Lamy Safari

Just got a new fountain pen. Oops, I know I said I wasn't gonna get more stuff, but this deal was a little too good. It's bright green. Very. Bright. The color's pretty close on my computer.

More after the jump! 

So I bought this pen second handed off the forums. It's the 2012 limited Green Edition Lamy, not that it means that much. So the pen's normally $30 (probably closer to 40 for the limited edition), came with a $5 converter, and a couple of cartridges. Total damage? $22 shipped. So unfortunately, I just had to buy another pen.

The ABS plastic looks a little cheesy, but I got used to it pretty quick. The pen's so bright it probably rivals a lightsaber's light output or something. It's ridiculously bright. If this were a knife scale, it'd be Toxic Toxic Green. The two ridges on top of the grip force your fingers into a particular hold, not that annoying for me, but some of my friends have different grips and it gets in the way for them. The top unscrews to reveal a converter (sold separately). In the ink window, the converter is the clear window- the actual body of the pen has a cut out there. 

Now, the pen is postable, so the cap could be capped over the body of the pen when writing. But it's ridiculously long that way. The pen alone is just over 5" uncapped. Capped brings it to over 6.5". When closed, the pen is at 5.5".

There's the converter. The red thing screws, and sucks up ink. Simple stuff. Holds around 0.6 mL of ink, which isn't great, but it works. And a writing sample: 

I switch between cursive and print. The cursive has a few too many flourishes that get in the way, but oh well. The print I learned in the last two weeks after someone told me they couldn't read my cursive. *sigh* But it's supposed to be tall and thin for space purposes. I started out writing print, but that font is atrocious and a pain to read. I can also do a Chancery Italic (no, not just a slant), but that doesn't work without an italic nib. The green looks too dark in this picture. It's hard to capture, but the first picture captured it best. Clip retains well, haven't lost it yet. (I keep it pocket clipped.) 

It's pushed the TWSBI out of my pocket, mainly because the thinner nib is easier to use for school. But the italic nib does have a certain elegance. Or so I like to think.