Back to Lamy after 10+ years

[Lumo]

So I was in the local post office and while waiting for the guy to find the parcel I was collecting I saw some fountain pens for sale on the counter. They were what I can only describe as knock off Lamy Safaris. Given that the post office is in Heidelberg Germany I found it almost bizzarly amusing that they were selling them. 6 euro each and I nearly bought one before coming to my senses.

 

But when I got home I looked everywhere for my old matt black Safari and could not find it. I found a few fountain pens - my high school Waterman, a Pilot, a transparent Safari and also two Safari rollerballs (the rollerballs I never liked writing with at all).

 

However, I seem to have got a bug, or craving, to use a fountain pen again. I loved using them years ago, but just started writing less and less by hand and more and more on computers. So I looked to buy a real safari to replace my matt black and saw the specials this year. The green savannah looks fantastic and is ordered, I was really tempted to get the terra one also.

 

Meanwhile I am washing out my safari vista and the pilot I found (lots of strange colours coming out of both). The Waterman has too much sentimental value to take out the house (I do most writing at work).

 

I can't wait for the green Safari to arrive, by the time it does I will have put ink in the vista and pilot, I'm a bit worried I don't write enough by hand to need three pens on the go. However that has not stopped me also looking at the Terra again and again. I am still determined to find my old matt black safari. I have moved house twice since I last used it and it must be in a box somewhere.

 

This was all triggered by seeing those pens in the post office.

[Paul-in-SF]

Welcome back to fountain pens. I hope you find your matte black Safari.

 

I would be a bit concerned about all those strange colors that came out when you cleaned out your two old pens, if you meant that literally. That might be a sign of some kind of contamination, which (if it is there) should be dealt with before putting in new ink. If you are inking from a bottle, you could contaminate the whole bottle. Unfortunately, I don't know what to tell you about how to decontaminate the pens, but I hope someone will come along who can tell you, or you can search on FPN for some advice. Best of luck.

[Lumo]

I am almost certain the colours emerging from the Vista pen are the colours I tried using in it (it was always a fun pen I had alongside my main one with a brighter ink in). Holding it still in a glass of water I can see some colours separate out as they emerge from the pen. Green and pink are quite clear, one falls out to the bottom of the glass, the other floats off at the level of the pen. Quite fun. The pilot pen has a lot of dark blue, which fits as I was using Parker blue black as my main ink at that time. A lot has happened in my life since I last used those pens.

[Anne-Sophie]

 

Living in Heidelberg, you could be visiting the factory and the store next to it, when things get better worldwide.

 

They look so wonderful, they are surely on my list of future destinations.

[Al-fresco]

Matte black Safaris were the best Safaris.  The plastic was solid (unlike the easily eroded yellow ones) the texture was nice, the cap stayed on and, yes, I’m looking at you, you damned Vista, they never leaked. 
 

(Sample size = 1.  Your Mileage May Vary.)

[arcfide]

Lamy is one of those brands that has always appealed to me as a company, but without a product that I felt I really *wanted*. I also recently finally decided that I needed a Lamy in my collection and picked up a Dialog 3 as the only option that I could possibly imagine for myself. I find myself annoyed because it's neither a pen I can just dismiss nor a pen that I feel that I am absolutely in love with right from the box. I'm now at the point where I feel compelled to "get it working just right" for myself. It's a strange place to be at with a pen. 

 

Lamy does get one thing right with these pens (and all those pens that use their same replaceable nib unit feeds like the Safari and Vista), and that's the sheer ease of maintenance. They're so easy to take care of, and the nibs are easy and comfortable to work on, to remove from the feed, and the whole system is very easy to keep clean.