Safari Fountain Pen - Charcoal - Fine

When you first learn the basics of fountain pen writing, you need a no-nonsense pen that writes reliably, consistently, helps you learn the best way to hold a pen, is sturdy enough to be dropped off the desk more than once, and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. The Lamy Safari does all of that. And when you are ready to go to the next level, try different nibs, or try bottled ink instead of cartridges, the Lamy Safari is still there with you. Since it's a cartridge/converter pen, you can choose how you feed it ink. And if you are capable of putting a one inch long piece of Scotch Tape over your nib and pull it straight out, the nib comes right off and can be replaced by any other Lamy nib (except Lamy 2000 nibs), to include the $130 14k gold nib. Lamy even offers stub nibs in different sizes compatible with the Safari. The nibs are usually steel, and relatively stiff, so line variation is minimal at best. If you put too much pressure on it, and ruin the nib, you can get a replacement from online retailers in 4 regular sizes (EF, F, M, B) and three stub widths (1.1mm, 1.5mm, 1.9mm) as well as a "Cursive Nib) that's designed to write East Asian scripts, starting at $16 each. Installing your new nib takes about five seconds, wait for the feed to fill the nib slit with ink (you can help to prime the nib by squeezing a drop of ink from your cartridge/converter), and you're back in business. The pen's grip section is tri-lobed; the round nib sections has three relatively large flat spots on it to help guide your fingers to hold it in a way that gives you maximum control and the least amount of fatigue. If you've used a different grip to hold your pens/pencils, this may present a bit of a learning curve, but if you have no "bad habits" to unlearn, you'll be writing like a pro in no time. If you're coming from the world of Biros (ballpoint, gel rollers, rollerballs), it will take you a couple of writing sessions to teach your hand that you don't have to press down on the pen to get it to write. The stiffness of this pen's nib will be forgiving for too much pressure without damaging it. A properly tuned fountain pen should be capable of leaving a clearly defined solid line by you holding the tail end with two fingers, the nib on the paper, and you pulling the nib on the paper; downward pressure on the nib is not required, unless something is wrong with the nib, or the ink. With the sturdiness of this pen, and very little abuse, this pen can easily last 20 years...that means it can take you from grade school all the way to your ABA exam...or whichever career goal you have in mind.

The Good: - Pen is super smooth and easy to write with. I tend to write very small and precise, and my grip on a normal pen is quite tight. That leads to my hand getting tired quickly when writing, which means I don't do a whole lot of it. This pen has renewed my desire to write stuff down, which is a great feeling. - Design is solid, very light and easy to write with. Nice matte/satin finish. - Ink dries quickly in my grid Moleskine notebook that I use as a Project Journal for my hobbies, and I don't see any bleed. I wait a few seconds before turning the page, and I don't have any problems. The Bad: - The "fine" nib is a joke. It's way more like a medium, unless you write enormous. I'm used to using the small Zebra metal pens, as I like how precise they are. I found that the Lamy Fine nib produces a line that is just a tad too thick for my liking, but I don't really see much of a difference between the Fine and EF writing comparisons that I've seen. I may give an EF nib a shot eventually, but for now I'll just deal with it. I didn't dock a star because the pen really is great, and it may just be my small handwriting. This is by far my biggest complaint with the pen. I see that it is a common complaint, but I really didn't expect it to be so thick. - The ink dries quickly, but has a very faded look to it. This looks cooler with premium inks, but with the Lamy ink it makes it look lower-quality. I mean, I didn't really expect incredible ink, but it just doesn't look like anything fancy. Great pen for beginners, I highly recommend it.

I am relatively new to using fountain pens - have several and without doubt the Lamy Safari is a great pen. It writes very smooth, very reliably, and does so with Lamy, Noodlers and Diamine inks. There is a lot from other commentators on the pen but I want to address one issue and that is the fineness of the line produced by the pen. I like a very fine line so I purchased a couple Lamy pens with extra fine (EF) nibs. Interestingly when I inked up the pens they produced very different lines - with the same ink. The surprise is that among EF nibs there is a much variation in line width as there is between a F and an EF nib. So I purchased about 5 nibs from different suppliers - and of the 5, four were what I would call EF and one was let me call it an EEF (I'm making this up as Lamy does not sell such a nib) - that is extra extra fine. The difference in line width and appearance is amazing between these two nibs. The EEF produces a crisper more vibrant line and I can produce very small writing that would be a blurr with the other nib. One of the tell tale signs of the rare EEF though is that it is scrachie to write with! I would not consider this a negative - it is just that the finer the nib the more the scratchiness. If you don't like a little scratchiness when you write you won't like these EEF nibs. But I don't mind the scratchiness in order to get the extra fine line and a more vibrant line. Why is there such variation in the nib? At first I thought it was the difference between the black colored nib and the shiny white metal nib - but I now have one EEF that is black and one that is shinny white. So my only guess is that Lamy's production quality control allows this variation in nib production. So the point of all this is that if you buy one pen or for that matter several they may all be scratchy and produce a extra fine line or they may all be smooth, the more likely case, and produce a normal fine line - but you can't know what it is until you buy it and try it so you might want to buy several spare nibs and just try them to find the very few that produce these EEF lines. I have not looked at the variation in the F nibs as I am only interested in getting the finest line in a reliable manner from my Lamy.

If you are looking for a gold nib and something to impress people with, the Lamy Safari is not the pen for you. If you desire excellent functionality and a bombproof pen that can sit in your pocket, satchel, get dropped in the mud and still write, then this pen is for you. The safari is lighter than many pens, but that makes it better for travel and its balance is so nice it actually feels "heftier" than it is. After washing off the mud, then consider that the Safari write very well. On some rougher papers there is a tendency to scratch, but until the ink is all but out, there is no skipping. This pen also starts right up, even after sitting uncapped for an hour. You will not confuse a Safari for a fine Japanese or Italian nib, but you will also not be disappointed. I did not expect the Safari write like some of the more expensive pens I've tried (yet can not afford), but after several converters and cartridges of ink, I'm was pleasantly surprised at how well a pen for under $25 can write. The molded plastic grip seems to put some people, but I think most come to enjoy it. I know I do. I've tried a few inks in the Safari and find the ubiquitous Pelikan 4001 bottled inks to be good. Plus it seems like a good fit to use a utilitarian ink in a hard core utilitarian plastic pen. It seems a bit silly to need to buy the converter separately, it is my thought a pen should come with one. Considering this is a price point pen and most people will use this pen with cartridges, I kind of get Lamy's thinking. The reservoir window is is a super practical benefit to this pen. If it matters, I've put a couple Lamy cartridges through the pen and it is wonderful ink. Little to no feathering and quick drying. I was first attracted to the name because it speaks of journey in Kiswahili, and since I live in Kenya it resonated with me. Though the pen does not write any better in Kiswahili than a cheap ballpoint, iko ni pow sana (it us much more cool). In the end, the Safari is a great pen at a great price. It will not impress snobs, but most people in my world would not consider a $500 Mont Blanc impressive either. It will in press ink into paper better than the best ballpoint/gel and for those truly in the know, the Lamy Safari is a very impressive pen.

Great first fountain pen! This was my first pen and I am glad it was. The triangular grip helps ensure that you are holding the pen correctly which is more helpful than people realize. I am a lefty and so I was very worried that it would smear or write super thick making fountain pens unusable. Once I had the pen in hand this was not really an issue for me at all. There were occasional smudges, but nothing that was remotely more than a regular gel pen, if not less.

Very well made. My son loves it. He uses for school. Its the only pen he wants to use and makes sure he does run out of ink.

I am not a fountain pen user. I had a cheap calligraphy kit as a kid in the 80s, but my only other experience was with a ~10 year old Waterman pen (not an expensive one, something my father let me borrow). I do write a fair amount, mainly for work and grad school, and my current pens are a Pen Ballpoint Medium Ocean, Blue (PAR49789) with Rollerball Pen Refill, for Parker Retractable Gel, Medium Tip, Blue Ink, 2/Pack PAR30526 refills and a Parker Urban Fine Writing Medium Point Gel Pen, 1 Black Ink, Black Barrel Pen (35912) with Parker Refill for Retractable Gel Ink Pens, Medium, Black Ink, 2 per Pack (30525PP) refills. I just got the Lamy Safari Fine Nib pen today and tried it on a Piccadilly (Moleskine-copy) notebook with the stock ink (it ships with one cartridge). I also ordered a converter but, coming from a third-party vendor, it has not arrived yet. I mentioned that I have an inexpensive, older Waterman and I find that the Lamy pen writes much more smoothly than the Waterman. The fine nib on the Lamy also writes a better line than the Waterman (which must have a larger nib) and seems less scratchy. I don't know how much difference is due to wear and tear on the older pen. The differences between the Gel Ink pens and the Fountain pen are significant. The gel ink writes very quickly in comparison to the fountain pen. I'm not sure if I like how slow the Lamy writes, but that can also have some benefits. I can feel the paper through the Lamy, I'm not sure if that's a good thing, but the writing I produce is equivalent to Gel Ink. The benefits are in Fountain ink. There are tons of colors to choose from, and the inks seem to be less prone to streaking than the Gel ink (which can remain wet on paper for a long time). The other benefit may be ink price and certainly cartridge disposal when using a converter. I run through a Gel ink package a month... at $6 per package, plus the garbage I toss out, fountain inks seem more economical. I don't yet have any information on how quickly I run through a Fountain cartridge / converter fill-up. I understand that Lamy is trying to keep the prices low (and perhaps sell their ink cartridges), but if a converter cannot be included, it would be nice if one were available from Amazon directly (there are no prime offers on the Lamy converter). With shipping that changes this $25 pen into a $35 one, a 40% surcharge. Overall, I'm glad I can try out (and get used to) a good fountain pen for such little investment.

I have used fountain pens exclusively since 1989 for everything I write. I own several very costly pens, including 2 Parker DuoFolds, and I love them, but after losing a $400 pen 15 years ago, I have looked for an inexpensive pen to carry around ever since, and 3 years ago I purchased this charcoal Lamy fine point Safari. I bought a second, with an extra fine point a year later. They have become my first choice as writers in my considerable collection. Of all my pens, my Safaris always work! Even if I haven't used one for a while, all either has ever needed is a couple of light taps and the ink flows. In daily use, they need nothing to start every time. They work equally well with their converter and cartridges, and are extremely comfortable in the hand. I'm a journalist, and typically write for an hour or more almost every day, so both have been put to extensive use. All either has required is an occasional water rinse, a routine that's good for any fountain pen. If function can be beautiful, inexpensive and modest at once, this is the perfect pen at any price. The charcoal finish and the black nib and clip look much nicer in person than a picture can convey. The clip is very sturdy and secures the pen exceptionally well in a shirt pocket, and the length and heft of the pen is perfect for my large hands. It's ergonomic grip makes it equally fine for much smaller hands as well. It's light but very well balanced. If a nib ever gets bent or broken, another can be purchased very cheaply and can be replaced in less than a minute with no tools needed. It never leaks, the cap doesn't come loose, the converter never comes loose inside the pen, and even when my puppy gave the body a brief chewing when it fell on the floor during a refill, it pen still looks as good as ever. The plastic used is incredibly tough. I've used 4 different inks, all black, in it with no fuss, and no failure. The pen does not roll off a slanted drawing board. (I knocked it off when the pup got it.) That's beautiful to me! And, interestingly, more folks who have never used a fountain pen want to try it out than any of my fancy pens. They think it's beautiful, too. I can't recommend another pen for any beginner, or for anyone who has used fountain pens for years like me. I have purchased 2 for gifts, and both are as well-loved as I do. The variety of nib choices is excellent- in most other pens at this price level, the medium nib is most often the only one available, and a medium nib is often to broad for those who write in a small hand, as the letters tend to become filled in. The fine point is a very good size, and the extra fine is almost as good; the x-f nib writes a bit drier is the only difference, but this is typical with all X-F nibs. I will probably buy another, just to have spare. The puppy loved it as much as me, and he might get another chew on one of them.