Lamy 2000 Review

My Lamy 2000 in Extra Fine

The Lamy 2000 is an icon.  Much has been written about this German pen, and people's opinions of it seem to be fairly polarized---they either love it or hate it.  They find it unbearably scratchy, think the ink window is completely useless, and find that the little "wings" hurt their fingers.  Or else they think the 2000 is as smooth as butter on glass and extraordinarily functional.



I have owned a Lamy 2000 for more than a year, and my opinion is that the 2000 is pretty fantastic.  There's a backstory to that, though.  It wasn't love at first sight for me with this pen, but I'm glad I stuck it out.  When I first got the pen, I rinsed the piston by running a couple of fills of distilled water through it, as is often recommended.  Then I dried it for awhile and filled it with Noodlers Black ink.  That may have been a mistake.  The pen wrote well for about four lines, then promptly clogged up and I couldn't get it unclogged at all.  Not with a soak, not using a rubber syringe to blow water through it, nothing.

Top and bottom views of the 2000's hooded nib

Here is where the story gets good.  I sent the pen back to Lamy USA with a short note explaining the problem and a few bucks to cover return shipping.  In less than one week--ONE WEEK--I had the pen back on my doorstep in perfect working shape.  The technicians at Lamy USA replaced the feed on the pen and it was like new.  I ditched the Noodlers ink for some Japanese ink and it's been smooth Sailing ever since (see what I did there?).  Lamy: the fact that you stood behind your product and gave prompt and effective customer service made me into a customer for life.  There's not enough companies in the world today that have your level of customer care.

The 2000 seems to be a wonderfully manufactured pen.  You can hardly see the seams where the piston knob and nib unit screw into the pen's body.  The black Makralon that the body is made from is wonderful, durable material that you don't have to worry about scratching or messing it up.  There are Lamy 2000 durability tests out there on the web that speak to that.  The only thing that really breaks the smooth lines of the 2000 are the metal ears that hold the cap on to the pen.  Those seem to really bother some folks, but they don't bother me a bit.  I have smaller hands, for whatever that's worth.  I really struggle to see how those tiny wings could bother anybody.  Reminds me of the old "princess and the pea" story.

Lamy 2000 nib unit, ink window, and the metal ears that keep the cap on

Another of the 2000's idiosyncrasies, and one which I think is a more legitimate concern than the ears, is that of the pen's sweet spot.  It is small.  I mean, TINY.  TEENY TINY.  For this reason, the 2000 will take some getting used to, especially in the finer nib widths.  I own the smallest nib size that Lamy offers, and it was a challenge to write with before I got used to holding the pen the way that it wants to be held.  Make no mistake about it: this pen will not let you finger write, and is not the best pen for mobile notetaking.  Forget about using it on the subway, or anywhere where you aren't comfortable.  You need to learn this pen while seated comfortably at a desk, with a perfectly flat piece of paper.  You need to use whole-arm writing.  Now I can balance my notebook on my knee and successfully take notes but it took me a few weeks of practice to do that.  But when you do these things, you'll be rewarded with one of the smoothest writing experiences you've ever had.  No doubt.

A couple of my other favorite things about the 2000 are the piston filling and the snap-on cap.  I find the snap-on cap so much more convenient than screw on caps, particularly during start-stop writing like taking notes from a lecture.  The piston allows for a pretty huge ink capacity.  The exact ink volume is probably listed somewhere on the web, but it's enough to say that you won't be running out of ink anytime soon, especially if you're using a very fine nib like mine.

My 2000 has become my go-to pen for personal journaling.  One of the main reasons for that is that the EF nib that I got is just about perfect for writing in the inordinately tight ruling of the newer Habana notebooks (really, Quo Vadis? Why?).  I can hardly even use a Japanese M in those notebooks without it looking sloppy, but the 2000 EF is pretty perfect.  I own quite a pile of those Habana notebooks, so I'll be happy with my 2000 for the foreseeable future.

Writing sample in a Quo Vadis Habana (the version with the off-white paper and super super tight ruling) using Sailor Kobe #46 ink.