Best Lamy Pen

[arthury]

So far, I have owned 4 LAMY pens (3 All-star EF and 1 Safari Med).

It appears that receiving a good nib from buying a LAMY is a hit-or-miss game. Out of my 4 pens, only 2 nibs are decent out of the box.

 

Which LAMY models are more consistent in their nib quality?

 

I also tried to contact them using the email address (lamy@filofaxinc.com) provided by their website and it bounced. I wonder if they know that email does not work. Has anyone contacted them before?

Edited December 9, 2013 by arthury

[The Blue Knight]

Fine nibs seem v-good the medium nibs are a whole different story I have both "The Sharpie" and "the Anti-Sharpie" to my name. One that literally writes like a Sharpe, real fat broad line the other scratchy skippy fine line.

[Lyander0012]

Much as I would love to be able to contradict you (I'm something of a Lamy advocate, I suppose XD), it's true that Lamy ships a rather large number of pens that require some tweaking out of the box. The same can be said, though, of the pens from pretty much any other major (and not so major) manufacturer. Besides that, the sheer volume of pens shipped by Lamy, coupled with the fact that their pens and nibs are made in-house, almost guarantees a few duds. It's a relativity thing, I guess: Lamy sells so many pens that, even though the percentage of scratchy nibs they ship isn't any higher than that of other pens, they appear to be much larger in number. That goes especially for the Safari line, I feel.

 

My Lamy 2000 wrote a bit dry OOTB, but it was excellently smooth. Flexing the tines a bit improved the wetness, and now it's my go-to pen for daily note-taking and essay-writing. I may have just lucked out, though, since there are a bunch of people who've been complaining about bad nibs being shipped with this particular model.

 

... I'd say that the Safari would be your best shot, all things considered.The replacement nibs aren't too hard to tweak (they're stainless steel, and can take a lot of punishment), and they're easily available at good prices should you accidentally damage the nib beyond repair. There isn't, I believe, a greater difference between the percentage of dud nibs to good/excellent nibs between Lamy's higher-tier models and their entry-level ones. The lower price of the Safari makes for a better experimental pen, though. I would love to recommend the Lamy 2000 (as would a large number of members, I feel), but since you explicitly specified that you wanted to know which model was more likely to ship with a good nib, I immediately disqualified the 2000 as a candidate, since it has quite the reputation for needing a bit of tuning from out of the box.

 

You could buy online and specify that they tune the nib to your preferences, though, if that's fine with you. Excluding that as a possibility, you could always test drive a pen immediately after purchase and have them, replace it on the spot if it doesn't meet your standards.

 

 

Cheers!

 

Kevin

[doggonecarl]

I've got seven Lamy pens and four or five extra nibs and they have all written well. But the fine nib that came with my Lamy Nexx was the BEST and that is the one I swap from pen to pen.

 

Hope you get your issue resolved.

[carlos.q]

I've had a Lamy Al-Star (F nib) and a charcoal Safari (M nib) and both have been great writers out of the box.

 

The Lamy 2000 on the other hand is another story...

[85AKbN]

Lamy 2000 F nib purchased last month, November 2013, with no problems ootb. http://pics3.city-data.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif

[vng234]

Asfaras I know, Safari, Al-star, Studio (steel nib version) and a couple of other models all come with the same nibs.

[flatline]

I have 3 Lamy nibs (EF, F, and 1.1mm) that I use on my Lamy Logo and Lamy Safari. The 1.1mm nib is the smoothest writer of them, but they're all pretty good.

 

The F nib is the one that gets used least. It isn't enough smoother than the EF nib to put up with the extra line width.

 

--flatline

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

In my experience, one of the most consistent nibs is the A nib that Lamy sells with the Nexx and ABC. I have one in my ABC, and it is one of my smoothest writers.

 

Dillon

[cmalanis]

<< Lamy Al Star with F nib. I never got the "hang" of it... tried smothening... polishing to no avail. I got a new M nib from Goulet and Alas!! rich, smooth, wet... wonderful.

 

F nib did not work for me out of the box.

 

M nib. lovely!

 

happy inking.

[DRWWE]

I guess I've been fortunate. My 2000, Studio, Persona, and multiple Safaris all write well I have a mix of fine and medium nibs.

Edited December 10, 2013 by DRWWE

[Kaweco]

Lamy Persona, Lamy Lady

 

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab1/Thomasnr/lami2_zps9f357b35.jpg

 

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab1/Thomasnr/lami1_zpseab11920.jpg

 

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab1/Thomasnr/lami3_zpscb43b918.jpg

 

Kind Regards, Thomas

[csacks]

I believe it is because of Lamy that I like FP. Contrary to what some of you have said, my experience with Lamy nibs is very good. I have tried M, B, 1,1 and a 1,5 nib, and all of them are smooth and wet nibs, with no requirement of any extra treatment out of the box. My favorite of them is a left oblique nib, but it is done by Sam Fiorella from Pendemonium, as much as 10 years ago. I still use it from time to time and it works perfectly and is a real delight.

Edited December 11, 2013 by csacks

[ac12]

The Safari, Al Star, Joy, CP1, Pur, Studio, and maybe others, all use the SAME nib.

I have had a few problems with my nibs.

 

I have a F nib does not write unless you press down hard. I have not bothered to fix it as I replaced it with a 1.1 Italic nib.

Lamy USA offered to repair it under warranty, but their $10 handling charge + $6 to ship to Lamy comes out the same as buying a new nib from Goulet, so I bought a new new nib.

 

I have 1 XF nib that was so tight I could not get it to seat on my CP1. Goulet sent me a replacement nib.

 

I have a few Lamys that I have not inked to test yet, so can't comment on their nibs.

2 of these are out of production pens, so it won't make a different to you.

[Lyander0012]

Lamy Persona, Lamy Lady

 

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab1/Thomasnr/lami2_zps9f357b35.jpg

 

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab1/Thomasnr/lami1_zpseab11920.jpg

 

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab1/Thomasnr/lami3_zpscb43b918.jpg

 

Kind Regards, Thomas

No one bring the Persona up, please. I'm still hunting for one, to no avail. Haha, makes sense that no one's want to give up a pen that excellent, though XD

[Houston]

I have loved the writing characteristics of every Lamy I've owned except the Safari. The Safari has been very hit-and-miss, for me.

[Bo Bo Olson]

18 K OB nail Persona...gave no line variation. remained in the box. Ground to CI by Pendleton Brown, always in rotation.

Next year the Persona is coming back.

[rwilsonedn]

Judging from traffic here on FPN, the steel nibs on the low-end Lamy pens are indeed hit-n-miss. But most people seem happy with their 2000s. There are exceptions, but mostly it seems to be a matter of adjusting to taste rather than a problem with the nib. The 2000 is fairly expensive compared to the low-end pens, however.

ron

[lurcho]

I've owned, or bought for others, perhaps five Safaris or Vistas.

 

I take it for granted that their dry delivery requires work, but once adjusted I think they're extremely good.

 

My Lamy 2000 had misaligned tines, easily sorted, and was also too dry. Spreading the tines (twice) made it an excellent writer, wt and smooth.

 

I now favour Lamy over Pelikan because Lamy nibs, both cheap and pricey models, have a slight stubbishness that Pelikan has abandoned, presumably with the mantra, '[No more] caviar to the general!', or a more philistine equivalent, ringing from whatever boardroom now dictates production and company values.

 

Lamy are rubbish at replying to emails, but great at fixing problems.

[ac12]

Buy from a good dealer that will support you.

Or buy from a walk in pen store. Then you can test the pen before you walk out of the store with it. If it does not write well, you don't take it.

 

I will say this, I bought a Lamy XF nib from Goulet, and it was undersized and would not seat on the pen. Goulet replaced the nib. That is dealer support that is worth a few extra dollars.

 

I would not call the Lamy Studio a "low end" pen, at least not in my budget.

But the Studio uses the SAME nib as does the Safari.