Lamysafari umbra - Fountain Pen with ergonomic grip & black steel nib in size M - ideal for any Writing & Calligraphy - including LAMY T 10 blue cartridge - Right-Handed

As someone who loves fountain pens and owns many LAMY pens, the LAMY Safari Violet-Blackberry is an absolute standout in my collection. The deep, rich violet color with black accents looks stunning, and the signature Safari design is as comfortable as ever. The ergonomic grip makes writing effortless, even for long sessions, and the polished steel M nib glides smoothly across the page with just the right amount of ink flow.Like all LAMY Safari pens, it’s built to last, with a lightweight but durable body that feels great in hand. The ink cartridges and converter system make refilling easy, and the snap-on cap keeps it secure without fuss. It’s a perfect balance of style, function, and reliability.Whether jotting down notes or writing for pleasure, this pen makes every word feel special. Another fantastic addition to my LAMY collection!

Lovely pen. I’ve had Lamy pens before. I like how they write. This one is no different. Ink flow is nice and even.

Lamy was a brand once known and accepted as being a quality and price competitor to the rather expensive Mont Blanc brand. This is one design that is very affordable and which could be given to someone starting secondary or tertiary education or as an alternative to the disposable ballpoints or gel pens often used as it is often claimed that writing style improves with such pens. The concept of filling a pen with ink from a bottle would be a new experience to many of the younger generations. To help keep pricing low, the body is all plastic and the nib is presumably steel although in an anodised finish to match the black body. The cap is a push fit with a substantial metal pocket clip. The barrel is pierced to provide a window through which it is possible to check ink level.The feel of the pen is lightweight and rather fat in the body which, with its profiled shape and grip, make it very comfortable in the hand and between the fingers but its writing abilities belie its low price. As with any new fountain pen, the nib will need to be primed with a fingertip dampened with a little water or saliva but the ink will soon flow. There are other pens (some almost certainly Oriental in origin) that write less well and are much higher in price. An expensive pen (now £500-plus) given new and when far less expensive than today, despite three factory changes of nib, never did write as well as this.The pen as supplied is set-up for cartridges, and one is supplied although not engaged but will be on removing the cardboard spacer ring and tightening the barrel, but you can add an inexpensive filler adapter to enable use of bottled inks if for no other reason than the wider choice of available colours and the option to choose whichever brands works best for you or with the pen. Lamy's bottled inks (now and historically) tend to be gritty and often clog the pen as may their cartridges, which would require thenib section to be rinsed and dried before re-use. Adding the filler adapter relieves the pressure when trying to find replacement cartridges in emergency situations. Personal practice was to use bottled ink by default, keeping a cartridge or two available as a standby when away from home or the office.In the event that the nib wears, is broken or you wish for a change to a different width or style, unmounted spares are cheaply available and are supposedly simple to remove and replace. So impressed with its performance and price, another was almost immediately ordered in blue so that the ink colour (matching the body colour) used could be easily identified. If you are thinking about adding another in a different colour, they have a shiny finish to all extenal parts.

I’m a fountain pen devotee.I was attracted by this Lamy for two reasons. Firstly, was the fun aspect of the transparent barrel so that the colour of the ink could be seen. Handy, for someone with a couple of handfuls of fountain pens, all with different coloured inks in them, as I’m a bit of a collector of the Diamine range of inks, and then play colour mix with the ones I have.Secondly is the fact that I’m a Southpaw, and the Lamy, unlike my absolutely favourite brand – Cross, specifically the thin and elegant Century Classic – has a Left Hand Nib option. Something I have not seen offered by Cross. Lefties, depending on their own particular pen wielding and, I guess, the degree of left handedness, can find that they don’t get on with fountain pens at all. Some lefties curl their whole hand almost above the line, so that the wet ink of a fountain pen is smeared across the line as they write. I am not one of those. I write from below, albeit with a slight leftward roll of the nib. I’ve never found that problematic with a good, fine, fountain pen nib, and don’t have smear and blot problems. I probably have no real need of a ‘lefty’ but was interested to tryThis IS a nice pen, though visually it lacks the refined and poised look of that super slim Cross Classic Century. And I have small, slender hands, so find fatter pens seem to sit in my hands less well than willowy ones.For sure, I can understand the appeal of the Lamy for younger, possibly training writers – the chunkier barrel probably useful for those still learning how to manoeuvre a pen. The grooves down the barrel also impose more of a standard way of gripping the pen, again, this might be useful for those learning, but perhaps older writers, having had a lifetime of adapting to their own best way of gripping, find the grooved barrel inhibits comfortable familiarity. Certainly – I don’t know whether this was the slight curve to the nib, or the influence of the barrel, but writing with this was easiest with the pen very much square on the paper, forming a right angle with the line. Not my normal angling at all, A bit more effortful for meA downside of ‘Lefty’ is that though you can choose from a range of nib widths with the standard Lamy, only one choice is available if you go left – the Left Nib is a medium. It’s not too thick, but I definitely prefer Fine nibs for my handwritingSo…I like this, but I don’t adore it. But it’s more modest price make it a pen I would take out of the house, whereas the beloved, and more expensive, Crosses which also have sentimental attachments, stay indoors. Far too refined to be rolling around at the bottom of a handbag,This comes with one Lamy cartridge on board. Lamy cartridges are brand specific, and you can’t use the international standard, as their housing doesn’t fit the piercing point within the Lamy nib section. So, if you want to ease back off plastic waste, save your pennies, and get creative with a range of ink colours or ink blend for yourself, you will need the Lamy specific converter. The one for the Vista is the Z28-Z24 ‘the successor to the Z24’ which is available on this site. I don’t know if the old Z24 fits the Vista. In theory I think it should, as both the Z28-Z24 and the Z24 say they fit the Safari, which the Vista is a transparent version of. I think the changes may purely be in the colour/visuals at the top of the filling chamber, which looks a little more refined in the pictures of the new version than the old. Again, Lamy have their own specific converters, other non specific generic converters won’t do!

Beautiful pen! I bought it along with the ink converter z24, which fit perfectly and easily. Once I managed to find the right ink for sketching, it flowed smoothly across the paper. Very comfortable to hold and sturdy too. I particularly like the fine nib that it came with.