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Lamy 2000 users, advice for a friend please.


Beechwood

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I am not a Lamy 2000 owner, I haven't even used one. I feel a little guilty because a friend asked, 'I am thinking of buying a Lamy 2000, what do you think'.

 

My response was something along the lines of I am sure you will like it.

 

He has now written, and I quote

 

'I bought a LAMY 2000 last year and quite disappointed with it.


In its defence, I bought the wrong nib - medium when a fine would suit me better but the shape of the barrel and lack of grip make it uncomfortable to use. It's a nice looking pen but often dries up before I get to use it as I prefer to use my cheapo Safari far more.'

 

Does the 2000 encourage your hands to slip down the barrel due to lack of grip, does it dry up all too easily?

 

I don't know what ink he is using.

 

Thank you.

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Yeah, that is my experience too. As in, the strong and increasing taper towards the nib makes me subconsciously grip the pen tighter leading to hand fatigue etc. I do have oily/sweaty hands that contributes to this but when I compare the L2K to say, a vintage Pelikan like a 100N is the clear winner (or the 400, 400NN, or a modern M200, M400 etc.). The section of Safari is actually really nice also (if you are not bothered about the shape of it overall that is). It suits my grip just fine so yeah, I would prefer that over the L2K also.

Edited by mana
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2 minutes ago, mana said:

Yeah, that is my experience too. As in, the strong and increasing taper towards the nib makes me subconsciously grip the pen tighter leading to hand fatigue etc. I do have oily/sweaty hands that contributes to this but when I compare the L2K to say, a Pelikan 100N the clear winner is the 100N (or 400, 400NN, M200 etc.). The section of Safari is actually really nice also (if you are not bothered about the shape of it overall that is). It suits my grip just fine so yeah, I would prefer that over the L2K also.

 

 

Thank you for taking the time to write, I think I will hold off giving the friend a written reply and treat him to a lunch for the poor guidance I have.

 

Thnaks again

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Pen preferences are a very subjective thing - and can change with time too.  I bought my Lamy 2000 about 5 years ago, was a little underwhelmed, and gave it a rest... then came back to it a year or two later and loved it.  *Some* of that, I think, was allowing the nib time to "settle in" (it was a little dry at first, but began to flow better over time); some of it was my own growing appreciation of the slight added "bounce" provided by the gold nib.  

 

As far as grip is concerned, I find the 2000 very comfortable.  My only gripe (if you can call it that) is that I have to be conscious of how I'm gripping the pen: it's easier than most (for me) to rotate the nib a little, and find myself writing outside the pen's "sweet spot".  I have this problem with other semi-hooded nibs too, so I suspect it's a feature of that kind of nib shape.

 

I think this is one of those pens that is best to try before you buy.  I'm glad I persisted with mine, as I love its understated look and the writing experience - but obviously it's a bit polarising.

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3 hours ago, Beechwood said:

Does the 2000 encourage your hands to slip down the barrel due to lack of grip, does it dry up all too easily?

 

No and no, in my experience.

 

It may be that your friend needs or expects a bulging lip at the bottom of the gripping section to stop his fingers from slipping, but Makrolon isn't any more slick or slippery than PMMA or AS resin used for sections on any number of pen models, and certainly fares better than say the glossy metal sections on the standard Lamy Studio models (excluding the brushed metal, palladium, and Lx All Black variants), Cross Peerless 125 and some high-end Aurora models (e.g. the Oceano). You couldn't possibly have pre-empted exactly how much friction or geometric facilitation a pen's section has to offer for a particular individual to maintain a firm grip with his handwriting techniques and habits to advise accordingly.

 

As for the cap's effectiveness at preventing ink evaporation, while the Lamy 2000's slip cap is not perfect, it still does a good job and easily outperforms the Lamy Safari and Logo models in my experience. I'd even wager that the Lamy 2000's cap is at least as good as that on my two favourite Lamy models — the Studio Lx All Black and cp1 in matte black. It must have been at least three months since I last uncapped my Lamy 2000, and when I pulled it out from my pen display case just now, it hard-started and struggled to write with the first three or four pen strokes, but was completely fine after that. I place extremely high importance on cap seal effectiveness myself, and consider any pen flawed if allows ≥0.5ml of ink in the reservoir to completely evaporate when properly capped and left unused for three months; the Lamy 2000 is not one of those. The only ‘Western’ pen with a slip- or snap-cap that I trust to do better is my Rotring 400; and even Platinum's #3776 briarwood models cannot match the Lamy 2000's performance in that regard.

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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No and no +1. 

 

For me, the most comfortable pen at this size. No dry ups, never in about ten years of use with inks going from Waterman Florida blue (Sérénité) to Noodler's Nikita, from Pelikan Royal blue to Herbin's sprakles inks. 

 

I tend to hold my pens higher. In this case, I am not holding the pen on the metal part.

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Thank you both.

 

Whilst i have no experience with this pen it would appear to divide opinion perhaps more than other pens.

 

 

I appreciate the time you have taken to repsond.

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Grip slip: No for the Makrolon version and Yes for the stainless steel version (it's due to the added weight).

 

Drying: Not my two, but then I don't use them enough for a really good test.

 

WHY give someone advice other than "I've never owned or even tried one"?

 

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5 minutes ago, Glenn-SC said:

Grip slip: No for the Makrolon version and Yes for the stainless steel version (it's due to the added weight).

 

Drying: Not my two, but then I don't use them enough for a really good test.

 

WHY give someone advice other than "I've never owned or even tried one"?

 

 

I know past experience that you prefer to be acerbic, I will ignore the uppercase letters and final sentence, in fact your second sentence  isn't that helpful either.

 

Thank you to all who have provided a helpful response, I suggest that we draw matters to a close.

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The feel of a pen is  a very subjective thing.  Even a relatively small change in one area can make a pen very uncomfortable to use.  Just the shape of the section makes a difference.  I like the curved  section of a Balance II, but don't find the straight section of a Connaisseur to be nearly as nice to use, even though both fit in the pen, and often have similar size nibs.

 

I like/don't like the 2000.  I have one loaded most of the time, but it doesn't get as much use as others do.  I find that I grip the pen near or above the pressure tabs in the barrel, and always have the cap posted.  Farther down, the pen is to skinny.  I like the look of the stainless version and had two, but sold both because the pen was too heavy.  None of the pens have had a problem with drying out.

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I have a Makrolon version with EF nib, and watched many, many, videos before mail-ordering.  I wasn't sure if I'd like the grip, had heard a lot about the Dreaded Sweet Spot, et cetera.   

 

There was no sweet spot.  It writes until it runs out of ink.  The grip didn't bother me at all, not even those little 'ears.'  

 

But if your friend doesn't like the grip, there might be nothing he can do about it.  How long has he used it?  Was it flushed before first use?  Is it fully loaded (I had trouble loading mine at first).  If he does end up selling it, though, it's an easy sell.

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My other pen is a Montblanc.

 

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No slip problem so far.  His grip could be incompatible with the 2000's shape.  I use essentially the Palmer Method type of grip, with the posted cap nestled in the web of my hand.  I just now tried the ballpen grip and immediately saw how poorly it works with the section's taper.

 

No comment on the drying question 'til I've had it longer.

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I have larger hands so prefer to hold pens much higher up than most. For this reason, the shape of the L2K, like the Conid Mininmalistica, is just about perfect for me: I can grip it wherever I like. Which, for the L2K is up past the ears near the ink window. So little, if any, of the stainless steel "section" is actually under my fingertips.

 

The hooded nib also does not dry out. I frequently pause between sentences, and don't bother capping the pen. Whilst not as impressive as a Parker 51 with its collector, the L2K outperforms most modern pens I have used in this respect.

 

Nor does the pen dry out when capped. During the lockdown I (inadvertently) left the pen at work, inked with Diamine Registrars. 12 weeks later, when I retrieved it, it started immediately upon contact with paper.

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I don't feel that the grip of the Lamy 2000 is slippery . The  metal one is a bit heavy for long writing sessions but is a very nice pen for short notes. Both of them and a dark blue perform flawlessly IMO, even if my Makrolon is now 45 years old.😉

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  • 2 weeks later...

I,personally, like the 2000, just about the perfect pen for me (outside of my Parker 41's). Some like the Lamy 2K, some don't. I myself love hooded nib pens, so the 2K was a easy choice. I found that I like the way it feels, writes....I am up to 5 of them now.

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On 12/21/2020 at 1:13 PM, Beechwood said:

Does the 2000 encourage your hands to slip down the barrel due to lack of grip, does it dry up all too easily?

 

No, never. Even after long, sometimes sweaty writing sessions, everything is stay put.

 

Similarly, 2000 is one of the pens which doesn't dry out when capped properly. I have Lamy Black in mine and it writes like it's filled 5 seconds ago, first time, every time.

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  • 1 month later...

I have a Lamy 2K Makrolon with an EF nib (at least 10 years old) and one with a F nib (a year or two younger than my EF nib L2K). I have never experienced drying out. I bought the Lamy 2K EF within a month of getting back into fountain pens as an adult after having last used them in middle school days, when fountain pens were required.

 

For the first month, I hated it. The nib size was great since I wanted to write on cheap paper. The sweet spot on the EF was glorious when I could find it, but the pen wasn't smooth at other angles. It would always write unless I rotated to an extreme angle but other than brief moments of near nirvana when I was right on the sweet spot it mostly sucked. The section felt slippery. I squeezed the pen to within an inch of it's life because it felt like it was constantly about to slip out of my hand. My hand cramped.

 

I was fortunate because the store I bought it at said they would extend the return window so long as I wrote with it regularly and were confident I would love the pen. It was also suggested that I hold the pen the same distance from the tip of the nib as I held other pens. Where I had been holding the pen would have meant holding the nib directly if the nib hadn't been hooded. I am forever grateful to this store which is unfortunately no longer in business.

 

My Lamy 2Ks are my most used pens. I use them more than and prefer the writing experience with them to the experience with pens I own that cost 5-10x as much. I use them more than my 2 Pilot Custom 823s (fine and medium), which are famous for being writer's pens. I use them more than everything except my Sailors, which I use about as much, though those are very different pens. They are constantly inked unless they are drying after having been cleaned and are written with virtually every day.

 

 My EF Lamy 2K trained my hand to use fountain pens properly again after a long period of using only ballpoints. There were 3 main adjustments I needed to make.

 

1) Hold the pen lightly, very, very lightly relative to how tightly I held a ballpoint.

2) Use minimal pressure on the paper, essentially the weight of the pen only. This makes holding the pen very lightly easy. You need to hold a ballpoint with a much tighter grip only because you need to put much more pressure on the paper.

3) This in my opinion is super important, especially for people who have otherwise great fountain pen technique. Hold the pen far enough from the nib that some part of your fingers can feel the steel ears. It's hard to tell if you have the nib rotated or not by looking because the nib is hooded. The ears give your hands a sense of whether the angle is right or not and it becomes completely automatic.

 

I would suggest anyone else initially disappointed by the Lamy 2K, who hasn't used a fountain pen for a while not give up and let the pen break your hand in. If you have great fountain pen technique, try holding it so some part of your hands can feel the ears. The pen demands good technique but if you have even half decent technique, the rewards are many. The pen also breaks in a little bit over the first 3-5 inkings and becomes a little bit wetter, so if it's slightly dry initially give it a little time.

 

 

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My M800s are my all time favorites and my Nakaya is sublime.... but when i had  a gift cert that would cover the 2k I figured why not.. everyone sings it's praises.  I'll be honest... it lives up to the hype.  It's really a remarkable performer.  

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I was a bit worried after I ordered mine because I heard that the nib had a "sweet spot". I never noticed, it just always worked. 

 

What I can say with certainty is that the 2000 just does not seem to dry out, so that is a new one for me. 

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