The LAMY Safari has been made since 1980 and sold in the hundreds of millions, which tells you something about the design: it is correct. The triangular grip section guides your fingers without forcing them. The self-springing wire clip holds without distorting. The ink window lets you see what is left. Each year LAMY releases a small number of special-edition colourways, and Sunset — a warm amber that shifts between orange and burnt gold depending on the light — is among the better ones.
At this price the Safari asks very little. A standard T10 cartridge is included; converters for bottled ink cost a few pounds more. The nib — available in extra fine through broad — is polished steel and consistently reliable out of the box, which is not always the case at this end of the market. Writing with it daily for a month tends to produce a handwriting improvement that ballpoints actively prevent.
The Safari is the pen to recommend to anyone who thinks fountain pens are complicated or expensive. It is neither.
£23 — penheaven.co.uk