LAMY AL-Star Fountain Pen Review

Introduction: 

A problem that many people find with affordable pens is the plastic material. It can sometimes be brittle as it ages or gets damaged when bent or crushed – this is not a problem for the AL-Star.

LAMY has once again produced a fantastic fountain pen at a great price point. For a next to entry-level fountain pen at less than $70 the AL-Star or Light Aluminium is a combination of light, strong, durable, and robust. This is a great use of materials for practical design improvements while still keeping the price significantly lower than competitor options.

This is our honest to goodness review of one of LAMY’s best fountain pens. Please leave your comments below or have a read through reviews from our customers on the individual product pages which can be found at LAMY Fountain Pens. 

Features: 

This is an above entry-level pen. It is still in a much lower price range than competitors but it still packs a punch in terms of functionality and features, such as a wide colour range, good materials and practical design features.

The main point of difference is the aluminium casing. Aluminium is a light and strong metal which gives the pen a real feel of quality and value for money.

The key features of the LAMY AL-Star that we think you need to know about are: 

• Light Aluminium Casing 
• Transparent Comfortable Grip 
• Ink Level Checking Window 
• Stainless Steel Nib 
• Interchangeable Nibs 

There are some great colours available for the barrel of the AL-Star so you can get the exact style that you want, including: 

• Black 
• Graphite 
• Ocean Blue 
• Blue Green 
• Bronze 
• Black Purple 

There is also a range of nib sizes available to suit your writing style: 

• Extra Fine 
• Fine 
• Medium 
• Broad 

Inks Refills 

The LAMY Al-Star is compatible with both ink cartridges and converter with ink bottles. The compatible ink cartridge is the LAMY T10. 

One of the great parts of buying a popular brand and a popular pen is the wide range of ink colours available. The T10 cartridge comes in the following colours: 

• Black 
• Dark Blue 
• Blue 
• Turquoise 
• Green 
• Bronze 
• Red 
• Purple 

The AL-Star pen is also compatible with a converter and ink bottle. For those wondering – a converter ‘converts’ the pen from using cartridges to using ink bottles. They are effectively a re-usable plastic tube that can be used to suck ink out of bottles and insert into the pen. 

The LAMY Z28 is the converter suitable for the AL-Star. This is a piston style converter that has replaced the Z24 recently.  

 The LAMY bottled ink that is most commonly used with the AL-Star is the T52. The bottle itself comes with an inbuilt roll of blotting paper to make refilling clean and easy. This is available in commonly used professional blues and blacks, more playful reds and turquoises, as well as limited edition colours. This is available in 50ml bottles which goes a long way. 

Conclusion: 

 We have tried to give an independent assessment of all fountain pens that we review looking at the few criteria of Value for Money, Performance, and Design aesthetics. For the AL-Star we have rated it:

• Value for Money – 8/10 
• Performance – 8/10  
• Design – 9/10 

In conclusion, we rate the LAMY AL-Star Fountain Pen an 8 out of 10. Extremely positive for an above entry-level pen and highly recommended for both beginners and more advanced users.