Yesterday, I reviewed a poor writing Lamy Rollerball, and today, I’m giving away one that writes well. The Lamy AL-Star Lilac Rollerball uses the far superior Lamy M63 refill, and I have one of these limited edition pens to give away this week. Read the rules below and enter away!
Lamy Balloon Rollerball Review
The proof of concept period is complete, which means it is time for Lamy to finish the transformation of the Balloon Rollerball into the Vista Fountain Pen.
I first reviewed the Balloon over a decade ago, and the tale of two pens that was present in that design - great barrel, poor refill - unfortunately continues on in their latest version of this colorful pen. That’s what gets me the most about the Balloon: it’s a stunner! At least to look at. Writing? Not so much.
The Lamy T11 rollerball refill is the single worst proprietary refill they make, in a sea of other good to great proprietary refills. That was my primary complaint with the previous model. Given the usage of the same refill, I had hoped to see some performance improvements over the years, but my hope was misplaced.
The medium blue refill is inconsistent. That’s the long and short of it. A good rollerball line should be consistent and smooth, laying down a saturated ink color. The line from the Lamy T11 is so inconsistent, repeatedly going from thin line to thick, that I would almost say it is skipping. That’s a word I’ve never used in relation to a rollerball refill. It’s a bad writing experience, to be kind.
Odds were that this would be the expected result of the writing experience, but that’s not why I bought this pen to review. I bought it for the barrel.
Even though the Balloon uses the same terrible refill it always has, Lamy made some changes to the barrel design. Primarily focusing on the cap, they changed the clip to the famed Lamy wire clip, including the addition of a separate finial cap to slot the clip into.
Kind of looks like a Lamy Vista, doesn’t it?
Lamy Vista.
My dream for Lamy has long been to upgrade the Vista fountain pen lineup to include transparent color barrels. Fun colors, as seen in the Balloon for years. Currently, Blue, Lime, and Pink are part of the rotation. Imagine Purple, or Orange? The technology to manufacture this type of barrel is obviously available, and now parts to match have been added to the lineup. So I have to ask: when, Lamy?
Soon, I hope.
Until then, I would avoid the Lamy Balloon, despite the cool looks, and the reasonable $18 price tag. The writing experience isn’t worth it.
(Pen Chalet provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.
Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!
Misfill, Hidden Shrines Edition
Each week in Refill, the Pen Addict Members newsletter, I publish Ink Links as part of the additional content you receive for being a member. And each week, after 10 to 15 links, plus my added commentary on each, I'm left with many great items I want to share. Enter Misfill. Here are this weeks links:
— Exploring Tokyo’s Hidden Shrines (Spoon & Tamago)
— Seven Years of Morning Pages (Almost) (From the Pen Cup)
— Das Messerbett (Lexikaliker)
— Tones Within Tones: Blue-Black Inks of Choice (The Gentleman Stationer)
— Sailor Pro Gear Imperial Black (Figboot on Pens)
— New Grinds from Custom Nib Studio (Line Variation)
— June Rainbows Ink Palettes (Mountain of Ink)
— LIFE Schopfer Notebook Review (Blake's Broadcast)
— Mini-Review: Pilot Juice Paint Pen in White (The Well-Appointed Desk)
— Review: Pentel Orenz Nero Mechanical Pencil (Shellshore)
— Moody Colors in My Pens (Dime Novel Raven)
— Out of Reach Pens (Rachel's Reflections)
— The 30 Best Albums of 2023 (So Far) (Our Culture)
— Video-Review: Montblanc 149 Calligraphy Curved Nib (Special Edition) (Scrively)
— Poppy DeltaDawn Unravels Fiber Art’s Queered Histories (Hyperallergic)
— Ensso XS Ultem Fountain Pen Review (SBREBrown)
— The Montegrappa Fortuna Camouflage is the perfect pen for when you need to write an elegant letter from a trench or something (Extra Fine Writing)
— Three kind angles on living for ink maximalism (mnmlscholar)
Want to catch the rest, plus extra articles, reviews, commentary, discounts, and more? Try out a Pen Addict Membership for only $5 per month!
