Why are Lamy pens universally regarded as great starters. In my opinion the nibs are terrible.

Let’s just say I started getting into this hobby a few months ago after I bought a Hobonichi weeks to try and organize my life better. People recommended fountain pens. Almost every article and video about the best starting pens had Lamy Safari as one of the best.

So I started my journey with a charcoal black safari that actually is beautiful and feels great to hold. The fine nib hard started like crazy and was infuriating. I cleaned out the pen 3 times. After spending $30 and pissed off that this pen wrote worse than my $1 Energel gel pen, I followed some tutorials and was able to split the tines a bit. Now it gushed but it would still hardstart randomly after a few lines of writing and was just a pain.

Still upset and convinced I just got unlucky I ordered an AL star. Hey it’s more expensive it must mean the nib has better quality control right? Wrong. This fine nib wrote so dry, the lines were basically translucent until the last 10%. In a bit of panic I ordered a medium nib to try and this wrote “well” and I was complacent for a month or so.

Since then I’ve acquired a kaweco sport, pilot metro, twsbi 580, and a $30 Chinese knockoff. The nibs on these in my opinion are multiple tiers above the Lamys I have. Writing with them causes joy. The only way I can describe using the Lamy nib is “boring”. The medium one I have writes fine it just feels no different than using a cheap rollerball.

At the end of the day I’m a little bummed out because I actually love the bodies and construction of the Lamy pens I own. The nibs just have terrible quality control and have no “personality”. They are mass produced without a soul. Curious about others thoughts on Lamy nibs?