I knew it would happen sooner or later. An ink came up that I am just not excited about. This week we’re going to take a look at Lamy Red. I received this bottle of ink at the 2022 Pelikan Hub. I’m not sure if everyone else around the world got a bottle of this as well, but I know that everyone who attended the Pelikan Hub in Denver did. While I appreciate the gesture, red ink can be difficult to use for regular writing. To be honest, I made assumptions about this ink and how much I would (or would not) like it before ever trying it out, so this week I put those assumptions to the test and inked up my pens with Lamy Red.
Lamy Red
To start, let’s take a look at the ink itself. It is not an intense red. In fact, I’d say it is borderline pink in color. I personally prefer a much darker red like Montblanc Corn Poppy Red. If I was going to use a pink ink, I’d either want something a lot more intense, like Lamy Vibrant Pink, or with more shading, like PenBBS Rose Quartz. Despite how light this ink is, it still shows a bit of gold sheen with writing and a green-gold sheen with heavy splats. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to make this ink any more interesting to me.
This is a well-behaved red ink
There isn’t any color separation in this ink
Here you can see the sheen this ink has
The Pens I Used
Each week I choose five different pens to fill with the ink I’m testing. My goal is to get a variety of nib sizes and styles, as well as a mix of modern and vintage pens. Here are the pens I chose this week and some writing samples from each:
This weeks pens (L-R): Pelikan M205, Lamy Al-Star, Esterbrook J x 2, Sailor Fude de Mannen
Pelikan M205 – F nib
This combination actually wasn’t too bad. The fine Pelikan nib helps keep the ink from looking too pink and washed out. If it were a Japanese fine, that might be a different story, but this Pelikan nib is just wet enough that it works with this ink.
Writing sample with fine nib
Lamy Al-Star – M nib
This nib isn’t the wettest M nib that I own, but it is still reasonably wet. It's also a Lamy, so I figured I had to have at least one Lamy pen/ink pairing. The ink looks bland and washed out with this nib, which is not usually the case with other inks in this pen.
Medium nib writing sample
Esterbrook J (vintage) – 9968 B nib
Writing with this pen was also enjoyable. The ink looked darker than with the other pens. I’ve always liked this nib and it’s no surprise to me that it made this ink more enjoyable to write with.
Broad nib writing sample
Esterbrook J (vintage) – Waterman flex nib
Writing with this pen was a pleasant surprise. The ink looks a lot darker than it does with the other pens. I initially thought there was some leftover ink in the nib that was making it look so dark, but once I started writing with it and gave it some flex, it came out looking just fine. It was really just when I wrote in block caps that it looked so dark. When I write in cursive, it looks a bit lighter, but still not as light as with the other pens I used this week.
Flex nib writing sample
Flex nib flourish
Sailor Fude de Mannen – fude nib
Why did I ink up a pen with a fude nib to try this ink? To be honest, I’m not really sure. I haven’t used this Sailor for writing before, I’ve mainly just played around with it. I didn’t enjoy writing with it due to how careful I felt I needed to be to keep the line width fairly consistent. As for the ink in this pen, still boring.
Fude nib writing sample
Paper
On cheap copy paper this ink did pretty well. Even with wet nibs and heavy flexing, it didn’t feather or bleed. On fountain-pen-friendly paper it did really well. I observed no feathering or bleeding. I think this ink could be used with any type of paper.
Writing samples on G Lalo Verge de France paper
Writing samples on Leuchtturm paper
Cleaning The Ink Out Of Pens
Cleaning pens is usually the most painful part of using a red ink. While this red is not as saturated as many that I’ve used, it’s still red ink and tends to stick around a little more than other colors. While I didn’t have any issues cleaning it out of the pens that I used, I wouldn’t use it in a pen without a removable nib or coverter.
Conclusions
I hate being right about an ink that I assume I’m not going to like, but in this case I was right. I hoped that after filling a few pens and writing with Lamy Red for a week, I’d find some redeeming qualities that I’d like about it. In this case, I didn’t find a single thing that I liked about this ink. It is just not a color that I enjoy or would ever want to use. I try not to be biased and give this equal consideration, even if it isn’t a premium ink. I don’t care what this cost or how fancy the bottle is, I wouldn’t want this color. So does it have anything going for it? Dry times are not too bad. It does have a bit of shading. It’s not very expensive. It is a well-behaved ink. Just because I don’t like the color doesn’t make it a bad ink. If you like the color, this would be a great ink for you, but I’d imagine the majority of people out there would prefer a more interesting color of ink.
Comments 18
It looks like watermelon red to me. I agree with you. Pass.
Author
That’s a great description! Kind of like a watermelon Jolly Rancher.
I cannot ABIDE watermelon candy! 😝
I don’t care for the ink either, but I like your all-caps printing. If fits so nicely in the dot grid space. I have a permanent grudge against ascenders and descenders (oh, the level of nerddom here).
Author
Thank you! I never thought about that before, but it does fit quite nicely inside the writing space.
Wasn’t it odd to receive Lamy ink at a Pelikan Hub event?
Author
Maybe a bit. I didn’t really think about it, but I guess I just chalked it up to them both being German companies.
Given that Pelikan distributed its special Edelstein inks at its past Hub events, it seems odd that it would pass out “common” Lamy inks.
I’m not a fan of writing with red ink either. Bright pink yes, red, no.
It is interesting though to see the variations of this ink with the different nib types. Thanks!
Author
Same here, Jane. I was surprised how much I liked Lamy Vibrant Pink when I used it.
There are some reds I like – Diamine Red Dragon or Diamine Inkvent Raspberry Rose or even Herbin Larme de Cassis. This one feels kind of boring.
Author
Exactly, Josh. There are some great reds out there that are not boring. This is not one of them.
I really really tried not to write this comment because we all have our opinions and tastes but I’m just, I’m not mad, I’m laughing because I’m feeling so mad about how you and everyone in the comments doesnt care or like this ink. I feel like I’m batty because I only found out this ink has a sheen an hour ago as I properly swatched it on good paper for the first time after using it since the beginning on this year and thinking it was just a nice pink colour… and then I went to google to find out if its a known fact and how I missed it (because where I bought it, it never mentions this lol) and then I hit your review and just… I can’t believe you like the other 2 pink inks you mentioned over this one. I’m taking it in good humour but I’m looking at all the samples you gave and just.. yeah I love this ink, I own a 50 ml bottle of it after using up 2 samples. I love it enough to do all my daily planner writing with it (except for when my fountain pen runs out and I end up spending a few days finding the energy to clean and then refill it) and I just.. its soft enough to not strain my eyes, but bright and fun to keep feeling fresh. Finding out about the sheen makes me like it even more now. I think y’all have bad taste 😂 (sorry) (no shade, I truly wish you all to be happy and use inks you like and enjoy, I do know how it feels to dislike an ink because I own a bottle I loath bc I thought I’d like it and it was cheap but I was a fool! but I just, I gotta defend lamy red, I’m not here to change minds, I’m here because my rage at think ink being called boring circled around to me laughing at myself for feeling mad in the first place. I’m just here to add a comment for any poor soul who likes this ink and ended up reading this review, to say you are not alone, I love this ink as well!) I hope I don’t come off rude, I’m really not looking for a fight haha I hope everyone has a good day :•)
Author
I totally get where you’re coming from. I have to imagine that a lot of people like this ink if a company like Lamy produces it as one of their main colors. The great thing about inks is that there are so many we all have options to find the one we like best. Glad you’re taking all the Lamy Red hate in stride. 🙂 I love grey inks and bet there are plenty of people out there who think they’re pretty boring as well. Thanks for the comment!
I actually like the Lamy red on the flex nib. On that pen, there was more variation of shade and the green highlights made the writing look crisp and legible. I don’t own a flex nib but now I’m thinking of getting one!
Author
I agree, the flex does help make it a lot more interesting. Flex nibs are a lot of fun and you can pick up a modern flex without having to spend as much as vintage flex. I’d recommend trying one out!
I use my Lamy daily for work and must use red ink. I honestly don’t care for the shade of red they produce. It is definitely too pink for my taste. Do you have an alternative to the Lamy refill that will fit my pen? Lamy Lx Fountain Pen Rose Gold -Ink Refill T10RD.
Author
I don’t think there are any other ink manufacturers that make cartridges that will fit a Lamy. I’d suggest getting a converter so you can use any red ink you’d like or you can always refill your cartridges: https://fountainpenlove.com/how-to/how-to-refill-a-fountain-pen-ink-cartridge/