Lamy 2000 Review
‘Tis a gift to be simple—you know. And there are few pens as elegantly simple in their appearance and use as the Lamy 2000. But beneath the surface (or in this case, under the cap) there is a lot of complexity. This is a gorgeous pen and once tweaked (see more below), using it is a luxurious experience, like rolling a fine bourbon around your tongue. It is smooth and full bodied with just the right heft and texture. The Lamy 2000 is a marvelous pen….but one with a dirty secret.
Of the gear I have reviewed on this site nothing as quite the storied history of failures like the Lamy 2000. When Brad Dowdy bought his he had it for a year or two before he had it fixed. It came with uneven tines. And he isn’t the only one. Here is a thread on FPN recounting troubled times with this famous pen. Aside from the “precious resin” controversy (hint: it might be plexiglass), nothing seems to come up more often in the pen world than complaints about the 2000 or hilarious exploits of just how fragile TWSBIs are.
How, then, do I buy and review a storied pen with a troubled past (if that doesn’t sound like the tag line for a romance novel, I think I have failed)? Carefully with lots of disclosures.
Here is the product page for the Lamy 2000. Here is a written review from Brad. Here is a video review from The Pen Habit. There are a lot of variants including a brown one (yuck) and a metal one (not yuck) and a dark blue one (oh man…). You can get a 2000 multipen and a roller ball too, but honestly that’s like buying a Ferrari and putting a Corolla engine in it.. Here is the Nibsmith page. I bought mine and had it modded to be a stub nib. Here is my review sample (purchased with my own money and mine to keep!):
Twitter Review Summary: Good pen with spotty finish…get one that you can inspect or has been quality checked.
Editor’s Note: This is a review of a Nibsmith-modified Lamy 2000. I bought the pen from Nibsmith specifically with the idea that I would have him modify it. The Lamy 2000 is a beloved pen but it is also one with a known issue—the nib tines are often misaligned resulting in a scratching, uneven writing experience. The idea of buying such an expensive pen and essentially rolling the dice on fit and finish does not sit well with me. I am okay playing fit and finish roulette with the Gerber Dime, but it costs about 1/15th what the Lamy 2000 costs. This know issue creates a bit of a challenge for a review, but I am going to do it anyway. Dan’s service and speed were impeccable, as fast as if I had ordered it without the nib work.
For more on Dan Smith, the Nibsmith, listen to these two episodes (1 and 2) of the Pen Addict.
Design: 2
Pen. This is the simplest looking pen you will ever find. Its just Pen. No gushy grip sections, no metal bands of flourish, swirly twirly gumdrop acrylics, and no gee whiz machining. Its just Pen, plain and simple. Or that is what Lamy would have you believe. Under the staid, warm makrolon exterior, there is a lot of machinery at work. That decision—clean look and complex guts is a good one. I can’t think of a pen I like better than the 2000 right now. I could be persuaded that the M90 or the Murex is its equal, but unlike those pens the 2000 is still in production. Its a classic for a reason and part of that reason is Pen.
I was a no-cap guy for a long, long time. But over the years, the niggling issues I had with the Vanishing Point and other non-capped pens convinced me that caps are the way to go. And here, you get a supremely staid, very Germanic pen with an amazing, overengineered cap. The entire pen is really overengineered, but the result is a sublime writing experience. One illuminated peek into the cap and you realize that the 2000 is something of a marvel—incredibly complex to make but simple to use. I like that, even with a cap that has more parts than the engine in a modern car.
Fit and Finish: 2
With Dan smoothing out the nib and converting it to a stub nib, the one well-known flaw with the pen is gone and the result is a gilded experience. Everything about this pen (now) from the finish on the makrolon to the spring-tensioned clip is superb. The filler mechanism is so well crafted that it all but disappears when not in use, threading so tightly that it vanishes before your eyes.
Carry: 2
The clip is a work of engineering and that results in splendid carry. The clip actually has a mechanical pivot, tensioned by a spring that is hidden inside the cap. It is a sculpted clip that actual bends and clamps on to material, regardless of thickness. Note to all custom knife makers—this is how to do a thick sculpted clip.
Appearance: 2
Brushed Makrolon looks damn good, stately and refined. Makrolon itself is actually a family of thermoplastics with a wide variety of applications from simple stuff like this to temperature- and light-sensitive applications. The cool thing about Makrolon as it is used here is that has a silky almost liquid appearance. This, coupled with the hooded nib and the angular clip make the entire pen look stately and exceptionally clean.
Durability: 2
I have used the 2000 in my normal VERY rough on pens regiment including for a three day trial. At that trial, as per usual, I took about 120 pages of handwritten notes over three days. The 2000 remained comfortable and good looking with no clots, jams, or leaks. In less intense use sessions and in carry it has done similarly well. The notion that fountain pens are fragile flowers is either a myth or tied to some negative prior experience, such as with a TWSBI or a older pen. Modern fountain pens, including my TWBSI Eco, are pretty tough.
Writing Performance: 2
With the smoothed out gold stub nib, the 2000 is as close to the perfect writer as I have used. Dan’s work is superb and with a great material to work with, the results blow me away every time I use the pen. Nothing I have used comes even close, including the well-done Vanishing Point I had.
Balance/In Hand Feel: 2
Makrolon is light. You won’t mistake this for a machined Kickstarter pen, but despite that lightness, it feels solid in the hand. Like a well balanced fixed blade, the 2000 feels swift and effortless when in use both because it is light and also because the weight of the hooded nib is balanced out quite well by the thick and complex cap. With the cap posted the balance point is the absolute dead center of the pen—perfect.
Grip: 2
The textured Makrolon is incredible in hand, warm and grippy. I could ramble more, blah, blah, blah, but its dead-on perfect.
Barrel: 2
In many pens the barrel is where the pizzazz is, where the flash of color lives, with lots of of pens there is ornamentation, glitzy gold or silver colored metal. But with the 2000 you get plain, simple design greatness. The barrel feels great, looks great, and is perfectly balanced. No need for glitz and glamor when you have brilliance.
Deployment Method/Cap: 2
If Inspector Gadget, Rube Goldberg, and Johannes Itten got in a fight and taste won out, it would be the cap of the 2000. It is an insanely complex piece given that molded plastic works about 99% of the time. Still, for all of its complication, none of that gets in the way, as opposed to, say 99% of haute horology watches.
Other Considerations:
Fett Effect: Moderate
While the Makrolon isn’t like a micarta or 1095, it does wear in burnishing up it a nice almost polished surface.
Fidget Factor: High
A spring-tensioned clip, a sweet cap that snaps with precision, and the texture of Makrolon all make this a positive delight to handle.
Value: Low
A $150 that requires an additional expense to ensure it works is always a low value. How about Lamy just make it work off the bat?
Overall Score: 20 out of 20; PERFECT
With the guarantee of a great nib, the Lamy 2000’s sublime design and beautiful materials sing in glorious perfection. I love this pen. It writes like a gift, a smooth as running melting ice across a plate. But the smoothness, fortunately still allows you to have some feedback. The cap is ridiculous, but, guess what it works. This is a classic pen for a reason, it is amazing.
Getting here is a hassle, made much easier by the Nibsmith, but it was worth. If you want a sublime experience in writing and a stately pen to do it with, get a 2000 from Dan. Its not cheap, but it is worth every penny
The Competition
Really, in this price range it is the Vanishing Point. I like both and I would love to do a side by side comparison, but in the end, the 2000 is more elegant, a better writer, and less fiddly. Its not that the VP is bad…it is amazing. I just PREFER the 2000.
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