Lamy AL-Star Fountain Pen Review, Lamy Safari Comparison & My Terrible Impression of  

Brother! Thank you for the impression and the kind words!

Hahaha Hahaha! I love the Dr. Stephen Brown impression! I think that everyone in the community has all done an impression of him! Glad to see you posting videos!

The SBREBrown impression was fantastic! I loved it!!! Hahahaha

I liked how you broke down the differences in the pens, I found it most informative. I myself only have the Lamy Vista with a M nib, and I bought an extra 1.5 nib just to try it out, the fountain pen store actually gave me the wrong nib, but I kept it anyway. The other Lamy I have is the Al-Star in the color purple and I agree with you that the AL-Stars are just more luxurious feelings. Thanks for a great video!!

Excellent in-depth review! 👏👏 I have several of both models and, for me, the writing experience is the same, despite the small differences in weight and girth. I do have a soft spot for the Safari, though, because of the boldness of its design (the Safari came out in 1980 , the AL-Star 17 years later, I believe). The SBREBrown impression gave me a chuckle -- Stephen *is* an icon!

Second video in and I subscribed. I'm a relatively new fountain pen owner (I have a Safari and a HongDian soneone gave me) so i really appreciate the information you provide. And I did indeed find you first. I'd never heard of the gent you were doing the imitation of, but I'll check him out too

Great impression and review. I have two Safaris. They are great EDC pens. One came with a fine black nib, which didn’t seem to write quite as smoothly as the steel nib without the black coating. I’ve heard some other people comment about the different feel of the black nib. I switched the black nib out for a medium normal steel nib, which is an exceptional writer. I love how simple it is to swap out nibs on the Safari. I know what you mean about the capping on the Safari. Neither of mine ever had a satisfying click. I have been carrying them around clipped to my shirt pocket or sling bag for over three years, and never had them open. I haven’t tried my pant pocket, but won’t try after your experience. I love your channel. Thanks for all of the excellent information on this hobby.

Greatly edited and very professional! You deserve more praise

I wanted to try a Lamy, there was a website that had the SE Aquatic and Fiery Al-Stars for $14 each, but their customer service was awful. I ended up finding three Pilot Preras for a little over $10 each, and bought three of those. They came with converters too. Your voice is SO pleasing to listen to, BTW.

Yes, please show how you fix the cap click.

One thing I don't think you mentioned: along the flat side of the barrel, the Safari slopes up beyond the ink window, so that the barrel is circular when it meets the grip section/cap; the AL* stays flat. Although I enjoy both, I always feel the Safari gets extra points for that one tiny detail!

I have a Lamy Vista that has the cap losing its crisp click when I put the cap on. I would love to see how you fix it.

The AL-Star will always be my favorite pen because the limited edition in Bronze was my first fountain pen.

I found your channel before Steven Brown's channel. Just wanted to tell ya that I came back. You're great too! :)

Good impression. Thanks for the video.

I´m team Al-Star. The safaris are great but just love the aluminum colors and feeling.Cant help myself bying the new color every year nowadays.Because they look so good together.

I heard that the Lamy Al Star is very scratch prone but it's actually more durable than the safari, I saw some photos of Al Star pens from the late 90's, the anodization was in rough shape but the pens worked perfectly, the only thing is the cap, I don't think Lamy will ever be able to make a durable cap lol.

The AL star petrol was my 2nd fountain pen, after a twsbi diamond. I put a 1.1 stub nib in it. It's not a fancy pen like my twsbi or my leonardo furore, but I still love using it and do so almost every day at work. I'm considering upgrading it with a gold nib.

Ok. A. The AL Star is NOT prone to dents or scratches. I have it for 2 years and traveled with it. It looks as new. B. The clip has two positions, it is not wobbly.

One thing to try - I've started buying books secondhand on eBay. It reduces cost to me, often benefits a charity or small business, and I love knowing that my next read once was from a library, or someone else's collection. Less guilt. (As for selection method, all my current reading is research for a project, so no help there)

That was hysterical. Keep it up.

Good video. I bought my first Lamy yesterday. I went to the art store to purchase a Safari and they had a bunch of them. They also had some Al-Stars. I did a writing sample with the Safari and liked it. But when I picked up the "glowing" silver Al-Star, it said _"I'm the one you want"_ so that's what I brought home. 😀 By the way, the clip on my Al-Star is tight.

I agree, Stephen Brown is the man!

I don’t think there is anything wrong with the clip on your All Star. They seem to make it different so it sits more flush when not in use. But it has flexibility to go over thicker items. It’s adjustable if you will.

I have a couple of old Lamy AL-Stars from the early 2000s and they all have the issue with the clip you describe in the video, which makes me think they were designed that way. I have never particularly warmed up to the AL-Star, mainly because I find silver-gray uninteresting and the early AL-Stars were silver-gray with some having a tint of blue or green. Further, my AL-stars are more beat-up looking than my Safaris that are a decade or two older than the AL-Stars. My favorite Safari is the charcoal, because I like the matte finish and that the clip and nib are also black.

Having only recently re-engaged with fountain pens and endeavours to improve my handwriting, I am fascinated by the amount and depth of content available about what is essentially a 'writing tool' (I shall be struck down for that observation). Several years ago I bought some Lamy Safaris, seduced by the colours and co-ordinating inks (I'm a Virgo, we do that). Because of the colours I bought two Al Stars. The thing I like about the Safari is that the grip section is the same colour. I love the shape of the grip on both, it suits me well. I dug out a very old ( 50 years old probably) Parker and got that going again and realised that the smoothness of the grip section didn't work as well for me. I interchange all the nibs on the Lamys, so the writing experience is the same and I don't much notice the difference in the width or weight (1 gram) on either pen. I love your quiet, steady delivery of your videos. I am never going to be a fountain pen fanatic (budget influenced) but I am enjoying watching everyone else's fanaticism! Good for you with the channel, keep it up!

the impression was so funny all so the video is really informative I personally prefer the lx which is basically the Al star over the safari but both of them are great pens

Not me holding my allstar and also discovering the wiggly clip lol. Now there is no stop to the fidgeting.

Would it be possible to tinker together a Lamy Stormtrooper from different Safaris? Which ones would you use? By the way, you used the wrong "Stephen intro". It should have been,: "Time for another fountain pen sssshootout!"

Lmao I love that intro I remember first hearing it back in 2012

I am team Al-Star, but prefer the Lamy Lxe over both.

I prefer the Safari because my one Al-star doesn't post well. Safaris post much more securely.

I've never noticed the clip issue with th Al-Star. I just tested mine, and it does the same thing.

What is the takeaway? It is just the AL version of the Safari

How did you fix it? 12:21?

2/24/24 Update! I am giving away a luxurious Rhodia Webnotebook in the near future. For more information, follow me on Instagram here: instagram.com/downthebreatherhole/. I'll be posting details soon!

That accent was impressive!

My pocket clip does exactly the same as yours, and to be honest with you, it doesn’t bother me

You need not worry about the durability of the Al-Star bodies. I have had my 2 for over 12 years now, I use them every day, dont baby them, and they have held up very well.

such a long useless video...

i was thinking more of @PracticalEngineeringChannel for the likeness comparison 😅

I don’t think there is anything wrong with the clip on your All Star. They seem to make it different so it sits more flush when not in use. But it has flexibility to go over thicker items. It’s adjustable if you will.