PILOT Metropolitan vs LAMY Safari: The Two Standard First Fountain Pens

Buy the PILOT Metropolitan if this is a gift or if you want to use bottled ink - it has the weight of a serious object and a converter is in the box. Buy the LAMY Safari if the person will actually learn on it - the molded grip enforces the hold and the nib width is published as fine, which is the width that fits a planner.

This site has handled neither pen, so the comparison is built entirely from what PILOT and LAMY publish about them: nib, body, what is in the box, grip, and packaging. Where one maker publishes something and the other does not, that gap is reported as a gap.

One thing the table cannot settle is how a nib writes, and it is the thing people argue about hardest. Treat any claim to the contrary with suspicion, including on this site.

Quick picks

Ranked for the person doing the buying. Every pick names who it is wrong for.

#	Product	Best for	Price
1	PILOT Metropolitan Fountain Pen, Black, Medium Nib A weighted brass barrel and a converter in the box, which is more pen for the money than anything else here.	A brass-bodied fountain pen with a converter included	$28.52 - View on Amazon #ad Price as of September 13, 2026. How this is funded
2	LAMY Safari Fountain Pen, Umbra, Fine Nib A German-made steel-nibbed fountain pen with a molded grip that teaches the hold, and a nib width printed on the listing rather than left to guess.	A first fountain pen that is actually usable	$27.29 - View on Amazon $33.00 17% off #ad Price as of September 13, 2026. How this is funded

1. A brass-bodied fountain pen with a converter included

PILOT Metropolitan Fountain Pen, Black, Medium Nib

A weighted brass barrel and a converter in the box, which is more pen for the money than anything else here.

$28.52 - View on Amazon

#ad Price as of September 13, 2026. How this is funded

Including a converter is the single most useful thing a gift fountain pen can do. Without one the recipient is locked to proprietary cartridges until they work out what a converter is and buy one.

Japanese nibs run finer than European ones at the same nominal width, so this medium sits closer to a European fine. If the recipient wants a genuinely fine line, this is arguably a better planner pen than its label suggests.

The brass barrel gives it a heft that reads as expensive. That is the whole trick of this pen and it is why it appears on every beginner list.

Published specifications for the PILOT Metropolitan Fountain Pen, Black, Medium Nib

Nib	Medium, stainless steelSource: Amazon listing - PILOT Metropolitan Fountain Pen, Medium Nib
Body	Brass barrel with stainless accentsBrass is why it feels heavier than its price suggests.Source: Amazon listing - PILOT Metropolitan Fountain Pen, Medium Nib
Supplied	One black ink cartridge and a Pilot press-plate converterThe converter is the part rivals leave out; it lets the recipient use bottled ink on day one.Source: Amazon listing - PILOT Metropolitan Fountain Pen, Medium Nib
Packaging	Keepsake gift boxSource: Amazon listing - PILOT Metropolitan Fountain Pen, Medium Nib

What it does well

• Converter included, so bottled ink works out of the box.
• Brass body feels well above its price.
• Japanese medium writes finer than a European medium, which suits planner use.

What it does not

• Medium is still wider than a Safari fine; for very small boxes, choose the fine.
• Plain black barrel is understated to the point of anonymous as a gift.

Skip this: if you want the gift to look like an event. It is a superb pen and a visually quiet one; the Cross Bailey does the ceremony better.

2. A first fountain pen that is actually usable

LAMY Safari Fountain Pen, Umbra, Fine Nib

A German-made steel-nibbed fountain pen with a molded grip that teaches the hold, and a nib width printed on the listing rather than left to guess.

$27.29 - View on Amazon

$33.00 17% off

#ad Price as of September 13, 2026. How this is funded

A fine nib is the right default for a gift because it is the width that works in a planner. Broad and medium nibs are lovely on letter paper and unusable in a weekly grid.

The molded grip is the Safari's most divisive feature. It forces the standard tripod hold, which is genuinely helpful for a beginner and genuinely irritating for anyone who holds a pen differently.

One cartridge is not much ink. A bottle or a pack of cartridges alongside turns this from a pen into a working setup, and costs very little.

Published specifications for the LAMY Safari Fountain Pen, Umbra, Fine Nib

Nib	Size F (fine), polished steelThe width is published, which the Parker Jotter sets do not do.Source: Amazon listing - LAMY safari umbra fountain pen, size F nib
Grip	Molded ergonomic grip section, listed right-handedIt only allows one hold, which is a teaching aid and, for some hands, an annoyance.Source: Amazon listing - LAMY safari umbra fountain pen, size F nib
Supplied ink	One LAMY T 10 blue cartridgeSource: Amazon listing - LAMY safari umbra fountain pen, size F nib
Made in	GermanyLAMY states its writing instruments are produced at the company site in Heidelberg.Source: LAMY - safari fountain pen product page

What it does well

• Nib width published, so you know what you are buying.
• Fine nib suits planner boxes and everyday notes.
• German-made, and a genuine entry point rather than a novelty.

What it does not

• The molded grip does not suit every hand, and the listing specifies a right-handed nib.
• Ships with a single cartridge and no converter.

Skip this: if the recipient writes on cheap office paper all day. Fountain-pen ink feathers and shows through on 70 gsm copier stock, and the pen will get blamed for the paper. See ink and bleed-through.

A converter is the small piston that replaces a cartridge and lets the pen draw from a bottle. The Metropolitan includes one; the Safari does not. That is the difference between a pen that can use any ink ever made and a pen that is limited to what its maker sells in a plastic tube until you buy a part.

It is also where the running cost lives. Bottled ink is dramatically cheaper per page than cartridges, so the pen that ships ready for it is the cheaper pen over any length of time, whatever the two prices say today.

The Safari publishes a size F nib and the Metropolitan a medium. In a journal with generous ruling, medium is the more pleasant line and lays down more ink, which is most of why fountain pens look good. In the boxes of a weekly planner, medium is too wide to write in and fine is the only usable choice.

So the honest version of this question is what the pen will be written in, not which nib is better. Nib sizes explained lines the widths up, and planner sizes explained shows how little room a weekly grid actually gives you.

The Safari's molded section allows exactly one hold - the standard tripod. For someone learning, that is a teaching aid and it genuinely works. For an adult who has held a pen a particular way for thirty years, it is an instruction they did not ask for and it can make the pen unusable.

The Metropolitan's section is plain and round and makes no such demand. If you do not know how the recipient holds a pen, that is the safer purchase, and it is the single strongest argument for the Metropolitan as a gift.

The Metropolitan's brass barrel gives it weight, and weight is most of what makes a pen feel expensive in the hand. It also makes it a better object to unwrap, which the keepsake box is clearly designed to support.

The Safari's plastic is not a cost-saving so much as a design decision - it is the reason the pen survives being carried loose and the reason it has stayed in production for forty years. As a gift it presents as less; as a pen that gets used daily it asks for less care.