Reviews Written by gwe...

  Fantastic calligraphy..., October 23, 2010

Fantastic calligraphy pen, and cheaper than the middling Schaeffers you get at the craft store! If you like to keep lots of inks at the ready, a fistful of these plus Pilot liquid ink converters can be had for the price of the fine quality Lamy Joy. The medium nib is not unwieldy for everyday writing, since the edge is very thin, resulting in good character definition when held properly with the 3-sided handpiece. Noodlers Ink can be a bit too much for the Pilots, but J. Herbin Pearl Black is very crisp in the Plumix.

  I bought this pen to..., October 23, 2010

I bought this pen to try out the flexible nib, to see if it would partially replicate a dip pen art nib. It really doesn't add much to the performance unless you push very hard: doing this regularly, I would worry about it staying bent, based on one review of this same pen in blue. I find the "A" nib to be extremely wide, though I prefer Japanese sizing to German. I think that there are better super-budget-priced fountain pens available: the Pilot Penmanship is one I prefer that also has a three-sided handpiece. Also, I don't find that the left-hand / right-hand distinction has much effect.

  Believe what you read..., September 20, 2010

Believe what you read about all the Safaris, AL-Stars & Vista: Excellent pens! All there is to add as the first review of the coffee brown body is that it's even nicer looking in person: a bit more of a shimmery anodized look than in the picture.
As a side note on the AL-Stars: the clear plastic of the grip is a slight bit slipperier than the solid matte on the all-plastic Safaris, but then there's the trade-off of the weightiness of the aluminum to consider.

  I'm assuming that this..., September 20, 2010

I'm assuming that this is precisely the blue that comes with the Lamy Al-Star & Safari, so most people looking to use those with cartridges already know what they're getting here. However, as a sort of review for the pen kit itself or for those looking to pick up a box of refills along with the pen, I can say this: This is not a standard office pen blue. On regular paper it's actually a very pretty light blue with a tiny hint of lilac that shows up as it "sets" & lightens, as much as a day after writing. There is obviously a reason Lamy provides a blue-black option in cartridges. A pleasant surprise in my opinion, but something to be aware of.

  Agree precisely with..., September 20, 2010

Agree precisely with the previous reviewer: usually appears a solid medium brown. If you get it in a pen whose line width & flow allows some shading, it shows its "prime" components; and depending on the "featheriness" of a given paper, can even take on an ominous dried-blood appearance.

  Fantastic classic black...., September 19, 2010

Fantastic classic black. Not as lubricious as many modern inks, which can cause problems writing with any speed. However, very dark for its "wateriness", which gives a wonderful quill-pen line from a fine italic nib.

  Beautiful color variations,..., September 19, 2010

Beautiful color variations, but needs to be in a good flowing pen to actually be useful for writing. Much lighter than grays by other manufacturers.

  Very entertaining ink..., September 19, 2010

Very entertaining ink & it does flow well, but one caveat is that it really doesn`t get to show off its color changing qualities in a dry fine nib, where it will just look like a fluorescent coral. This goes for several of the most interesting of the Noodler`s inks that have multiple-density properties.

  I found that this converter..., September 10, 2010

I found that this converter had a bit of trouble getting suction when installed on a pen that has never had cartridge ink run through it. I eventually got it to fill about 1/4 of the way, then wrote for a while, which apparently gave the ink a chance to distribute through the fins in the feed tube (visible through the barrel of the clear body Penmanship), after which it could be filled at least 3/4 of the way with Noodlers' standard ink.

  Excellent pen for the..., September 10, 2010

Excellent pen for the money! I find the "ergo grip" a little slippery in the clear plastic, at least compared to the similar grip on the matte black Lamy Safari (haven't compared it to the opaque Penmanship.) I like the slightly scratchy nature of this Extra Fine nib: it has more of a fountain pen feel than the wider Lamy Extra-Fine, meaning that it provides enough resistance that you can vary line width & darkness to a certain degree by varying pressure & speed in order to get a degree of a quill or calligraphy look. Otherwise, it writes a super-thin line, similar to a rollerball 0.3/0.25, at least when using Noodlers' Ink in a Pilot Con-50 converter.