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Pen Pit Stop : Lamy Dialog 3 PianoWhite


namrehsnoom

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Pen Pit Stop : Lamy Dialog 3 PianoWhite

 

Welcome to the Pen Pit Stop. Here you will find reviews of pens that already have some mileage on them. More specifically, these reviews are of pens that are in my personal collection, and that have been in use for at least a year. I thought it would be fun to do it this way – no new & shiny pens here, but battered vehicles that have been put to work for at least a year. Let’s find out how they have withstood the ravages of time.

 

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The fountain pen that arrives at the pit stop today is the Lamy Dialog 3. This pen with a retractable nib – from a design by Franco Clivio, who also designed the Lamy Pico – features a very streamlined and modern look. The PianoWhite edition shown here truly is the Apple of fountain pens, minimalistic and beautiful – a reinvention of the classic writing instrument. These were all aspects that attracted me and drew me in. I finally gave in and purchased this pen in December 2016. Let’s find out more about it.

 

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The first thing you’ll notice about this pen is how minimalistic it is : a simple pianowhite cigar shape with two parallel lines on the body that break the monotony. Branding of the pen is almost absent. Only a small engraved “LAMY” between the parallel lines at the end of the body gives away the name of the company. No cap, just a small round valve at the clip end. This is a retractable pen, and this ball valve closes off the nib chamber. With a clockwise twist of the barrel, the nib appears and locks into place. An ingenious mechanism!

 

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The Dialog 3 is a large and weighty pen. Size wise comparable to a Lamy Safari, but much heavier. There is quite some metal used in the construction, and you definitely feel the weight. This is also a pen with some girth to it, with a barrel diameter of approximately 1.5 cm. For my smaller hands, this pen is actually a bit too large to be comfortable. I love the design, but for me personally this is not the most comfortable pen to write with.

 

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Pen Look and Feel

The Dialog 3 looks deceptively simple, but hides some sophisticated technology inside. It is a twist-action retractable nib pen, where you simply twist the barrel clock-wise to make the nib appear. To retract the nib, you turn the barrel back counterclockwise until the parallel lines line up on both sides of the pen body. There is some haptic feedback just before the stopping point, and you can feel a firm “click” when the ball valve closes up completely, sealing the nib in its chamber.

 

The Dialog 3 is a cartridge converter pen, which uses the proprietary Lamy format. To fill the pen, you start from the closed position and turn the barrel counterclockwise. This unscrews the two halves of the barrel and gives access to the inner parts of the pen. The Lamy cartridge/converter is inserted into the nib unit, which can also be unscrewed from the body (see photos above). This makes it very easy to clean your pen.

 

My pen came with an M-size 14kt gold Lamy nib, that writes very smooth. Where the Lamy Safari is typically a dry writer, this Dialog 3 is the opposite with a nice and wet ink flow.

 

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The pictures above illustrate the size of the Lamy Dialog 3 in comparison with a standard Lamy Safari. Both pens are roughly equal in size. But the Dialog 3 pen is a lot heavier, and also has more girth to it. As such, it actually feels like a much bigger pen.

 

Pen Characteristics

  • Build Quality : build quality is simply superb – there is quite some intricate technology hidden within the pen body, but even after 4 years of use all these mechanical parts still work perfectly. One thing to be aware of: the clip is on the nib side of the pen. You can feel it when gripping the pen, but it’s not really bothersome. But it is also quite close to the nib. Clip and nib line up, but this line-up is not always perfect. With my pen, there is a very slight misalignment of 1° or so. Almost invisible, but once you notice it, you cannot unsee it. If this makes you go crazy, the Dialog 3 might not be a pen for you. With the PianoWhite version, you also have to be extra careful with staining (but that’s a given for any white pen).
  • Weight & Dimensions : this is a heavy pen due to all the metal used in the construction. It’s about the same size as a Lamy Safari, but with a larger diameter of the pen body (about 1.5 cm in diameter). The pen feels quite large in my hand – for me it’s just a bit too big and heavy to be truly comfortable.
  • Filling System : this is a cartridge-converter that uses the proprietary Lamy format. To check ink levels, you have to open up the pen to expose the cartridge. There is no way to check the ink level from the outside (no ink window).
  • Nib & Performance : the 14k gold nib on this pen writes very smooth, and flows nice and wet. It wrote perfectly, right out of the box.
  • Price : at the time, I purchased the pen for 270 EUR. For this you get beautiful minimalistic pen with a retractable gold nib. Definitely an eye-catcher. In my opinion, good value for money.

 

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Conclusion

With the Dialog 3 PianoWhite, Lamy produced the Apple of fountain pens: a beautiful minimalistic look, with great technology under the hood. A special fountain pen, with a twist-action retractable nib. I really like the design and high quality of this pen. My only complaint is that it is a bit too large & heavy for my smaller hands, and only borderline comfortable for longer writing sessions.

 

The big question is: would I buy this pen again? Well… probably. I really like the timeless design and the retractable nib technology. But as a daily writer, it’s just not comfortable enough for me. I use the pen only occasionally, enjoying it for a time, and then returning it to the pen drawer. Do I consider selling it? No – now that I have it, it’s definitely a keeper.

 

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Quote

With the Dialog 3 PianoWhite, Lamy produced the Apple of fountain pens: a beautiful minimalistic look, with great technology under the hood. A special fountain pen, with a twist-action retractable nib. I really like the design and high quality of this pen. My only complaint is that it is a bit too large & heavy for my smaller hands, and only borderline comfortable for longer writing sessions.

 

Fully agree with this. Great design, great quality, not necessarily convenient for marathon sessions. I had my F nib reground to a wonderful mini-stub and put a very juicy ink in it (Herbin Bleu des Profondeurs) and I cherish it.

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Thanks for the review - I'm very tempted by this pen, but at the price point it'll probably take a really good deal!  I'm interested to know, though, how the finish has held up over time?

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6 hours ago, Jamerelbe said:

Thanks for the review - I'm very tempted by this pen, but at the price point it'll probably take a really good deal!  I'm interested to know, though, how the finish has held up over time?

My pen is 4 years old (purchased dec 2016). Finish is still good as new - but there are 2 points to take into account:

- it is a very glossy & shining finish. I use mine as a desk pen only, and don't travel with it. It might be a good idea to protect it against scratches (which would be very visible on this shiny body)

- it is a white pen, so be careful when inking up the pen so as not to stain it. I always take extra care to regularly clean my white pens in order to avoid staining.

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2 hours ago, namrehsnoom said:

My pen is 4 years old (purchased dec 2016). Finish is still good as new - but there are 2 points to take into account:

- it is a very glossy & shining finish. I use mine as a desk pen only, and don't travel with it. It might be a good idea to protect it against scratches (which would be very visible on this shiny body)

- it is a white pen, so be careful when inking up the pen so as not to stain it. I always take extra care to regularly clean my white pens in order to avoid staining.

 

Thanks, that's good to know!  Given the limited range of colour options, I *may* just opt for piano white, if I can ever bring myself to splash out on a Dialog 3...

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21 hours ago, namrehsnoom said:

With the Dialog 3 PianoWhite, Lamy produced the Apple of fountain pens: a beautiful minimalistic look, with great technology under the hood.

 

I'm afraid that is at once a brilliant and apt characterisation 👏, and simultaneously off-putting (because not everyone likes Apple products, and certainly not all of them). I'm not sure there's a single emoticon that can cover both sides of that.

 

Thank you very much for the review! :)

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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Thanks for such a nice review.

 

The pen is too heavy for me and sadly that point alone makes me shy away from it cos I know I won't be able to use it properly....I remember someone making long term review and his relationship with dialog and recommend to try before buying...I tried and yeah that advice was real help and I too say it to others, try the pen if you can it really is love it or not case....either way you can't ignore it that's for sure.....it really art in its own way....

 

All are personal opinion though:D

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After having read so many other, glowing reviews of it, I thought it was going to be the perfect EDC pen for me.  I finally got one and...it's going back.

 

Its weight and size would make it one I'd soon hate having in my pocket all day for starters.  That, plus the relatively unwieldy two-handed opening made me appreciate my Vanishing Point all the more.  So it already lost out on the EDC front.

 

Even disregarding that, I knew it also wouldn't be one I'd reach for often at home either.  The weight is mostly at the nib end, which helps, but the overall shape works against it IMO.  A concave portion to emulate the section on most other pens would've done a lot for ergonomics; as it is, my grip just isn't compatible with this pen.  On the other hand, unlike others, I wasn't bothered by the clip.  I appreciate the tech and build quality of the Dialog3, it's just not for me.

 

I picked up a 2000 too, and so far my reaction to it has been that I should've gotten one ages ago.

 

And I didn't have the heart to tell her why.
And there wasn't a part of me that didn't want to say goodbye.

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The D3 is definitely not for everyone, quality notwithstanding. I’m happy with mine and even had the nib ground into a custom mini-stub, but I’m not sure I could pull off a ‘one month, one pen’ challenge with it.

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Thanks for the very nice review! It reminds me to take out my Piano Black and to write again with it. 

 

This is a very clever design, very beautiful to look at and a lot of fun to play with. 

 

Only two complaints. 1. Weight and size, as noted by many. 2. The Piano Black color is so shiny and glossy. Very time I put down the pen, I use extra care so as not to damage its coating...

 

If the color was less perfect or if the pen was lighter, I would worry less about damaging the pen. But I guess this pen is not in the worry-free category....

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6 hours ago, EllipticEquations said:

But I guess this pen is not in the worry-free category....

 

Or perhaps its owner isn't. 😰  Not every owner expects an actively used pen to remain as cosmetically perfect as possible, and worries about minor scratching in case it offends the eye, or tarnish in case it reduces the item's resale value, when it loses its place as an actively used pen. 😅

 

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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5 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

Or perhaps its owner isn't. 😰  Not every owner expects an actively used pen to remain as cosmetically perfect as possible, and worries about minor scratching in case it offends the eye, or tarnish in case it reduces the item's resale value, when it loses its place as an actively used pen. 😅

 

Haha maybe you are right...But you should see how I have abused all my other pens, and for sure none of my pens are for resale. One perk of being a poor professor is that you do get some funding to get stationery ( and keep them) all the time... 

 

But the Piano Black/ White is quite special. I would say most of the other pens could hide scratches much better than the Piano Black/ White.

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My habits don't go well with this pen. I typically have 10-12 inked pens at a time, in rotation of one per day, so it can be nearly two weeks between uses of a pen. I have had problems with the nib on this pen drying out between uses, not every time, but often enough to be annoying. I like many things about it, such as the distance the nib protrudes (unlike the Pilot VP) so that I can easily see tip on paper, but I'm not convinced that the closing mechanism always keeps the air out. 

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