retroussés comme à son bord la rose,


Effacent mon dépit de ta métamorphose;


Tu t'éveilles, alors le rêve est oublié.



-Jean Cocteau, from Plaint-Chant, 1923

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