Ever since my first fountain pen, the
Platinum Preppy, back in 2010, I've been pining for a Lamy Safari. I kept looking at them, but every time I did, I thought, "If only they came in green...." Then, 2012 came around and guess what the new limited edition colour of the Lamy Safari was? Green! Yes, there was no doubt about it - this had to be the year in which I would finally have a Lamy Safari of my very own. I wrote about
my excitement over my purchase a couple months ago, and now I'm ready to actually review my new green Lamy Safari fountain pen.
First of all, this green Lamy Safari is a very beautiful pen. My photos do not do it justice
at all, and the colour is so much more vibrant in person. It is absolutely the most perfect shade of green - not too dark, not too light, not too yellow, without a hint of blue, not overly bright and certainly not muted either - it is just the perfect green in every way. The pen itself is made of a sturdy plastic with just the right sheen to it - not matte, but not too shiny either.
 |
View of the grip, and the nib. The nib is not that exciting to look at, but it is exciting to write with! |
The grip is designed to guide your fingers into the correct writing position. This may annoy some people but I appreciate it since I have discovered that I actually hold my pens the wrong way. Holding the Safari the "right" way still feels a bit awkward, but it does prevent the issue that I was having with my other fountain pens: when I hold my pens the "wrong" way, I actually tend to rotate the pen in my hand as I write, which means that, if I'm using a fountain pen and I'm not careful, I can end up writing with the nib upside down! With the Lamy Safari, however, this isn't a problem, because I am being constantly reminded by the grip to hold the pen correctly. Hopefully, this will build a habit and eventually encourage me to use
all of my pens correctly.
 |
This is the only branding on the pen (it's hidden when you're writing with the cap posted) and it is just right. |
Other features that I like: the unobtrusive ink window on either side of the pen so you can check out the ink supply, the Lamy logo on the end of the pen that appears to be an actual part of the design of the pen and not just some random ugly branding, and the awesome metal clip that can actually be used to clip onto things! Imagine that... a clip that you can actually clip with. I'm used to the exceedingly wimpy clips that most (inferior) pens have, so this one is pretty awesome. And another great feature: the price. Although I must admit that this is the most expensive pen I have ever bought, it is still very affordable compared to most of the other nice fountain pens out there. And because this pen is so well-made (and comes with a lifetime warranty from Lamy), I am sure that I will be able to use it for many years to come. So it is well worth the price! If you used to buying cheap ballpoints or gel pens, don't be scared to give this one a try. It may seem expensive compared to those pens, but you are going to get a lot more use out of it.
 |
Awesome clip. And I love the cross-shaped design on the end. |
Now, onto what may be for many of you the most important feature of any pen - the nib. When I was buying this pen, I had the hardest time trying to decide between the fine and the extra-fine nibs. I knew from reading other reviews that the fine was not really very fine, but I was afraid that the extra-fine might be scratchy. So in the end I decided to play it safe and I settled for the fine nib. I wish now, however, that I had chosen the extra-fine because, although the nib is marked "F", I am beginning to suspect that that really stands for "fat" and not "fine" at all. Still, Lamy nibs are sold separately and are interchangeable, so I will be able to replace my fine nib with an extra-fine nib if I wish - and I am so absolutely in love with this pen otherwise that the unfine fine nib really doesn't bother me very much. The best thing about the nib is that it is very smooth. Seriously smooth. It is not scratchy at all, and it flows so smoothly that no excessive pressure is needed to write, making it truly a joy to use.
 |
I apologize for having made so many mistakes when I was writing this. Please ignore the scribbled-out words, and if there are any other errors that I missed scribbling out, please ignore those as well. Also ignore my messy handwriting. It looks better in person. |
From the written review, you can see that I'm still using the boring blue cartridge that came with my Lamy Safari. However, I should say that the ink in the Lamy cartridge is actually not that bad. Feathering is minimal and there is only slight bleedthrough even on poorer-quality paper, while on quality Rhodia paper the combination of pen and ink is simply heavenly. The ink also has some lovely shading going on, and the colour, although a relatively boring shade of blue, is bright. At some point I want to buy a converter and some nice bottled inks (green, of course) to use with this pen. Bottled inks still scare me a bit (I have this totally irrational fear that I'm going to either wreck the pen somehow and/or get ink all over
everywhere), so I may be sticking with cartridges for a while yet. But this pen is absolutely begging me (yes, my pens talk to me - don't your pens talk to you? please say it isn't just me) to fill it with green ink, so I may have to at least invest in some cartridges of green ink!
In conclusion, I am very, very happy with my very first Lamy Safari. I felt a bit nervous buying it since it was more money than I had ever spent on a single pen before, but I have not been disappointed AT ALL. My Lamy and I likely have many years ahead of us to get to know each other, and I am looking forward to those years very much. If I can add an extra-fine nib and some green ink, then I will be even happier, but since this pen is absolutely so gorgeous, and the green colour is absolutely so perfect, I suspect that I would be perfectly content to just sit and look at this pen and not even write with it at all. Yes. It is just that good.
Related reviews (probably only a sampling of the many reviews of this pen (in all its incarnations) that are out there):
Gourmet Pens,
Pentorium (a very detailed and lengthy review),
Rants of the Archer,
The Bent Needle,
Write to Me Often (not really a review, but includes a lovely photo of Safaris in a rainbow of colours),
Fountain Pen Geeks,
Stationery Review,
Writing and Scribbling,
Unposted,
OfficeSupplyGeek,
Coffee-Stained Memos,
Spiritual Evolution of the Bean.
Also, check out this
look at Lamy's inter-changeable nibs at Planet Millie and this
Lamy nib comparison at Peninkcillin (and
this one at Write to Me Often), or, for a totally different opinion, check out why
Stationery Traffic hates the Lamy Safari.