Is Lamy Blue Ink Really This Awful?

[pitonyak]

I wanted to try a Lamy fountain pen with a gold nib, so, I purchased a Studio with a Gold EF nib.

 

First things first, I washed the pen to remove the existing ink .

 

I removed as much water as I could, then I dropped in included blue cartridge.... and the ink looked very washed out. So I wrote, and wrote, and wrote with it. I filled about three pages of Letter sized paper (Think A4 if you do not know Letter).

 

The top few lines I wrote with Pilot Studio and the blue ink. Next, I cleaned the pen again, then I loaded it up with some Noodler's Army Green, a color I consider to be muted, I wrote one line on another sheet of paper, then I wrote on the shown page, so, if there was still water in the system, well, it still looks much more saturated than the Lamy Blue. The next color is from a Pilot Birdie with Pilot blue ink cartridge. It has a finer nib and still looks more saturated. The black is from a Pilot custom 74 that I also washed then installed the Pilot black cartridge, but I wrote almost not at all and even with a much finer Pilot EF Gold nib, it is more saturated. Next is the Lamy 2000 with an EF nib and a Pilot Al-Star with a steel EF nib, both using Pilot ink.

 

 

Ignoring the incorrectly spelled words above, is Lamy blue ink really this washed out and muted, or did something go horribly wrong?

 

The Pilot custom 74 with Gold EF nib produces such a thin line that I cannot believe that it does not go drive or stop writing, but even that nib produces a much more saturated looking line. I should have ordered the Pilot Custom 74 with the F nib,

[LanceSaintPaul]

I think for purposes of comparison I would try Lamy Blue in the Lamy 2000 - just for another data point.

 

This assumes you have a bottle of Lamy Blue rather than a cartridge that came with the Lamy Studio.... I can't recall if I've used the Blue before - if I have it was in a cartridge I got with a Lamy pen.... At any rate try the Lamy Blue in another pen if you can - reduce the number of variables in other words.

[wasteland]

Sandy1's review on this forum strongly suggests that presence is not one of Lamy Blue's virtues.

[ErrantSmudge]

My experience with Lamy Blue ink is that it goes down fairly dark, but fades pretty significantly over the next few days.

 

I don’t much care for the ink, but Lamy pens - and especially my Dialog 3 - are tuned well for it in terms of flow.

[pitonyak]

I think for purposes of comparison I would try Lamy Blue in the Lamy 2000 - just for another data point.

 

This assumes you have a bottle of Lamy Blue rather than a cartridge that came with the Lamy Studio.... I can't recall if I've used the Blue before - if I have it was in a cartridge I got with a Lamy pen.... At any rate try the Lamy Blue in another pen if you can - reduce the number of variables in other words.

 

 

I do not have a bottle.... Good point on trying it in another pen. I could have pulled one of my other Lamy pens and dropped that cartridge in.... cleaned out the cartridge so I would need to find and use another cartridge.... I might have one sitting around.

[pitonyak]

Sandy1's review on this forum strongly suggests that presence is not one of Lamy Blue's virtues.

 

Thanks for the link, that is very useful.

 

Off hand, based on that excellent review, I would have to say that:

 

1. I used an EF nib, and it seems consistent with what the review shows for an EF nib.
2. It might look better with a pen that puts down a lot more ink.
3. I will probably not seek out this ink in the future

[pitonyak]

My experience with Lamy Blue ink is that it goes down fairly dark, but fades pretty significantly over the next few days.

 

I don’t much care for the ink, but Lamy pens - and especially my Dialog 3 - are tuned well for it in terms of flow.

 

So do you still use the blue, or do you use one of the other Lamy colors?

 

I do not own any of the Lamy ink in a bottle, but I did consider buying a bottle of their "pink" since Pink was the most requested ink color at my Sunday School class when i gave away fountain pens to all of my students (and some of my former students who heard I was giving away pens). I ended up buying a pink from Diamine because it looked more pink than the lamy version.

[ErrantSmudge]

 

So do you still use the blue, or do you use one of the other Lamy colors?

 

 

I do not own Lamy Blue in a bottle. I have a stash of cartridges I got from buying Lamy pens - several Safaris, one which came bundled with a pack of blue cartridges, as well as some Safaris my partner purchased (he doesn't like Lamy Blue and gave them to me). I'm slowly working through them and don't plan to buy more.

 

I do have a bottle of Lamy Black. Lamy Black isn't the darkest black you can buy, but it is reasonably dark, plus it is well-behaved and fast-dry.

 

Other good Lamy colors are Violet (a medium purple, only available in cartridges for some unknown reason) and Turquoise (the ink blot in my avatar). In fact, I have two bottles of Turquoise - I bought an extra from the LamyUSA liquidation sale.

 

Lamy colors to avoid are Green (weak, and a terrible hue) and Red (a really bright red that is maybe useful as a highlighter ink). I bought a pack of Red cartridges to try out, and again I'm slowly working through them with no plans to replenish when they are gone.

 

I also bought a pack of Vibrant Pink cartridges to try out, I didn't want to commit to a whole bottle.

Edited March 29, 2018 by ErrantSmudge

[Uncial]

Yep, Lamy blue is probably the worst blue out there.

[Jezza]

I wouldnt say its a bad ink, but my experience is equal to yours.

[Uncial]

Yes, I should have been specific that the awfulness is in terms of colour rather than behaviour.

[LanceSaintPaul]

I found a sample I'd written last Sept. using a Lamy Blue Cartridge in a Lamy Persona with a Fine nib on Maruman paper.

 

At best I would describe it as a soft blue. And I wouldn't object to calling it weak. It looks very much like the written sample above. And it does recall that I did not choose to buy a bottle to have more of it on hand.

 

I could live with it if I had to, but I don't have to.

[pitonyak]

Thanks for all the clarifications. And ErrantSmudge, thank you for your opinions on their specific colors.

 

I was trying to figure out how my pen could cause the writing to appear so faint and unsaturated, especially because after I first loaded it, the pen was very prone to skipping (call it the first 20 lines of text). I am not seeing that behavior now, and I stopped seeing it after I had 20 lines down on the paper, so it was probably just the feed becoming primed.

 

I guess that I was in denial that Lamy, whose pens I really like, would have a blue that I disliked so much as the color that they shipped with the pen.

[ParkerDuofold]

I do not own Lamy Blue in a bottle. I have a stash of cartridges I got from buying Lamy pens - several Safaris, one which came bundled with a pack of blue cartridges, as well as some Safaris my partner purchased (he doesn't like Lamy Blue and gave them to me). I'm slowly working through them and don't plan to buy more.

 

I do have a bottle of Lamy Black. Lamy Black isn't the darkest black you can buy, but it is reasonably dark, plus it is well-behaved and fast-dry.

 

Other good Lamy colors are Violet (a medium purple, only available in cartridges for some unknown reason) and Turquoise (the ink blot in my avatar). In fact, I have two bottles of Turquoise - I bought an extra from the LamyUSA liquidation sale.

 

Lamy colors to avoid are Green (weak, and a terrible hue) and Red (a really bright red that is maybe useful as a highlighter ink). I bought a pack of Red cartridges to try out, and again I'm slowly working through them with no plans to replenish when they are gone.

 

I also bought a pack of Vibrant Pink cartridges to try out, I didn't want to commit to a whole bottle.

 

Thanks for all the clarifications. And ErrantSmudge, thank you for your opinions on their specific colors.

 

I was trying to figure out how my pen could cause the writing to appear so faint and unsaturated, especially because after I first loaded it, the pen was very prone to skipping (call it the first 20 lines of text). I am not seeing that behavior now, and I stopped seeing it after I had 20 lines down on the paper, so it was probably just the feed becoming primed.

 

I guess that I was in denial that Lamy, whose pens I really like, would have a blue that I disliked so much as the color that they shipped with the pen.

Hi Pitonyak, et al,

 

I'll concur with Errant Smudge and add that their blue-black,... while being a nice color... is excruciatingly painfully dry... ironically, it's the only ink that my L2K's rejected.

 

Lamy's best ink is their turquoise, (aka Pacific); with their black following a close second. In fact, Lamy black is my second favorite black to Aurora... I use it for the situations when the Aurora is too wet.

 

Be well.

 

 

- Anthony

[Olya]

In short: Yes, this is normal for Lamy blue ink, as well as Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue, as both are in fact washable blue inks and behave accordingly, i.e. washed out look, not at all saturated, and prone to fading. Excellent for school kids, but beyond that it's a matter of taste. Personally I hated these washed out washables with a passion and needless to say, I don't buy them; and when I get them with pens in cartridges I don't use them...

[torstar]

Not a fan of Lamy ink in general, but YMMV

 

Lamy Blue wouldn't work in my Lamy 2000.

[ErrantSmudge]

I just made this sampler of all the Lamy inks I have on hand, on Tomoe River paper. I had to ink-up an Al-Star with one of the few blue carts I have remaining; that's both a good thing and a bad thing.

 

I don't have any experience with Lamy's blue-black ink, so it doesn't appear here and thank you ParkerDuofold for saving me some money.

 

One note on the scan; my scanner makes Lamy's red (and to a lesser extent, the pink) much more saturated than in real life.

 

Edited March 29, 2018 by ErrantSmudge

[Sailor Kenshin]

So do you still use the blue, or do you use one of the other Lamy colors?

 

I do not own any of the Lamy ink in a bottle, but I did consider buying a bottle of their "pink" since Pink was the most requested ink color at my Sunday School class when i gave away fountain pens to all of my students (and some of my former students who heard I was giving away pens). I ended up buying a pink from Diamine because it looked more pink than the lamy version.

 

I always use Lamy Blue in a medium or above, with no problems. And from my spate of collecting Every Annual LE Color, I have a jar full of the cartridges. I think it's a cheerful color.

[LizEF]

My Lamy Blue experience matched the OP - not the bright color posted by ErrantSmudge. I'm reasonably certain it was used in a fine nib Al-Star (since that's what I got it with and I didn't get the EF and 1.1 nibs until later). FWIW.

[Driften]

The cartridge that came with my Lamy Studio puts out a saturated dark blue with a touch of purple color. Normally I don't use cartridges but I thought the Studio (Racing Green) would come with a converter and it didn't. So I used the cartridge while I ordered the converter. The color was good enough I am holding off switching until I finish that cartridge. I don't think I would buy that ink, but don't feel like washing it out. It does not look like any of the above samples.