LAMY safari

The safari is the classic LAMY design, and remains one of the best value ranges of quality pens around. Tough ABS plastic construction with strong wire pocket clips. Available as fountain pen, rollerball, ballpoint and mechanical pencil. The safari is robust enough to be popular in school, yet the high quality and excellent writing characteristics appeal to many experienced fountain pen users and collectors. Regular special edition colours, each available for a limited time, add to the pen's appeal to collectors.

ABS plastic is the same material LEGO bricks are made from, and we all know they are pretty hard to damage - especially by stepping on them! It's a great material for pens, as it can be brightly coloured, and is tough and highly impact-resistant.

The combination of styling and toughness, along with replaceable nibs and reliability has made the safari popular with children and adults, and they can fit in anywhere from schools to business meetings. The fact that you can change nibs can also be really handy if your tastes change and you decide you want something broader or finer - just buy the new nib, slide the old one off, and slide the new one on. If the old one doesn't pull off easily, a bit of sticky tape across the top gives you a good grip. Push the new one on by the sides, not the tip.

The special editions aren't quite like the fancy numbered limited editions many high-end pens are available with, but they are only available for a limited time, and can become quite sought-after later on. Some of the rare early editions can sell for hundreds of pounds to really keen collectors, but don't expect the same to happen with current editions! It's quite possible they'll be worth a bit more than you paid in a few years if it was kept pristine, but then you'd have missed out on years of use of a really nice pen.

While the range is mainly known for the fountain pens, there are nice quality rollerballs, ballpoints and mechanical pencils, too, with the same brightly-coloured, tough bodies.

And don't miss the closely related transparent LAMY vista, and the aluminium variation, the AL-star.