Lamy Al-Star Fountain Pen (71F) Black + 5 Black Ink Cartridges

It has excellent writing sense, can be used in both cartridges and converters, and has excellent Lamy-Nib compatibility. If you want to change the thickness of the text, it is easy to exchange it with the desired nib.When I think about everything, I think it's the best in this price range.It is not burdensome to carry and use every day.Some people are uncomfortable with triangular grips, but it has the advantage of quickly grip positioning them.

Last time I was writing with a fountain pen was more than two decades ago, and my experience with them was hit and miss: leaks, nib tips breaking off, etc). Lamy Al-Star came highly recommended by a friend of mine, and I took the plunge to test it out. What can I say? Using it is a great pleasure! The nib was a bit scratchy at first (and that's where it lost a bit of points), but working it out made the ink flow more or less effortlessly. Currently I am using it as my daily driver pen, writing work notes in style: metal body is a plus, construction is solid, and the looks are catchy! Seems slightly oversized with the cap on, but balances well. All in all, recommended! I find myself using more often over my trusted Parker Sonnet rollerball.

This is a very solid, well-constructed pen. It's comfortable in hand, and easy to write with. With the cap posted it's a bit back heavy, but I've written with more expensive pens that have much more pronounced balance issues. I only have two real complaints with the pen. The first is that for the first 2-3 months of use, the nib was very stiff and scratchy (I got the fine nib). After about 3 months though writing with the pen got much smoother and is much more enjoyable now. The second complaint is the ink level window. It's very small, and nearly opaque, and completely useless for telling how much ink is left with a converter. I don't feel like having an ink refill window is a necessary feature, but if you're going to design the pen with one, it should at least be functional. Aside from those two complaints though, I enjoy the Al-Star and it will remain my daily pen for years to come!

The pen is fine, authentic and such. The nib feels very stiff and you can see that the ink stroke is not continuous. In short, the nib's quality is very bad.I have other lamy pens, and THIS did not happen for my other pens.

I bought this as a fountain pen by accident and man what a gateway drug that was. I almost exclusively use fountain pens now and this was the first one that really got me going down that road. The weight of the pen is excellent, it writes effortlessly, it holds a decent amount of ink with its cartridges and its converters. The only drawback I can think of regarding this pen is that it is a little big, which is not really a problem for me as I have large hands.