Frank from
Fontoplumo remembered (somehow) that I had tweeted (at some point) that I fancied the Lamy Safari 2014 LE Neon Coral fountain pen. Okay. Maybe it helped that I yammered about it regularly. I don't know. Either way, he very kindly sent me one to review! Here's a nuclear coral thank you to Frank for this pretty pen. Make sure you browse
Fontoplumo - lots and lots of goodies to be had, not just the
Neon Coral Safari!
ABOUT
Body Material: ABS
Trim: Chrome
Length (capped): 6.1"
Length (uncapped nib-end): 5.28"
Length (posted): 6.7"
Barrel Diameter: 0.46 - 0.50" (flat surface to round surface)
Section Diameter: 0.36 - 0.48" (flat surface at smallest point to widest point)
Nib material: Steel
Weight: 17g
Fill type: Cartridge/converter
Price: 18,90
€
Where to buy:
Fontoplumo
PACKAGING
The Lamy Safari 2014 Limited Edition neon Coral fountain pen came packaged in a black cardboard box with Lamy written on it in silver. The elastic holds two thin flaps closed. Inside, the pen sits in a folded cardboard bed. It is very simple packaging, although it is different to the usual Lamy packaging I'm used to. It was nice to see something different, perhaps because it came from Europe!
APPEARANCE
The Safari is a good sized pen - the ends are blunt with black end plugs. The finial is a cross on this Safari. The cap is completely round, whereas the rest of the body has two flat surfaces - one with LAMY engraved on it, and the other sides are rounded like the cap. There is a window through the pen that allows you to see the ink cartridge or converter inside, which is a great touch. It's almost like having an eyedropper pen. The clip is built into the cap, long, sleek and curved outwards at the end of the cap so it will slide easily on to papers or on to shirts. The section is a neon coral. The nib is small and simple, with a single breather hole and slit, engraved with Lamy and the nib size. There are no exposed threads - something that is likely overlooked by a lot of people, but is a great thing for those who are bothered by sharp threads!
NIB & PERFORMANCE
The Lamy nib is aesthetically simple, but in general, they are reliable, easy to work with nibs: the tines are simple to realign, and should the nib need some minor smoothing, it's easy to do yourself with a bit of
micro mesh. Compared to the
Al-Star 2014 LE in blue green whose tines are slightly off center but still writes perfectly well, this nib appears even with perfect tipping. Upon closer inspection though, I could see the tines were slightly misaligned - one being higher than the other. I left it as is to see how it would write though. In goes one of the
neon coral ink cartridges Fontoplumo included with the pen.
This nib wrote okay out of the box. It wasn't super smooth and occasionally, it would skip. What it needed was some tine realignment. A simple, straight forward adjustment. A properly adjusted Safari with a broad nib is, in my experience (with several of them) a great, smooth, wet writer. After adjustment, I was much happier with the writing experience and it was no hassle to adjust at all - just a fingernail pushing one tine back into place. Easy for anyone to do.
IN HAND
As I have stated in previous Lamy reviews (
Blue Green Al-Star,
Green Apple Safari), the shape of the grip works for me, as I don't have a rigid type of grip; I can adjust my grip pretty easily. Therefore, this works for me just as well.
I actually prefer the Safari to write with than Al-Stars because I love the feeling of the plastic bodies. Both unposted or posted, the Safari works. It posts deeply and comfortably and it's great to write with. It is comfortable in hand; good balance, good weight. The body is smooth to the touch and warms nicely when held, though the material can scratch. The clip is not too tight, but if you pull too hard, there is some give where it attaches into the cap so be careful with it.
Do you really care though? No. You want it because it's pretty.
PROS & CONS
OVERALL
I'm a fan of Lamy fountain pens. The grips work for me, and since I'm a giant sucker for colours, of which Lamy does a pretty good job of producing (EXCEPT FOR PURPLE. AHEM.). The neon coral is bright, cheery, warm, and it's a heart stealer. Like the Al-Star, except in a lighter but robust plastic with interchangeable nibs, an available converter, many ink options, easy to disassemble to clean,
and currently, neon coral ink to match? Le sigh. How could you possibly resist?
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I received this pen free of charge for the purposes of this review. I was not compensated monetarily for my review. Everything you've read here is my own opinion. There are no affiliate links in this review.
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11 comments:
1. Your ink samples look to be lighter and more orange than what I have seen in another sample. Maybe it is just the light of the photo. I am not a cartridge person but after seeing a sample I was hooked on the color. 2. You speak of having to tweak the pen to make it perform properly. That is certainly not rare to have to do that ...but...I am tired of getting a new pen that must be adjusted to be correct. New should mean "write". I am a fan of Lamy. I own 6, and one of them is this beautiful Neon Coral. My complaint applies a lot of pens. You did a superb job on this review.
Hey, how about a guide of how we could align and/or smooth the tines?
Thanks!
1. Yeah, it's just the light - sorry! It's less orange, more coral.
2. Not rare, you're right. I've had to do it with pens that cost $500+, sadly. (And unfortunately). Still like the pen but wanted to make sure everyone knows because some people expect a perfect writer and there's a chance it wouldn't be.
Thank you, I'm really glad you liked the review :)
I looove the ink... I wish they would make it in a bottle!
Oh that would be tough as a written guide... SBRE Brown has some great video guides - have you seen them?
Will look at them, thanks!
yes, Stephen's videos are good on this topic. I think Brian Gray has one, too.
Well, I managed to improve (considerably!) my Lamy 1.5mm and bring back from the dead an old Inoxcrom! And I didn't even used the super fine grind, I used some coarse one I had around. Thank you!
I adore my coral Lamy Safari!! Got the cartridges, too. SO happy!!
Awesome! I so hope they decide to keep the cartridges around forever!
Me too!!!
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