Lamy Safari Candy Fountain Pen 021 Aquamarine Nib F

Briefly, here's my story. It so happened that in our small company, we needed to choose unique gifts for our employees and partners. We spent a long time thinking about what to give, considering a very limited budget. We settled on an original gift in the form of a fountain pen. It's quite a rarity nowadays. Yes, many people might just let them sit, but it's much more interesting than a regular pen. I've been using Parker pens for many years, and by the way, it's an excellent way to prevent pen theft from your desk. Not many people know how to use them anymore, like a manual gearbox in a car. But to be objective, I decided to explore other brands. I won't talk about them here; I'll talk about LAMY Safari pens that I bought to test with my own money. In vain... if you're too lazy to read the whole review. I'll start with the cons: 1. The first, and I think the most important thing when you buy something as a gift and can't test it - out of the 4 pens, only one writes really smoothly and doesn't scratch the paper. The other three scratch the paper. I tested them on different types of paper, but the main ones were Leuchtturm and Moleskine notebooks, and they scratched too. It's annoying. 2. The native blue ink is terrible for signing documents; they are pale and not uniform in structure. I'm talking about the ink that comes in cartridges. 3. If you decide to use a converter for ink, you'll be in for a huge disappointment. It's not easy to fill it properly, and most importantly, the pen's nib will always be in ink. This is how all 4 pens I bought behave. You can wash them under water, but then you need a lot of time for them to start writing again, and after a while, the nib will be in ink again. I can only note that if you use cartridges with ink, you don't have this problem. But there, the blue ink is not of good quality... a vicious circle. 4. Parker ink is a class above, and no one prevents you from using it, but only if you use a converter. Parker cartridges cannot be used. See point 3. Now, the pros: 1. I chose pens from the Safari series, namely: All Black Limited Edition 2018 (Fine, it's the only one that doesn't scratch the paper), Modern Terracotta (it scratches the paper significantly less with Parker ink), Green (it's glossy, as it turns out, and looks very cheap), Transparent (it looks very original). The variety of colors is definitely better than Parker. 2. The pen size is very comfortable for 90% of hands, which can't be said, for example, about Parker Vector pens. 3. The cartridge attachment system is clearly better thought out, and both pens didn't leak during use. 4. They are lighter, and there are options for choosing nib thickness. In conclusion, we bought Parker pens and didn't go wrong. Am I a little sorry for my own money on these experiments? A bit, but I gained experience. I had never used pens from other brands before; I'm not a fan or a collector. There was just no need to find a replacement for what satisfies me 100%, but now, for around $125, I got a clear answer on why it's worth continuing to use Parker. The pens are open, and their boxes have been thrown away, and I can't return them, although it would be necessary if it's even possible in the case of a pen that has been used :) Another important question for LAMY's marketers and designers - guys, the brand is a very important part of any company. Why is the brand and the name of your company at the bottom of the pen when the user is holding it? Did you forget about the history of Apple's logo and the upside-down apple? Seriously? In summary, for a collection, this may be a good option. But if you want to buy a single pen and be confident and satisfied with it (which is the most important thing when writing by hand), I would look at other brands. This is my opinion, and I'm not imposing it on anyone.