Lamy Safari Fountain Pen - Charcoal - Fine, $20.98 at Amazon, FS with Prime

Just a followup as I received my Pilot Metropolitan today. I bought both pens from Amazon, and neither pen came with instructions.

For the Lamy, a quick search for how to insert the cartridge and set it up yielded several results. Easy.

For the Pilot, I had no search results, instead I searched Amazon reviews to find out.

Quote from Review from Amazon.com for Pilot Metropolitan : Anyway, in the end we figured it out, mainly by trial and error. What you have to do is remove the "converter" (a metal, plastic, and sponge insert that's inside the pen when it arrives) - take the cap off the pen, unscrew the barrel from the top part (with the nib), and pull out the converter. Then you'll be able to place the cartridge inside the nib part of the pen, flat side toward the nib. Push it in firmly - we actually pressed it down against the table to make sure it was solidly lodged (you need to break the seal on the plastic around the ink, so that it can flow into the nib). You'll know you've got it right when the ink is flowing.

In my defense I did try this out first, but I couldn't get ink to flow out. I finally got it after really pushing down on a table to break the seal, and rotating the cartridge around (and making a bit of a mess in the process).

I haven't had a chance to try the converter yet, but I do plan to, with some bottled ink on the way.

My opinion is that if you need an everyday pen, the Lamy Safari wins. It has a better clip, you could probably clip this to a hardcover book if you wanted. The Pilot has a traditional clip, not much more than a file folder thickness or shirt pocket will fit under this clip. The plastic on the Lamy has a grippier texture than the smooth painted metal of the Pilot. The barrel near the nib of the Lamy has two chamfers, that help you keep a secure grip on the pen. The grip area near the nib is also longer on the Lamy, which I prefer. The Pilot is smooth and glossy near the nib, which causes you grip the pen harder if you feel it slip, or if you have some perspiration.

Using cartridges is much much easier in the Lamy, because the act of screwing on the barrel seats the cartridge. No guesswork, no mess.

I think Pilot has put out a nice pen. The nib feels great, and it writes wonderfully smooth. The weight is nice. But I prefer the elements that were put into the design of the Lamy. I like the angles on it, it helps me grip the pen more confidently.