Lamy Logo Fountain Pen Review

This is a guest post by Bryan Gushikawa.

Lamy is a German company with a long history of making stylish and practical pens. Their lower end pens (like the AL-Star and Safari) are excellent and durable daily writers, but the Lamy Logo eschews the larger body styles of these pens for a slimmer, more elegant design. Writing comfort and performance aren’t affected, though. This pen is a definite eye catcher and I received several compliments on it when I took it to school. The fit and finish are perfect and the spring clip only reinforces the quality that Lamy has perfected over its storied run as one of Germany’s top fountain pen makers.

Smoothness: The Lamy nibs run wide compared to Japanese nibs, so this M writes like a B. It is smooth and is a good, stiff nail to push through carbon copies with. There is a little squeak and sound of the nib on paper, though. All Lamy nibs have this, so this is a manufacturer trademark.

Grip and Balance: The textured metal fore section is nice to hold, but the pen can seem a little slender for folks with larger hands. The balance when posted is excellent and the metal body doesn’t feel so slippery. For daily writing, the good balance will reduce fatigue.

Ink Flow: A solid, steady 0.8mm line. No skips or blotches. Flow was good from the start.

Build Quality: German quality, all the way. Solid threading, good heft and a superior clip with a SPRING in it. You will really enjoy just looking at and holding this pen to admire its quality.

Capacity: Take Lamy-specific cartridges or a Lamy converter (not the one that fits the Al-Star!)

Clip: The best clip on any fountain pen has a spring. This has a spring. This is the best clip on any fountain pen!

Post: Posts securely to a plastic nub on the back end. Although the post is shallow, it’s tight and the cap won’t fall off while writing.

Overall: If you’re into German engineering, this pen is excellent value for the money. Although I prefer Lamy’s EF nibs to Ms, the smoothness and feel of this pen is too good to pass up. I used Lamy Blue in cartridges for this review, but with a converter, you can check out their Blue Black and Red which are two highly regarded colors. A strong recommend on this one!

Staedtler Avant Garde Light Multi Pen Review

What do you look for in a multi pen? Are the ink options at the top of the list? A manageable barrel size? A cool design? I personally haven’t put much thought into it, but I always seem to focus on the type of ink and how it writes first, and then the quality and the build of the barrel second. The Staedtler Avant Garde Light has a lot of great things going for it, but one minor issue keeps it from being perfect.

The first thing that jumps out at you about the Avant Garde is the barrel design. It is chock full of “just rights”. It is just the right length, just the right diameter, and just the right weight. This is a really nice pen to hold, and I think it is the aluminum body construction that does the trick. I especially like the clip design.

The pen contains two ballpoint ink cartridges - 0.7mm black and red - and an 0.5mm pencil, which is honestly not that common in multi pens. Most with a pencil component are 0.7mm, so that is a nice bonus. To swap between cartridges, the Avant Garde uses what I (probably incorrectly) call gravity switching. Essentially, you hold the pen sideways and face the marker for the cartridge you want towards you and click the plunger. A single button retracts all cartridges, and you just rotate the barrel and click for the next one. I’m making it sound more complicated than it really is - it’s very simple.

Where the issue lies for me is the “click clack” sound the pen sometimes makes when writing. I think the combination of internal components and aluminum barrel are causing this, but mostly it is my writing style. If you couldn’t tell by now I am a printer. What that really means is I lift the pen up and down as I write my letters across the page. This causes the clicking sound with this pen. When I switch over to writing in a cursive style, I hear nothing because my writing style is smoother.

So, I’m torn. I like everything about this pen, but for my writing style it isn’t the best choice. I am going to keep using it though because it is too nice to set off to the side.

Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio Review

I have had several readers asking me to review the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio barrel, which is the newest addition to the Coleto line. It has been available for many months now - sorry for the delay in getting around to it!

Pen Addict reader Dan guest reviewed the Lumio for me back in February, but it was only a few weeks ago that I got my hands on one. This is considered the ‘business’ style Coleto due to its more professional barrel styling, and it is sharp looking. My silver barrel is very shiny, and has nice looking chrome accents. It is very comfortable to write with.

Exterior appearance aside, the innards of the Coleto are essentially the same as the standard four cartridge Coleto. The cartridges insert and function the same, and you also have the option of adding a mechanical pencil cartridge. The real question is does the upgraded barrel design warrant over a $12 difference in price between the two?

If you work in an office and don’t want to show off your pink Hello Kitty looking translucent barrel to your co-workers, then absolutely yes, go for the Lumio. Otherwise, you get the same functionality - plus a rubber grip - in the base level four cartridge Coleto barrel, which is my weapon of choice.