(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)
The Lamy Tipo has been around for quite a while and is well known as an affordable and unique rollerball pen that uses Lamy's own M66 refill. Even better, the Tipo also accepts any Pilot G2 size refill, opening up the customization options quite a bit. What's new this year, though, is the custom color for 2020: Turmaline.
The blue-green aluminum body looks fantastic on this limited edition Tipo. It's meant to mimic the semi-precious tourmaline gemstone. This is a little confusing to me since tourmaline is known to occur in many colors, but this blue-green is beautiful nonetheless.
If you've ever used a Tipo before, this pen is no different. To cover the basics, the rollerball pen is encased with an aluminum body and plastic grip section. The grip section is textured with soft rings that make the pen easy to hold. The clip also functions as the nock on this pen, which is a unique and fun design. As a perk of the clip/nock design, it automatically retracts the refill if you open the clip to secure it onto something else, like a pocket or bag. This prevents you from accidentally stowing the pen with the rollerball refill extended, which would probably result in some sort of unwanted ink blobs on your clothes or bag. It's a really nifty system for extending/retracting the refill, but it's also really satisfying to play with.
One thing to keep in mind when using this clip mechanism is that you have to push straight down ("straight down" meaning from the back of the pen down toward the tip, as opposed to pushing the clip perpendicularly toward the body of the pen) on the clip in order for it to extend properly. If you put too much force on the back of the clip in the perpendicular direction, the clip doesn't slot into the little hole that keeps the refill extended. It's not a big deal because you quickly learn after a few tries and it becomes muscle memory after that. I'm more than happy to deal with this little caveat if it means I can't accidentally clip the pen to something while the refill is extended!
Writing with the pen is really comfortable thanks to the grip and the overall light weight of the pen. On top of that, the Lamy M66 refill is incredibly smooth and dark, making the pen a great writing tool. The medium tip is a bit wet for my tastes, but it's exactly what I expect for a rollerball of this size. I have had some issues with the line being a little thin in some cases, but it's not a big problem. I definitely prefer the Schmidt P8126 as my rollerball refill of choice, but that won't fit in this particular pen.
And that's okay, because this pen allows a multitude of different refill options. Basically, anything that follows the Pilot G2 size refill will fit in this pen. That opens you up to literally hundreds of different colors, tip sizes, and brands if you don't prefer the included Lamy rollerball refill.
The Lamy Tipo is a fantastic rollerball pen that also makes a great gift. It's affordable enough to buy as an impulse, but nice enough to carry with you or use at the office for taking notes and making signatures. The limited edition Turmaline version is a gorgeous pen, so if it's something you want to pick up, make sure you do soon before they're gone!
(Brad purchased this pen from Stilo & Stile at full retail.)
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