LAMY Lx Fountain Pen

Name: Unsharpen
Item: Lamy Lx Fountain Pen
Rating: 4
Author: Unsharpen.com Staff

11/10/19 Check Price Video

The Lamy Lx is the top-of-the-line pen in the Safari family. That is to say that it’s the luxury version of the Lamy Al-Star. If you want to truly double-down on the Safari line of pens, this it the way to go.

Lamy Lx vs. Al-Star

The Lamy Lx is basically the same pen as the Al-Star but with a few upgrades. The main differences are:

The Lx has a gold-colored clip
The Lx has a black steel nib with rose-gold etching on it and a pronounced breather hole
The Lx has a polished logo on the side of the pen barrel while the Al-Stars is simply embossed into the metal
The Lx has a metal screw on the top of the cap, all the other pens in the line use black plastic
The Lx has a metal screw on the top of the barrel, all the others use a black plastic one
The Lx comes in upgraded packaging, including a metal cylindrical gift container

Lamy Lx Review

The Lamy Lx is the most fancy pen in the Safari family. It’s a good deal more expensive then the Al-Star and usually about twice the price of the Safari or Vista. While the pen will still typically be under its $60 street price, occasional deal will have it selling for under $40. That’s nice a bad price for this pen, but the Lx remains packed full of unnecessary upgrades.

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The Vista (with its clear plastic) and the Safari (with its opaque plastic) remain the best pens in this family. The plastic is more durable and, arguably, better feeling than the aluminum. If you absolutely need the aluminum then you can upgrade to the Lamy Al-Star for not too much money. So why does the Lx exist? Basically to do away with more of the plastic parts.

The Lx makes the barrel’s logo slightly nicer and added metal flourish to the ends of the cap. It has a cooler looking nib (but not a better working one) and a nicer gift case. While these are all nice things, there is nothing about the pen that is functionally better than the cheaper pens in the family.

This is a pen that is nice to have but frankly doesn’t need to exist. The Al-Star is nice enough for most people, the Lx is simply the luxury version of cheaper pens in the series. But if luxury is what Lamy wants to offer, then they quit half way by not offering a gold nib. Sure that would make this pen over $100, but some sort of custom nib might have been possible, instead of using the pricey Z57 nib.