Lamy 2000, Is it worth it?

[51ISH]

1 hour ago, amk said:

I love the Lamy 2000. Usually I'm an 'ooh shiny' person, but the Lamy is just such a good writer, such a super pen, particularly with a broad nib. Takes plenty of ink, not pernickety in any way, light to hold and warm in the hand. 

 

I do find the ballpoints a bit tricky though; my hand seems to slide up them much too easily. 

 

I agree on the ballpoint. I find it too 'skinny'  l'd prefer it to be the same diameter as the FP.  Maybe I would have been better buying the multipen but I prefer a Broad refill in ballpoints, even though I'm a mostly 'Fine to Medium' guy in FP's 🤔

While I'm having a moan, I'll mention the clip annoys me no end as you have to ensure it's aligned with your hand or you are going to get scratched. Final moan, I'm not a big fan of Lamy BP refills (and there aren't lots of alternatives, although some folks rave about them) Personally I find even the broad to be a 'poor starter' on occasions, and is no match for a Schmidt P900 Broad in my experience.  Have you any experience of the L2K Rollerball ? (Although I'm not normally a RB fan either) 🤣

[Thinkpad_maven]

47 minutes ago, Aysedasi said:

 

There are a lot of other pens though....;)

True but I unfortunately do not know how to adjust a nib so I need it to work right out of the box, so far only Pilot and Penbbs have worked for me. I have some cheap ones that some of them worked including 1/3 Jinhao x159 that wrote nicely out of the box.

[Tseg]

I won't go through the gory details, but I believe I went through 4 L2K nibs to land on the Extra Fine, which now works perfectly for me on this pen.   When I consider the cost of ruining the first 3 nibs, this is one of the more expensive pens in my collection now.  But I was determined.   I like using it with Platinum Carbon Ink and signing official documents.

[Aysedasi]

On 3/6/2023 at 12:21 PM, Thinkpad_maven said:

True but I unfortunately do not know how to adjust a nib so I need it to work right out of the box, so far only Pilot and Penbbs have worked for me. I have some cheap ones that some of them worked including 1/3 Jinhao x159 that wrote nicely out of the box.

 

As an off the cuff suggestion then, try a Diplomat Aero - gorgeous pen and Diplomat's nibs are buttery smooth (well, every one I've had has been).  

[Trnsncdr]

Impossible for me to objectively suggest even the cheapest Lamy is a value when you consider it is at least 15x more expensive than a Jinhao of similar form and performance.  We all apparently have money to waste if we collect things anyway

[Doug C]

I love my 2000 but I would like it that much more if the cap would stay posted. Mine just slips right off no matter how much pressure I use.

[jchch1950]

The design ,the quality of the materials , the soft filling mechanism and the nib makes the Lamy 2000 a hard working pen. It is a classic pen that has been produced for more than 50 years and I think it is still going strong. Maybe there are other pens that look quite close to the Lamy 2000 and have a price that is a fraction , but the question is if they will perform in a good way in twenty or thirty years.

[kulnet]

It's a classic for good reason. I appreciate the look and feel of it. Mine performs outstanding though the nib was tuned by Mike Masuyama so that has a lot to do with it. This one will stay in the collection for sure. It's a reliable daily workhorse. Love it.

[PAKMAN]

I'm in the love mine category. It is well worth the cost to me.

[corniche]

Hello Nhartist40,

 

It's a great pen. I've had mine for years.

 

If you're still interested; you may want to check out Amazon. There is a seller there offering mediums and broads for the old pre-inflationary price of $159... which is what they sold for in the past. Given their current price is around $225; I'd check into that stat.

 

- Sean

[Nhartist40]

It is the wonder of fountain pens that people have so many different reactions to the same pens.  Part of the problem with evaluating the pens is that the same pen from the same company will write differently.  They have their own personalities.  Certainly, I have found that the Safari line can be inconsistent. And yet I totally agree with the comment about the beauty of the designs themselves.  They are distinctive and beautiful and not cookie cutter.  Also, many of Lamy's pens are quite affordable.  So I am a big fan.

[RJS]

On 3/8/2023 at 7:21 AM, Trnsncdr said:

Impossible for me to objectively suggest even the cheapest Lamy is a value when you consider it is at least 15x more expensive than a Jinhao of similar form and performance.  We all apparently have money to waste if we collect things anyway

I've lived for years in Asia, and the comparison between Lamy and all the Lamy-clones brings up an interesting debate. Cheap European and Japanese pens can be cloned in a damn near identical fashion, for 1/15th of the price. Companies like Lamy and Kaweco manage little to no consistency in their nibs, from my own personal experience, so I do start to wonder what we're paying for, aside from classic designs they came up with themselves. The performance and finish of Chinese nibs often comfortably exceeds what they manage. Pilot, at least, keep their noses ahead of the cheap Chinese pens in terms of nib consistency.

[Nhartist40]

If it were a few years ago, I would tend to agree with RJS, but lately all the Lamy pens I have bought have written beautifully, so much so that I keep coming back to them to write in my journal.  It could be that they have fixed the problems at their factory.  Who knows, maybe they are outsourcing the work to China!  I certainly agree too that Pilot pens are wonderful.  They are my top choice for drawing if you are going to buy a new pen, rather than a vintage pen.

[max dog]

I think it's well worth it.   I have the Lamy 2000 with medium nib, and I love how it brings out the beauty and character of the ink so nicely.  Inks shade beautifully with this nib too.   I enjoy running Noodlers Apache Sunset in it sometimes.  

[RJS]

8 hours ago, Nhartist40 said:

If it were a few years ago, I would tend to agree with RJS, but lately all the Lamy pens I have bought have written beautifully, so much so that I keep coming back to them to write in my journal.  It could be that they have fixed the problems at their factory.  Who knows, maybe they are outsourcing the work to China!  I certainly agree too that Pilot pens are wonderful.  They are my top choice for drawing if you are going to buy a new pen, rather than a vintage pen.

I'm not saying Lamy are terrible, but case in point: I've bought three cheaper Lamy pens from reputable shops in recent years that were labelled M...

 

One writes with a fine, dry line and slight feedback.

One writes with a medium line and slick, silky feel.

One writes with a stubby bold line and a pleasant tooth to it, with surprisingly line variation.

 

The "bold" M was the first I bought from those three, maybe 7 years ago. I loved that nib and wanted more. The nibs are supposed to be identical, but are miles apart. 
 

At least none of them are scratchy, which sometimes occurs with Kaweco nibs, which are at least as inconsistent in terms of width.

 

Edit: I've bought no new Lamy M in the past 3 years, so hopefully they've upped their game in terms of quality control. Thanks to this thread I'm now tempted to buy a new Safari with an M nib, and also a £1.50 Lazada clone, and see how they compare- both to each other and in terms of where the line width fits in next to all my other older Lamys that I have (EF/F/M/B)

 

Edit 2: Ooh, I've just seen a fake Makrolon 2000. Maybe I should buy one of those along with a real one instead 👀 

[amberleadavis]

So, uh.... yeah.... I dislike my Lamy 2000.  I feel completely alone in this dislike. I don't know if my expectations were too high or if I really dislike the OB nib and I would like the pen with a different nib.

 

Now don't get me wrong, the price was great and I bought a brand new pen.  Sigh. I wanted to love it.  I just really prefer the vintage MB 225 with a BB nib.  I used it for three fills and the pen sits in my cabinet. 

[TSherbs]

1 hour ago, amberleadavis said:

So, uh.... yeah.... I dislike my Lamy 2000.  I feel completely alone in this dislike. I don't know if my exceptions were too high or if I really dislike the OB nib and I would like the pen with a different nib.

 

Now don't get me wrong, the price was great and I bought a brand new pen.  Sigh. I wanted to love it.  I just really prefer the vintage MB 225 with a BB nib.  I used it for three fills and the pen sits in my cabinet. 

 

You are not alone. Sold mine off cuz I didn't like it: too light, too easy to rotate, too small of a sweetspot, and holding the conical section hurt my hand.

[AmandaW]

I'm still getting to know mine. It's an EF bought secondhand and, while it looks great, it's not very fine.

[51ISH]

22 minutes ago, AmandaW said:

I'm still getting to know mine. It's an EF bought secondhand and, while it looks great, it's not very fine.

 

I'm still getting to know mine. It's an EF bought secondhand and, while it looks great, it's not very fine.

 

"They all do that 'Sir'' 

 

Seriously though, my  Medium wrote like a Broad.... I asked Lamy to swop out the nib for a Fine, which writes broader than most of my Medium nibs.  Try using 'drier' inks, failing that you may want to get a professional to take a look.

[Karmachanic]

11 hours ago, amberleadavis said:

. I wanted to love it. 

 

I'm sure you could find someone to love it for you.