My Jinhao 619 is sooo good, it convinced me to try an actual Lamy Safari

[Inky_Ben]

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.

[PJS_prog]

1 hour ago, Inky_Ben said:

Apologies in advance for any toes stepped on, but I don't actually love the look of the Lamy Safari --

Same here. Not really a fan of that look at all.

 

However, I recently acquired a three-pack of the Jinhao 65 pens, which are essentially copies of the Lamy CP-1. They came with Fine, Extra Fine, and 03 nibs. I've been writing off and on with the 03 nib, and it's outstanding. I've spent this week writing with it exclusively, and honestly, it has me reconsidering buying a Lamy. Probably not the CP-1, but the AL-Star. I prefer metal pens, so I'd pick that over the plastic Safari.

 

So, yeah, these inexpensive yet good pens may very well be gateways to the nicer originals.

[Penguincollector]

   I ended up with a couple of Lamy Al-Stars and the cp-1 because of a Chren clone. I also turned my nose up at the Safari, but now it’s kind of ugly cute. I ended up buying a Lamy gold nib specifically for my penguin and it’s glorious.

[Stefan-Ionut-Marius]

It is not the first attempt by Jinhao with models based on Lamy Safari or AL, but in general almost all models have problems 
with fragile plastics that tended to crack, break, etc. I, for one i did not buy any models based on safari from them, mainly 
because of the problems with the plastics, but also because Lamy Safari being a cheap pen, I can always buy the original, 
although i'm not really a fan of plastic pens, so I bought the metal variants directly from Lamy, the AL and LX .

[mke]

On 8/3/2024 at 12:02 AM, Inky_Ben said:

I don't even know how you ship those pens half-way around the world for $9

If you look at Alibaba, you can see that these pens cost $0.1 if you order hundreds/thousands.

[Inky_Ben]

On 8/30/2024 at 7:32 PM, mke said:

If you look at Alibaba, you can see that these pens cost $0.1 if you order hundreds/thousands.

LOL. Don't know what to do with a thousand pens. . . they'd have to bury me with the unused ones.

[mke]

On 8/3/2024 at 12:02 AM, Inky_Ben said:

But I don't think those two pens are actually in competition with one another for the same customer.

 

The "original" maker - sometimes they are not so original even - just doesn't want someone else having a look-a-like pen. It only indirectly has to do with money. 

 

9 hours ago, Inky_Ben said:

Don't know what to do with a thousand pens

Become an Amazon/Ebay/Aliexpress seller.

 

Btw., if you look closely at some pens at Aliexpress you can see that some sellers have 10000 pens of one model available - some only 5 or 10, however. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Waltz For Zizi]

On 8/2/2024 at 6:02 PM, Inky_Ben said:

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.

I've got the same feeling but with the Jinhao 82. I have 43 of them in different colors and thinking of getting a sailor now. LOL

[PJS_prog]

16 hours ago, Waltz For Zizi said:

I've got the same feeling but with the Jinhao 82. I have 43 of them in different colors ...