The Lamy Logo is a member of Lamy’s office line and features strong quality with a modern look.
The Lamy Logo is fairly unique in its overall look and combination of features. The pencil comes in accents of black, red, blue, green and brushed steel aesthetic styles. The entire pencil body is stainless steel, with the exceptions of accents on top of the pocket clip and the bottom near the lead sleeve. It is very light for a stainless steel pencil. The Lamy logo is unobtrusively printed near the top. Both the nose and bottom quarter of the body have ribbed texturing that provides a good grip.
The internals are entirely plastic. To refill the pencil you have to unscrew the cone, detach the cone and reservoir from the body, take off the lead jam clearer, and then insert lead. Reassemble in reverse order. It’s just a needlessly complex system for a mechanical pencil. This is where Lamy’s art-oriented designers seem to think that functionality needs to be sacrificed for art. How un-German of them.
The lead sleeve is a 2 mm retractable and sliding sleeve. It retracts to be pocket safe, and slides as you write, allowing you to continue writing as the lead wears down. Its wobbly, so if you’re looking for a precision instrument, this isn’t it.
The mechanism seems ok to me, with about 9 mm of lead dispensed on ten clicks. This is ok for general writing, but is likely to offend people who like more precise control of lead dispensation.
The pocket clip is strong and springy, made of mostly stainless steel. It will definitely clip to most anything that you want to clip it to, and grip those things to a good extent.
There’s that Lamy logo printed on the side! “What about the eraser?” you might be wondering. Yeah. About that. There isn’t one. This would be understandable on a drafting pencil or art pencil where people carry dedicated erasers around, but it just seems like a weird design feature for an “office” pencil. When I am in full writing mode, I often will not stop to erase, so I can imagine the logic. But, how hard could the inclusion of an eraser be, especially on a brand known for quality? It’s like a “you don’t need an eraser” Jedi Mind trick strategy of an artist-oriented device.
Pros: Solid body, light for stainless steel, retractable sliding sleeve, solid pocket clip, good grip, price point
Cons: No eraser, plastic internals, awkward refilling of lead, wobbly lead sleeve.
Writing experience: Good (pretty solid, good grip and weight)
Quality: Good (Body and pocket clip are balanced by the lead sleeve and plastic internals)
Features: Ok (Don’t get me wrong. Sliding retractable lead sleeves are nice, but the awkward refilling and lack of eraser are just inexcusable in this case, even on a “design-concept” pencil.)
Cost: Moderate to Expensive (most are 12.50 USD + ship on various random websites, brushed steel variant for 29 USD on Amazon)
It’s an all around mixed bag. I just can’t see a pencil so Jekyl and Hyde making the Top Ten or an Honorable Mention. I’ll definitely use it. I don’t hate it. But it also doesn’t really shine amongst other options or the other lovely Lamy pencils that are out there. Get a Safari or 2000 if you want something stylish and functional.
The Top Ten:
1) Rotring Rapid Pro
Writing Experience: Great, Quality: Superb, Features: Good+, Price: Expensive
2) TWSBI Precision
Writing Experience: Great, Quality: Great, Features: Great, Price: Moderate
3) Pentel Sharp Kerry
Writing Experience: Great, Quality: Great, Features: Great, Price: Moderate
4) Pilot S20
Writing Experience: Great, Quality: Great, Features: Good, Price: Expensive
5) Lamy 2000
Writing Experience: Great, Quality: Great, Features: OK, Price: Expensive/Luxury
6) Tombow Zoom 505sh
Writing Experience: Great, Quality: Good, Features: Good, Price: Expensive
7) Pentel Sharp P20X
Writing Experience: Great, Quality: Good, Features: OK, Price: Cheap
8) Pentel Twist Erase GT
Writing Experience: Great, Quality: Good, Features: Great, Price: Cheap
9) Pentel Energize Deluxe
Writing Experience: Good, Quality: Good, Features: Good+, Price: Cheap
10) Lamy Safari
Writing Experience: Great, Quality: Good+, Features: OK+, Price: Moderate
Honorable mentions (in alphabetical order):
Alvin Draft/Matic, Parker Jotter, Pentel Quicker Clicker (vintage), Pilot Fure Fure Corone, Pilot RexGrip, Staedtler Mars micro 775, Staedtler Triplus Micro 774, Uni Kuru Toga, Uni Shift Pipe-lock, Zebra Delguard
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