Lamy AL-Star

“Personally I have 3 Safaris and an Al-Star. I love their durability. And they're so economical, I don't mind getting them beat up. Perfect pen IMO for college or field work.”

“Safaris and Al-Stars both seem to suffer from the cap connection failing after a couple years, which means reaching into your pocket for a pen and pulling out just a cap”

“I recently got a LAMY al star and I was also surprisingly disappointed considering how many people here jizz about it. It writes decently enough, but maybe I just needed to try a different ink.”

“Safaris / Al-Stars have a problem where with heavy use the cap sometimes gets loose, but you can fix that. If you drop it the aluminum could dent.”

“A few years later I bought a lamy Al-star and that was what catapulted me into the realm of fountain pens! I loved the weight, proportions, and even at a fine it felt like a smooth writer.”

“I’m not crazy about the Lamy nib. It feels too stiff to me (I’ve heard it described as writing with a nail) and the barrel of the pen feels a bit cheap.”

“The Lamy Lx feels a little nicer than the AL Star and is a more complete pen that offers a good writing experience if you want to try more Lamy's.”

“Behind those two brands, I do like Lamy Al-Star and Safari.... again, with 1.1 nibs. Syringe with converters. These all write really smoothly, flow well, and offer beautiful line variation.”

“I also have a Metro and an AL-Star (which i got on sale for the same price as a safari) and I agree the writing experience of my Metro is better.”

“The Lamy tends to dry out super fast compared to any other pen I have, which makes it frustrating to keep in my bag.”

“My initial rounds included a Lamy Safar and Al-Star, a Kakuno, and TWSBI. Fell in love with all of them, with the TWSBI being the least favorite out of all of the loving.”

“the Lamy Safari and AL-Star usually need a tiny bit of tweaking to get them a touch wetter and smoother, to where I like them.”

“Safaris, AL-Stars, Studios. All purchased at reputable pen stores. Gushing, hard starts, won't write, you name it”

“I have pens in the 100s of dollars and I still occasionally use my two Al-Stars. Why? Well partly because there is maybe no pen easier or more affordable to swap nibs on.”

“I have five Safaris/AL-Stars with varying nib sizes. The medium is smooth while the fines and extra-fines are not.”

“I have 2, the EF I have it with a cart inked with Taccia Sunao-iro aoguro. That dries out but not horribly.”

“Have two safaris, (will give one away to my sister) and one new al star. The two write very well, the new pen has some issue with the ink flow but I just bought it.”

“It is really the Safari/AL-Star which are polarizing. Which is understandable because they are just plain ugly”

“In my opinion, Al-star’s nib is not very durable, but I think 5 years is OK as long as you don’t drop it.”

“the Al-Star has a much better converter and the ability to easily swap nibs, so I've learned to appreciate the Lamy, even if I still don't think it's particularly attractive. It has grown on me though.”

“Unfortunately I found that I didn't reach for it a lot. I was actually trying to sell it on another sub”

“I bought one here and the F it came with sucked, as did the M and B replacements I bought”

“That is one dope looking Al-Star. These pens are great because Lamy makes so many different nibs, including stubs, and they’re incredibly simple to swap out.”

“I will use some with my Lamy Al-Star. It’s an EF and I was slightly disappointed with how dry it writes”