LAMY safari Fountain Pen

Okay I need to be clear from the get-go here. The best pen is a Zebra F701 -- the price to performance ratio is unbeatable. Further, if you want to splurge with a more luxurious option then it's undeniably the german-engineered Rotring 600 Ballpoint Pen. Those pens are versatile ballpoints that require next to no maintenance and will write beautifully just about anywhere (on the sofa, upside down while lounging in a hammock, in space or a submarine, etc.).

Now, all that said, my new favorite daily driver at my desk in my home office is the LAMY Safari Fountain Pen. Viscerally there is no match for scrawling notes and thoughts throughout the week in my Panobook.

The most unexpected delight here is the imperfection. The uneven ink distribution is a feature not a bug, giving each pen stroke some character in terms of the deliberation and speed of the thought pouring forth. This also goes back to me not being a big pencil person, i.e. why erase when you can just scratch out and keep the momentum going? Scratchouts give a note character and tell you something about the thought process. Well, similarly here dwelling on a word or feverishly scrawling and having the ink change accordingly is a delightful feature when reading the note afterwards.

Time will tell if the maintenance and ink cost is worth it. Inserting cartridges seems pretty simple and I'm not blazing through ink with a mostly digital life. But goodness gracious does it feel great writing with the beautiful blue ink (which is not archival friendly, for those considering ISO here).

And like see-through electronics being one of the coolest things, the clear pen casing scratches away some of the foppish concerns alongside the reasonable price tag of this cheap fountain pen.

Not recommended for everyone. The context your writing takes place in matters. But for a home office with a nice desk, this is a great choice (while the Rotring 600 Ballpoint Pen goes in the bag for work and travel, and the kingly Zebra T-3 goes in pocket).

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