LAMY safari dark lilac Special Edition Fountain pen

I was lucky enough to be given a Lamy Safari Dark Lilac limited edition for 2016 fountain pen to review for the Papers Pens Poets website on Fountain Pen Friday. Now unlike my friend and colleague, I have never owned a Lamy pen before so this was a whole new experience for me. The first thing that drew me to the pen was the colour and the fact that it had a set of dark lilac ink cartridges to go with it. I could feel my heart speeding up just looking at it.

Even though I own several fountain pens, I always defer back to my trusty rollerball but I must say I do enjoy writing with the Lamy. It is extremely well-balanced and surprisingly light. The black medium nib glides across paper well without scratching and did not feel like it was bending or slipping as I wrote.

There was no issue with skipping even when I wrote at full speed. The ink dried very quickly so when I shut my notebook I did not get smudges on the opposite page and the ink did not seep through the pages. This is a good thing for all writers wanting to use both sides of the paper.

I particularly liked the ink level window. This is a feature I have not got on any of my other fountain pens and I am sure it will be useful for checking if the ink is running low.

The plastic exterior is very tough and as an ex-primary school teacher and an author who regularly does school visits, I can see how the signature triangular-shape would help people new to using fountain pens develop a good grip. I liked the cap and it fit neatly on the end of the pen so I did not have to search for it after writing and returning my consciousness to the real world. It also has a strong metal wire pocket clip in black like the nib and the top of the lid.

Overall, the Safari is good value for money. I can totally see why Jo is the proud owner of more than one, the incentive of the ‘limited’ edition makes it harder to resist as true collectors and stationery addicts, like Jo, will obviously want to own the whole set. As for me, I would be happy to write in dark-lilac forever.