Battle of the Pens: Pilot Kakuno VS Lamy Safari 

Hello Marc. I bought my first Lamy Safari about 3 years ago. I actually expected to hate the triangular grip but I LOVE IT! It is so easy to hold with my very arthritic fingers. I like the balance of the Lamy Joy even more... I swapped out the calligraphy nib for a regular nib like comes on the Safari. It may seem authoritarian to you but the grip is a real bonus for me.

Neat video! Were I live the Lamy Safari is not a cheap pen. Buying a Jinhao 777 (Safari copy) is a safer way to test the grip and overal ergonomy of this model.

I like both, but aesthetically I prefer the Lamy over the Kakuno. Anyway is a tight comparison and for the price IMO are both excellent choices. Nice video!

The Lamy Safari is fun. It puts a smile on my face every time I use it.

An excellent comparison. As someone who owns both Lamys and Pilots, I prefer Pilots for their slightly finer nibs, and the better tuned fine nibs, though I am biased toward Japanese pens. I also find the edges of the triangle grip on the Lamy tends to dig into my fingers more than the softer edges on the Kakuno. Regarding gold nib Pilots, I surmise that they are smoother than their steel counterparts because of the wetter feeds. Gold nib Pilot medium nibs are also noticeably thicker than medium steel nibs; the Pilot fine-medium gold nib tip is roughly the same width as the medium steel nib tip.

Good comparison. Thank you Mark.

Would have liked to see the Twsbi Eco thrown into the comparison with these two. I used the Pilot Prera in the past (now onto Pilot 91 sf, Falcon and 912 FA), and prefer that over the Lamy, simply because I don’t like triangular grips for drawing. But my advice to everyone is give them a try - lots of artists I respect go with the Lamy.

I have a Kakuno in fine and it’s wonderful. It has a very smooth and wet nib. Also the converters on the Majohn A1s fit and work well on Pilots.

I'm really excited for the Sailor TUZU. A Safari with an adjustable grip/nib rotation, the consistency of Japanese nib production, packaged in a slightly prettier body. I'd wager it's got a shot of replacing my kakunos as reliable cheap knockabout pens

I have 2 Kakunos (F and EF) and 2 Safaris (EF). My most preferred width would be the Pilot Fine, but, overall, I like the Safari better. It is made of ABS plastic the same as Lego so very durable. I have Lamy EF nibs on other models (Joy, CP1, and Nexx) and have not had to smooth them, so I was luckier there. I got Kaweco clips for my Kakunos.

Great lecture!

Kakuno w/italic nib is my most constant daily user, nib quality approaches my more expensive pens. Feed ability with all my inks, wet or dry is probably best amongst all my pens.

As an amateur artist/fountain pen lover who has a small collection of inexpensive pens, I feel that the Lamy Safari are overall definitely rougher than the Pilot Metro, TWSBI Eco, FPR ultra flex & Wings super quality. But I can deal with it for drawing, I like the feel for certain things. Marc thank you very much, there is always loads of info and much excellent "inside" sort of info with many tips that can save years of study for artists of all levels.

For those that really miss a clip on the Kakuno, the Kaweco Sport clip fits the Kakuno decently. I personally never use clips but it does make a better roll stop and adds a little bit of weight to the pen (for those who like that) 👍 I love the little sketch of the guys battling, good review

Thank you for the review. I own many Lamy pens with different nibs, unfotunately their finer nibs feel scratchy out of the box but still peform well enough. Even their 14k EF nib feels scratchy but has fairly good flex on it.

I have 2 Lamy Safaris. My problem is that they dry out very quickly (in 2-3 days).

I had a Lamy Vista for a while (the clear version of the Safari. The faceted grip really did not work for me since I like to rotate the pen while using it. I really liked the ease of nibbling swapping, just put a bit of scotch tape on the nib and pull it straight out, and the simplicity and small size of the replacement nibs, just a small curved piece of metal. I also liked the fact that you can get a variety of stub nibs that fit it which are readily available in the U.S., 1.1, 1.5 and 1.9mm. I thought that I would be able to see how much ink was left in it but through the two layers of plastic with the converter it didn’t work so well. I have long since switched to TWSBI pens and am much happier on all accounts.

1. How nice that the one that costs half as much is the winner. I have heard so much praise for the Kakuno. 2. The one time a triangle grip is slightly useful is when the nib has a sweet spot - it helps you find it. However triangle grips are quite awkward for reverse writing, so much so that I avoid them altogether.

Very interesting video! Could you please tell me the name of the Pilot pen you mention at the end of the video. The one that has the same nib as the Kakuno you presented. I own 2 Lamy safaris (fine and medium nib) and am looking for a pen with a finer line where the ink dries faster. Many urban sketchers praise the Platinum carbon ink pen and I was said to find out that they no longer produce the one with the extra fine nib. Thank you in advance!

Interesting comparison. You mention the con70 converter. Is there some sort of secret trick/arcane ritual to cleaning them. Love that converter but i struggle to clean out waterproof inks.

interesting comparison, my Lamy Vista's fine nib is impressively smooth, could it be asking too much from an extra fine?

My Safari is very smooth. I prefer the pilot metro but the converter doesn't hold a lot of ink and i can't seem to get more ink into the converter

Pheeeew the Lamys are really expensive in the US. Here in Germany they cost around 15-20 Dollars.

The thing that bothered me about the Lamy is the giant clip. I tend to post my pens and if the cap was positioned with the clip just right it pressed against my hand and was super annoying. A simple fix but annoying. Also lamys black coated nibs tend to cause inconsistent line weight. My XF felt more like a fine.

"Authoritarian" pen? A better adjective might be "helpful". Or "pleasantly different from the shape of all your other pens" for people who write every day for long periods and could use a change of pace. Nothing against Pilot, but I think the Safari is a great pen. Along with my Sailor, Franklin Christoph (2), Aurora, Omas, Pelikan, and Kaweco.

I used both and have very similar experience as Marc describes. for Lamy If you are not fan of scratchy nib you can use black nib instead of steel nib. the black coating on nib makes it smoother. I think for drawing purpose its better to use black nib/for writing = steel nib. Japanese nibs are thinner because Japanese/Chinese letters are more complicated compared to alphabet. I ended up using lamy safari, for its durability and grip. I tend to dilute ink with water to draw with lighter color. for this purpose pilot is better but once you are used to safari's grip it's really hard to use other fountain pen.

Wasn't Lamy taken over by Mitsubishi Pencil? Perhaps they will end up with finer nibs

Just wanted to comment that the feed on the Safari is removable and even breaks apart into 2 pieces for easy access to the ink channel 😂

My Safari drys out all the time and skips. Oh, it’s super scratchy. I’m not happy for the price.