I love fountain pens, but they are high maintenance. They either leak on my hand, or they take a few strokes to get going. I have a few Pelikans that are perfect, but they are expensive to EDC. My Safaris are finicky and my old Shaeffer Touchdowns or Parker 51 knock offs (Heros?) leak. Lately I have been EDCing a Fisher Space pen and a Uniball Signo 207.
^ They can be finicky. I've never had a Safari that was finicky though. I did make the mistake of leaving the ink in one of them throughout the semester and didn't use it, so it clogged. But it's working almost perfectly again. There's a little bit of clogging, but it still writes just as smooth as ever. My Pelikans are great. I do plan on getting an m205 sometime in the future. Hero 616 = Parker 51 clone.
I finally got a LAMY Safari which I'd been eyeing for awhile...I LOVE it. LOVE. I EDC it as much as possible. I do need to be more careful with it (keeping it upright and all) as opposed to EDCing a SS Sharpie pen..LAMY makes an INSANE pocket clip tough. HOT STUFF. I also find I'm more careful with my handwriting with it...I find it's a bit scatchy and slows down my hand, and improves my handwriting. i also always look forward to "filling up the tank" .. what can i say..it's fun.
Yah I saw an EDC pic! Charcoal is perdy. Actually your pic convinced me to get both a charcoal and a yellow lamy safari. glad you like it. Make me even more excited to get a hold of mine.
Bahaha! I'd also only just noticed that. Sorry to hear that you're "sick." Hopefully my package gets there soon and you'll feel better.
Neither love nor hate. Some people seem to do a wonderful job with them and have few problems. I on the other hand have had a couple of leaks and don't do either good or bad with them but I think that was all me and no fault of the pen. No love or hate here, instead I am standing in the middle of the road.
I've found that leaks generally depend more on the pens themselves. You generally get what you pay for. Though not always. My best fountain pen is a gold Cross Century II model with a medium nib. Though I simply cannot recommend any recently-made Cross pen. Quality has nose-dived with the brand to a ridiculous level.
I just want to add something: There's an incredibly knowledgable staff at a fountain pen store here in Toronto and after a long chat I understand that up to about $200 you are getting increaed quality in a FP. After that you are only paying for embellishments and rarity. With that said, the Lamy Safari or AL are well under $100 ... and their minimalist design is what attracts me, along with that pocket clip. Every other FP I've seen; none of them look as cool as these. something the staff member noted to me – "Lamy's are great, and they are affordable, and a gateway drug....AND its also because they work so great...there's hardly anything to improve in the design considering their price range. Everyone on staff owns at least one Safari...only a couple own the higher end ($500+ pens)." I'd go for the AL...they just didn't have a colour I liked, so I went with the plastic charcoal. Fantastic pen.
They are… *big breath* …the only way… And the multitude of inks at your disposal!… Okay, so they're not the only way, but there's no other pen medium that offers the customization of fountain pens and the inks that go with them. And it's not like you loose security of versatility. I have a bottle of black ink made by Noodler's that was designed to best any and all currently known counterfeiting measures (including lasers). That said, I always have a Space Pen of some sort with me riding right alongside my fountain pens.
I'm not a huge fan, and it's probably simply due to the fact that i've never spent more than $5 on a decent one. The only ones i've ever used are the cheapie Zebra disposable ones....they always leak all over me and in my pocket....maybe if i got a safari it would grow on me.......
I don't believe you http://www.lamyusa.com/lamy_fountain_L29_alstar.php EDIT: Ahh, sorry... Al Star... aluminum body. ATB, Sam
Haha yep. I'm still waiting on a purple Safari. The Al-Star is an admittedly beautiful shade of plum though. I just like Safaris better than Al-Stars.
VERY NICE! I love your old Sheaffers. I have an old No Nonsense that was gifted to me by a friend, who was gifted it by an old man in an antique shop. After some cleaning, it's probably my best pen in the lot. Would you compare Noodler's Navy to Legal Lapis? Legal Lapis is my absolute favorite, but it's a little hard to justify $18.50 + shipping for 3 ounces since there's nothing else on that site that I want. Maybe I'll buckle down and get it once my supply runs low, though. These things last quite some time. PR Tanzanite is a beautiful one. Are these all bottled inks that you own or samplers as well? I've got to agree with you on all your points in that post. The best part about fountain pens is the ability to customize the pen/ink/paper. Well, that's my opinion, at least.
For anyone interested, Todd's (www.isellpens.com ; no affiliation, extremely happy customer) got his Hero 100's on closeout for $20.00 since he's making room for other pens. These normally go for $40.00 elsewhere. They're great pens, especially if you like that classic shape. The 100's have 14k tipping, so they are really smooth. I got a couple a few years back before the prices went up. So grab 'em while you can. Even back then, I don't think they were ever this low (the average was about $30.00 shipped). For those of you new to fountain pens, these have a permanent squeeze filler and will require a bottle of ink to fill from.
As far as ink goes, I've always been happy with the bottles of ink Waterman puts out. Very affordable too. I've had a bottle of blue-black ink for years now. (I know, you should not use old ink; and replace bottles yearly. Still, it works and I don't like wasting ink.)
^ Of the Waterman line of inks, my favorite is Florida Blue. They ARE affordable! I've yet to actually replace my ink bottles over the years. I just shake 'em up to make sure it's mixed and I'm good to go. I also make sure there's no sludge.
