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I assume that this question has been raised in the past, but did not have much luck in searching the forum. I have two very early Safari's where the blind cap has become brittle and comes out peacemeal. I understand that this is a common problem with the very early versions. Can these blind caps be replaced with newer ones? ...or has the design been changed?

Apologies in advance for any toes stepped on, but I don't actually love the look of the Lamy Safari -- which puts form over function. But the form is important and certain things just "look right" to each of us (or don't, as the case may be). I know that that pen is probably one of the most popular pens out there, and it is popular for a reason, so I lead with this with some trepidation. However, I bought a torpedo-shaped fountain pen in my 30's and I kind of got aesthetic brain-lock on that basic design. You all will understand that what I am talking about is essentially a failure of the imagination here (mine, that is). You get locked in to thinking a certain way about a topic, an idea, or a product, 'cause you tried it at some point and it fit well. So I bought that black, torpedo-shaped fountain pen with the star on top, and then maybe the German stripy one and a couple of French enameled brass tubes, and there the matter sat for about 25 years. I fully acknowledge that the limitation is mine, but that is essentially what personal taste is. Cut to today, when >duh< I realized that it is sort of an interesting time in fountain pens -- there are a lot of choices out there. And Amazon wanted to sell me FIVE Jinhao copies of that basic Lamy-style pen for about 9 dollars delivered. I don't even know how you ship those pens half-way around the world for $9, let alone manufacture them and sell them at retail. The cost to manufacture the pens must be in the low pennies per unit. I realize that the question of design copies is tricky and one that must come up a lot on this particular subforum. But I don't sweat it too much in my own purchasing. I like to tinker with stuff and am much more comfortable taking a dremmel or a file to a $20 copy of a European design than to the more expensive pen itself. Heck, I never even had the nibs and feeds out of my older, classic pens and didn't have the guts to try until I could practice on my less expensive (cheaper?) Chinese copies of the same. And, I rationalize to myself, that no one is going to purchase a $26 P136 rather than a Montblanc. Ever. They are different beasts, except superficially in appearance. If you want the more expensive pen, you scrimp, you save, you sell off your Vida Blue rookie card -- you do what you have to. But I don't think those two pens are actually in competition with one another for the same customer. The Lamy Safari is a bit different though, because the German pen is soooo reasonably priced for what it is. It is worth mentioning though that at $9 for a pack of five copies, the Chinese pens are an order of magnitude cheaper than the original German design. That being said, these days, buying an actual Lamy would mean skipping one or two lunches and redirecting the funds. So I was skeptical, but $9 is well within a my comfort zone for risk on a home/office product. I ordered them and in due course, the pens arrived in five different colors and I inked up the yellow one at random. And whaddaya know? The 619 has an EF nib, but writes smoothly. Really smoothly. It has sat capped for weeks and starts right up. The quality of the nib on paper is great. My conclusion was that I was completely wrong about the design. And having adjusted my outlook/prejudices accordingly. . . Ironically, the ultimate outcome is this: I have just placed an order for two actual Lamy Safari pens, one black and one white. And I would have never ventured forth on this if I hadn't had such a good experience with the "homage" pen in my pen cup. If I were the executives at Lamy (or Montblanc, or Waterman etc. etc.) I would take a very dim view of how my house's brand has been copied abroad. But I think there is a good argument that the Chinese copies can also serve as "gateway" pens for folks who don't live near a pen store and who can't really make an informed decision about whether a particular style fits them unless they can get their hands on something they can afford. I also know from reading reviews on Amazon and elsewhere that not everyone has had the good luck I have in inking up their own versions of the Chinese pen. But so far, I am very pleased. The thing just works, and works well for my purposes.

Lamy has brought out new colours in many of their models every year. Some of them are new and others are reissues and they attract the attention of part of the penlovers community and collectors. Has anyone news about the new issues?

I've read that Lamy has released special Hanzi nibs in Asia. They seem to be on the "architect" side to aid with Chinese or Japanese writing. I can't write Chinese but I'm curious. Anyone used one? https://www.instagram.com/p/CYc46c2vLFN/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CYfVKvQvUKn/ But since when is there a matte red Safari? 🤔

Hi all, I looked on the UK shop page of Lamy.com just the other day, and I saw this image: I happen to live not that far from one of the shops shown on the map as hosts of the company’s touring exhibition to celebrate the last 20 years of these editions of the Safari. So of course I only found it after the final date I have posted this image here so that you, dear reader, can check on the Lamy.com ‘shop’ page for your home country, and find out whether the tour is ‘coming to a venue near you’ any time soon. (And also because I’m a whingeing pom, obvs. 😉) Slàinte, M.

As exercise for a CAD software in 2018 I created a 3D-model of a Safari fountain pen. It's not perfect, but it was a fun thing to do. The model will be made public domain some time in the future. Here's a sneak preview of the model. I'll have to do some final work on the nib before it's ready. Each part can be places separately, like a real pen. And I'll convert it to a broadly used format.

Hello! (I don't know how to change the title, but apparently this pen might be called "Early Red" instead, see later messages.) I bought a few pens at an auction, one of them was a Lamy Safari. I was curious what the colour was called then I saw it was a bit sought after, the early colour "Terrarot" or "Terracotta Orange". Or is it something not so desirable about exactly my pen? I notice some are textured, mine is very shiny. Any other things that makes mine different from other variants of "Terrarot"? The top of the cap is black with an indented X. The end of the barrel says "W.GERMANY". I noticed the colours when looking at pictures online vary from bright orange to dark reddish brown, but is this just due to lighting, camera and screen, or do they vary? When looking at my pictures on my screen they look pretty much the same except the first picture is a bit too bright, maybe the rest is also a little bit too bright. Also I would say the real colour is a bit more rich, more saturated. I do like the pen, but as I am not rich I am interested in how much I am likely to get if I sell it? And is the price going up or down? It looks like it is maybe never used. Thanks!

I just did a review on my YouTube channel of the rather obscure Lamy Smile Fountain Pen that was made for kids. It had its debut in 2006 and it has a unique cap that has rings that you can turn. On each ring are emojis. You line them up in a window in the pen clip and that is supposed to create "secret" messages that you can share with your friends. I talk about this pen in a new series, that I call "What Were They Thinking?" The obvious problem with such a pen is that it would drive a teacher crazy having the kids fiddling with the pen and sending messages when they should be paying attention in class. It did not seem to do very well and has almost vanished from history. There are very few reviews of it online. I picked one up for $17.00 on Ebay. The pen ended up spawning the Nexx line of fountain pens. Lamy simply got rid of the rings and made some modifications to produce the Nexx, which I guess they wanted to be the next great thing in fountain pens. They are still selling a version of the pen now with a much simpler cap (there is also a M version of the Nexx that is slightly more expensive and has a metal cap). They target it for kids who have outgrown their ABC fountain pen, but are not ready for the Safari. I think the contemporary Nexx is a nice pen, and I really enjoy the Smile too. All these pens use the standard Lamy nibs that are on the Safari, and they write with the same characteristics. The Smile pen with its turning emoji cap is an original concept that should have been targeted for grownups who wanted a pen they could play with and would act like worry beads. You can see the review here

I'll cite GoldenBear from penechange.de. There are rumors for two new releases. Plus neon ink? Could be fake though.

Ink Shoot-Out : Diamine Safari vs Super5 Dublin Green In 2014, Diamine surprised us with a series of six inks to commemorate their 150th Anniversary. Within this set, Safari is one of my favourites. Some two years ago, I discovered the Super5 inks from papierlabor.de which are waterproof inks. One of them – Dublin Green – looks very similar to Safari in written text. That of course piqued my interest … time do a detailed comparison and find out which of these inks I like the most. Enter... the Ink Shoot-Out. A brutal fight spanning five rounds, where two inks engage in all-out battle to determine who is the winner. Today the billboard announces the exciting fight between two middle-weight female fighters. In the left corner – from Liverpool, England – the reigning champion Denise “the Dancer”. In the right corner the challenger from Darmstadt, Germany: Hildegarde “the Hook”. Both champions are evenly matched, so this promises to be an exciting fight! Tension in the boxing hall is building up... when the fighters enter the arena, they are welcomed to a thunderous applause. The bell rings, signaling the start of the first round. May the best ink win… Round 1 – First Impressions Both inks make a great first impression on me: murky, dirty greyish greens with a touch of yellow. Really nice-looking on all kinds of paper. This is the type of colour that appeals to me. Even though these are muted inks, they provide excellent contrast with the paper even in the finest nibs, leaving a well-saturated line on the Rhodia N°16 notepad paper. Both inks exhibit strong and elegant shading, without too much contrast between the light and darker parts. This immediately elevates the aesthetics of your writing. The inks look nearly identical in writing, but there are some differences: Safari has a broader colour span, and shows more elegant moves. They don’t call her “the Dancer” for nothing. This is clearly illustrated in the saturation sample. Both inks shade nicely, but Dublin Green is a lot more subtle. Due to its narrower colour range, the shading is more subdued, and looks a bit more elegant to me. Dublin Green is a bit greyer, with no yellow in its dye composition. Both inks make a superb first impression – a choreography of dancing moves, circling their opponent and exchanging probing flurries of strikes and counter-strikes. And the public agrees – encouraging their champions with roaring approval and deafening applause. At the end of this first round, it really shows that these fighters are evenly matched. No clear winner emerges, and this round ends with a draw. Round 2 – Writing Sample The writing sample was done on Rhodia N°16 Notepad with 80 gsm paper. Both inks behaved flawlessly, with no feathering and no show-through or bleed-through. With the EF nib, Safari shows its strength, and looks much more saturated. Dublin Green feels less lubricated and leaves a less saturated line with the EF nib. With broader nibs, the Super5 ink no longer has lubrication issues, and both inks write equally well. Colourwise both inks look similar in writing, although there is definitely more of a grey undertone in the Dublin Green ink. Both inks also shade nicely, without too much contrast between light and dark parts. This aesthetically pleasing shading gives more character to your writing, and shows up even with the finer nibs. For this round, the focus is on writing, and here both inks are strong performers. At the beginning of the round, the Dancer from Liverpool broke through the defences of the German ink, delivering a powerful punch. But the Super5 ink recovered nicely, and for the rest of the round both champions were evenly matched. Almost a draw, but that initial punch counts, and so this round goes to Safari on points. Round 3 – Pen on Paper This round allows the batlling inks to show how they behave on a range of fine writing papers. From top to bottom, we have : Midori notebook paper, Paperblanks 120 gsm paper, Tomoe River 52 gsm, Fantasticpaper, Original Crown Mill cotton paper and Clairefontaine Triomphe 90 gsm. All scribbling and writing was done with a Lamy Safari M-nib. Both champions did really well, with no show-through nor bleed-through. But this round is not about technicalities, it is about aesthetics and beauty. Are the fighters able to make the paper shine ? One thing is immediately apparent: these inks are at home on a wide range of papers, both white and off-white ones. On white paper, Dublin Green clearly shows its greyer nature – on cream paper, both inks look more or less the same. The Diamine ink is a bit more expressive and complex-looking in the swabs. Dublin Green, on the other hand, looks more subtle in the shading. Overall, really strong inks with only minimal differences in style. Both inks are on par with each other, with neither of the champions giving any ground. Both fighters gave their all, providing quite a spectacle. The crowd is loving it! But in the end, neither ink could score a solid hit, and as such the third round ends with a draw. The tension in the hall is now going up by the minute. Are both fighters really each other’s equal ? Will one of them show some weakness ? Let’s continue the fight to find out. Round 4 – Ink Properties With the ring of the bell that announces the fourth round, Safari immediately dances to her opponent ready to bring more action to the fight. But wait… what’s happening? The German ink breaks through the defenses with a solid left hook… wham! Oh my god! Safari goes down and hits the canvas! The crowd is shocked into silence, then roars its approval! 10… 9… 8… 7… Oh no… this is a disaster… Safari is groaning, and struggles to right itself … 6… 5… finally Denise “the Dancer” scrambles to her feet, groggily shaking her head. But the round is lost! The referee rightfully grants this round to the German fighter. In this round, the biggest difference between Safari and Dublin Green emerges. The Super5 ink is designed to be water-resistant, and it shows: no smudging, and the ink effortlessly survives a 15-minute soak in water. For the smudge test, I let both inks dry for 30 seconds, and then rubbed a moist Q-tip cotton swab over the text. For the droplet test, I dripped water on the grid and let it sit there for 15 minutes. The difference is clear: Super5 Dublin Green definitely is very water-resistant, making it a good ink for use at the office. Round 5 – The Fun Factor Welcome to the final round. Here I give you a purely personal impression of both inks, where I judge which of them I like most when doing some fun stuff like doodling and drawing. Both inks do well, and show off a lovely colour spectrum, ranging from very light grey- and yellow-green to a really dark and saturated green. I really enjoyed using them. The drawing was done on a piece of 10x15cm HP photo paper. Personally I prefer the slightly greyer looks of Dublin Green. This ink also feels a bit more complex, with more character in the drawing. Safari looks soft and restrained – an ink with a joyous appearance but not too wild. Dublin Green on the other hand is more of a bad girl showing more temparement. In my opinion, the Super5 ink definitely looks better in this drawing. For this round, both champions are again well matched. But for this judge, Dublin Green showed the best moves, and wins this round on points. Mind… this is a relative comparison. Standing on its own, Diamine Safari is still a terrific ink to play around with. But side by side, I definitely prefer the Dublin Green from Super5. The Verdict Both inks are real jewels, that work on all types of paper. These are real champions, that both deserve a place in your ink collection. But counting the points, it’s clear that the challenger from Germany proved to be stronger. Even if you ignore the whopping win in round 4 (i.e. you don’t care about water resistance), Dublin Green still manages to be the slightly better ink. So for this judge, the conclusion is clear: Super5 Dublin Green is the winner of this exciting fight.

Just got the newsletter. Thought people might want to know about the new digital pen: LAMY safari twin pen all black EMR It offers a ballpoint and EMR point. Link to German LAMY page: https://shop.lamy.com/de_at/digital-writing-lamy-safari-twin-pen-all-black-emr.html#utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=TwinPen_29-04-22&stylus_technology=7531&model_color_material=7647

In the past few years I have had a Safari die on me. Despite repeated attempts to wash/ flush it through having not caught the cartridge running out in time I could not get it writing. Now the Al-star that replaced the Safari last year is playing up despite regular cleaning and flushing with clean water. I also wonder if it is the Lamy ink especially the black that has been on the shelf a while that is drying up in the cartridge and in the workings of the pen. Am I better off A) storing vertically B ) using converter and Quink black ink or other ink or C) both of the above I am rapidly going off Lamy ink, especially there cartridges as they do not seem to last all that long before I am putting a new one in either of my Lamy pens

There is a new "limited" edition Lamy Safari coming up for sale in October. White with red clip, charity donations. Does any one know what design the top has on that one? Cross or dot? Sold here for instance

Somewhere I saw for sale four colours of Lamy Safari with a city skyline drawn onto the cap. For some reason I think it was a Copenhagen cityscape but can’t be sure. I wanted to buy them but cannot for the life of me find them anywhere anymore. It was only within the last few months. Can anyone help point me in the right direction please?

Pen Pit Stop : LAMY Safari Pastel (2019 Special Edition) Welcome to the Pen Pit Stop. Here you will find reviews of pens that already have some mileage on them. More specifically, these reviews are of pens that are in my personal collection, and that have been in use for at least a year. I thought it would be fun to do it this way – no new & shiny pens here, but battered vehicles that have been put to work for at least a year. Let’s find out how they have withstood the ravages of time. The fountain pens that arrive at the pit stop today are a trio: the LAMY Safari Pastel Series (2019 Special Edition). These are matching pastel-tinted pens in blue (Blue Macaron), green (Mint Glaze) and rose (Powder Rose). Lovely soft colours that go together well - I can see why LAMY brought these to market as a set. The fascinating history of LAMY is published on the web at https://www.lamy.com/en/history. As we can read at their site, the LAMY Safari was first unveiled at the Frankfurt Fair in 1980. It is the result of a close cooperation with designer Wolfgang Fabian and the Mannheim Development Group under the direction of Prof. Bernt Spiegel. The ergonomic design and sturdy workmanship of the LAMY Safari are perfectly tailored to the needs of schoolchildren, but also quickly win over many adult fans as well. Once a year, LAMY brings out a Special Edition Safari with its own particular colour scheme. In 2019, they deviated from this pattern, coming out with a trio of pens with the Pastel Special Edition. These have quickly become my new standard set for doing ink reviews. The Safari pen itself needs no introduction – it has been reviewed probably thousands of times. I will therefore limit myself to the specific characteristics I personally appreciate the most: Solid fountain pen for everyday use, with a fairly cheap price tag of around 20 EUR with taxes included. A real workhorse pen. And if you lose/damage it, you can always get a new one. Easily exchangeable nibs. This is a big plus in my book – a wide choice of nib sizes to experiment with. A large and practical ink window that makes it easy to check the amount of ink left in the cartridge/convertor. The most controversial feature is obviously the grip section, which forces your thumb and index finger to a specific position. You will either find this comfortable (like me), or you will hate it to no end (in which case the Safari is not for you). There doesn’t seem to be an in-between. Pen Look & Feel The design of the pens is top-notch! These are very functional-looking writing instruments with an industrial design, that still looks modern 40 years after their introduction to market. It definitely is a timeless classic. The pastel tones of this 2019 SE trio were well chosen, and complement each other nicely. LAMY paid special attention to get even minor details right - e.g. the O-ring between grip section and barrel matches the colour of the pen. You can buy the individual pens if you like, but it’s well worth it to get the complete set. Outfit the pens with a range of nibs, and you have a trio of pens for any writing occasion. The picture above illustrates the size of the LAMY Safari when uncapped, capped and posted. The pen is a decent size uncapped, and becomes really large when posted. For me, I find it a bit too unwieldy when posted, so I typically use the pen uncapped. While writing with the pen, I usually have the cap in my other hand – fiddling with it while the pen does its work on the paper. Pen Characteristics Build Quality : build quality is very good for such an affordable pen. A Safari pen can easily last decades. As a workhorse pen, it will probably get scratched - it’s just a plastic pen after all - but you’ll be able to enjoy it for a long time. By that time, you will probably already have another Safari pen ready to use. I’ve noticed that these pens have a tendency to accumulate. Myself, I started with one Safari pen years ago, and today I have over ten of them lying around. Weight & Dimensions : this is a very lightweight pen made out of plastic. The pen is large enough that it fits any hand. It posts easily for those who prefer this, becoming really long but remaining well balanced. Filling System : this is a cartridge/convertor pen that uses a LAMY specific form factor. I have no experience with the LAMY convertor. I’ve always used cartridges myself, filling them with bottled ink using a syringe. Nib & Performance : the LAMY comes standard with steel nibs, but it’s possible to buy gold nibs if you prefer them. A big plus is that the nibs are easily replaceable, and come in a wide variety of sizes (from EF to 1.9 italic). The steel Z50 nibs are cheap at 7.50 EUR a piece, while the 14-karat Z55 gold nibs are fairly expensive at 100 EUR (taxes included). Be aware that Safari pens are fairly dry writers and are best paired with wetter inks for an enjoyable writing experience. Price : These pastel pens were priced at 19 EUR a piece. For this you get a workhorse pen with a timeless industrial look. In my opinion, I got good value for money. Conclusion The LAMY Safari is a timeless classic that is well constructed and will last you a long time. I love it that LAMY keeps the Safari brand fresh and alive with yearly new releases. And I found this specific 2019 Special Edition Pastel trio a welcome addition to the colour palette. Totally fits my taste! The big question is: would I buy these pens again? To this, my answer is a resounding: YES. I just love the soft pastel colours, and these pens have quickly become the standard writers I use when doing ink reviews.

Does anyone know how I might get my hands on one of the old Lamy squeeze converters (pictured below)? Thanks to haywoody for alerting me to the existence of this converter, which is where I also got the image (https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/90367-lamy-safari/).

So I was in the local post office and while waiting for the guy to find the parcel I was collecting I saw some fountain pens for sale on the counter. They were what I can only describe as knock off Lamy Safaris. Given that the post office is in Heidelberg Germany I found it almost bizzarly amusing that they were selling them. 6 euro each and I nearly bought one before coming to my senses. But when I got home I looked everywhere for my old matt black Safari and could not find it. I found a few fountain pens - my high school Waterman, a Pilot, a transparent Safari and also two Safari rollerballs (the rollerballs I never liked writing with at all). However, I seem to have got a bug, or craving, to use a fountain pen again. I loved using them years ago, but just started writing less and less by hand and more and more on computers. So I looked to buy a real safari to replace my matt black and saw the specials this year. The green savannah looks fantastic and is ordered, I was really tempted to get the terra one also. Meanwhile I am washing out my safari vista and the pilot I found (lots of strange colours coming out of both). The Waterman has too much sentimental value to take out the house (I do most writing at work). I can't wait for the green Safari to arrive, by the time it does I will have put ink in the vista and pilot, I'm a bit worried I don't write enough by hand to need three pens on the go. However that has not stopped me also looking at the Terra again and again. I am still determined to find my old matt black safari. I have moved house twice since I last used it and it must be in a box somewhere. This was all triggered by seeing those pens in the post office.