hello there welcome to my channel my name is doug and i'm back with another fountain pen video
about a month ago i published a bit of a rant about the pilot metropolitan called pilot metro
wtf i tried to understand why such a flawed fountain pen design was so incredibly popular
and constantly recommended as a starter fountain pen
sure recommended if you want to put someone off writing with a fountain pen
but today i don't want to talk about the metro i want to talk about another extremely popular
entry-level fountain pen the lamy safari when i published my rant about the metro i got a lot of
requests for a similar rant about the lamy safari i was reluctant to do that because i don't have
the same kind of animosity towards the safari as i do against the metro oh it makes me mad
i'm not personally partial to the safari but that's a personal choice not a criticism of its
design or manufacture i'm mad at pilot because they design and build brilliant fountain pens
and refuse to do anything to address the obvious flaws of the metro because it's a cash cow for
them there's no need to be mad at lamy for the design of the lamy safari because it's an
extremely well thought out precisely engineered fountain pen directed at a specific market
so there's nothing to apologize for here in fact even though i've titled this video
lamy safari wtf i'm going to spend most of it discussing why the lamy safari
is justifiably popular and an excellent fountain pen and if you're wondering what
the acronym wtf stands for here it's why the fuss so let's get into it right now
i've already done a review of this lamy safari which you can see by clicking right up here if
you wish so i'm not going to go over the details of this fountain pen at this time
for those of you expecting a rant similar to my rant about the pilot metropolitan well you're
going to be disappointed whereas those of you lamy safari lovers out there might just be a little bit
pleased in the end it all comes down to personal choice and personal taste of course i tried to
make a point of distinguishing between personal taste and bad design with the metro and i'll try
to do that again here with the safari so i'm going to cover all of the good things about the safari
and then look at what i consider to be the bad things about it i have a large list of
good points about this fountain pen and a comparatively small list of complaints
so let's start with the good points one the lamy safari is inexpensive relatively for thirty 30 u.s
this is a damned fine fountain pen or a damned medium or a damned broad it's your damn choice
and two it's well engineered yes there are examples of less expensive fountain pens out there
but none of them can surpass the precise german engineering of the lamy safari and
three there's a large selection of easily swapped nibs there are lots and lots of nib options from
extra fine to stubs and the steel are uniformly excellent right out of the box
a high percentage of the time in fact i was never really fond of the fine nib on this
safari that was given to me by a viewer a couple of years ago the pan i mean
but in preparation for this video i decided to get a different nib for it so i ordered this
lamy 1.1 stub nib designed for the lammy joy which is basically a long-tailed version of the safari
and part of the lamy joy calligraphy set i got this nib on amazon and was delivered the next day
so let's swap it this is how easy nib swapping is on the lamy safari just put a piece of scotch tape
on the nib just like that this might be a little bit inky because it's inked up but then just pull
straight out and the nib should come right off just like that then you take your new nib
you line it up with the rails and push it on it's just that quick and easy folks i don't know of
another fountain pen nib swap that is this easy as these lamy style nibs are quick and easy what was
that two seconds two seconds i'm just going to stand that up in my little inkwell there
to let the ink run down into that nib and then we'll talk about number four
the lamy safari posts beautifully deeply securely and because that cap is so light it doesn't back
weight that pen at all it becomes a little bit long but this is supremely writable uh with this
pen posted on so you posters out there will love the fact that the lamy safari posts gorgeously
and unposted it's plenty long enough and very very comfortable and very very light in the hand
and while we're talking about in the hand let's talk about number five
the great balance of the safari it's well balanced and ergonomic in the hand both unposted
and posted and 6. selection the safari comes in tons and tons of colors and finish options
with new colors and finishes appearing every season if you're a collector this is awesome it's
something to look forward to with anticipation each season people enjoy matching their safari
colors with their stationery their journals clothing nails and even eye makeup i do think this
[ __ ] brindle brown safari complements my eyes and seven the safari comes with a great converter
now i don't have a converter actually for my safari this has a cartridge in it
but my lamy studio has a similar converter to it it's a large bore on it the safari has little nubs
on here on the sides and has a red tail but this is a terrific well-built well-designed converter
that really allows for ink flow with that large bore never had any issues with lamina converters
and eight the built-in ink window is a great feature and rare for a cartridge or a cartridge
converter fountain pen design it allows you at a glance to see how much ink you have whether
the pen is capped or uncapped and nine the pen is light and durable your hand won't get tired easily
after long riding sessions and you can throw in a bag a briefcase tuck it into your portfolio
toss it in a drawer with little worry about finish damage it's a true knock
about pen and you rarely hear about lamy safari's cracking and 10 the lamy safari has a great clip
i think everybody talks about how fantastic how well designed this clip is it clips to anything
and everything no matter how thin or thick and it always springs back so that's 10 good points
about the safari i bet safari lovers can come up with a lot more let me know but let's also look
at the bad points and i have two of them either of these points makes the safari a non-starter
for me personally both of them together just reinforce why i don't collect them
or write with one bad point number one the tripod grip this is it folks right here it doesn't matter
that the tripod grip actually fits my particular style of grip it does just the fact that the pen
forces my hand to grip it a certain way makes the safari a pen i can't use i know there are plenty
of people out there that don't have conventional or what i like to call correct fountain pen grips
there are a number of thumb overs and death grips and all kinds of ways to incorrectly hold
the pen that doesn't mean that lamy has a right to force people to write correctly any more than
we are allowed to tell people how to crack their eggs after this accident the emperor published a
needed commanding all his subjects in future to break the smaller end eleven thousand men are
known to have died in the last uprising but they'd rather die than crack the smaller end of the egg a
safari might be considered training wheels for the first time fountain pen rider but eventually you
have to get rid of the training wheels and drive your pen on your own without any help from lamy
and the second reason i don't personally like safaris
is the aesthetics i just don't like the blocky chunky minimalist bauhaus austere aesthetic
say that 10 times fast of the safari and everything i just said about the
safari good and bad goes equally for the all-star it's just an aluminum version
of the safari i just don't like it and as always your mileage may vary your mileage may vary so
let's try out this 1.1 stub nib before we go and here is the lamy safari with a 1.1 stub nib
miami safari 1.1
steel stub nib and the ink today
is all matchy matchy with the [ __ ] brindle brown safari it's mom blanc's version
of [ __ ] brindle brown called toffee brown
all you toffee nosers out there you brits know what i'm talking about let's check the wetness
it's a fairly dry nib but again it's a stub it doesn't have any tipping material and you can give
it a little bit of push like that to make it a little bit wetter if you wish a little bit wetter
but again you get a thin horizontal and thick vertical and you get lots of great line variation
with very little effort which is right up my street i tell you don't make me work
with my writing my writing is already bad enough i don't need to have to work at it
and there's a good amount of feedback
on this nib which is to be expected because it is a stub and i believe these limey stub nibs come
in 1.1 1.5 and 1.9 millimeter widths you can get them in a set called the lamy joy calligraphy set
here's one on amazon for 68 canadian which i think at the moment is about a buck and a quarter u.s
you know about that and there you have it if you like this video please like and subscribe and
don't forget to ring that bell to get instant notifications whenever a new video is posted
and please look in the description for a link to gold spot pens as i'm now
an affiliate of the online store and when you shop at gold spot using my link
you'll be supporting my channel as well at no extra charge to you you can also join as
a member of my channel for 99 cents a month and i guarantee i'll answer your comments in the
comments section you might not like my comments but there you go and you'll get cool emojis badges
and sneak peek unboxing videos as well and that just leaves it for me to say thank you
for watching my rant and that's all she wrote
yay safari i made this