LAMY Graphite AL-star Rollerball Pen with Black Ink (L326)

Classic, handsome pen. Graphite finish is understated and classy! The weight and balance are perfect. Very slightly larger than the all plastic Safari pens. Great for large hands. Lamy’s tri-lobe grip seems unconventional at first, but is very comfortable in use. The supplied cartridge writes very nicely, despite all the bitching about it. I own several Lamys and they all write perfectly, no skipping, or scratchiness. They will bleed slightly through cheap paper, not a big deal though. The Pilot cartridge substitution is very easy. Great writing, inexpensive, readily available (any Staples store has a number of colors/widths). For the spacer, I use a spring out of a cheap retractable pen, clip a few coils off and it works perfectly. Be careful, once you use one, you’ll inevitably get more!

One of my favs. Excellent pen for the money.

My kid introduced me to Lamy pens, and oh boy are they the best! I absolutely love this pen and how well it writes and flows. I love how easy it is to get replacement ink in all sorts of colors, too!

I love the Lamy AL-star rollerball pens. I've bought 5 or 6 and both the hand feel and the smotheness of the roller ball are great. I showed one of the pens to a business associate and they liked it so much, I ended up giving it to her. Highly recomended!

Buen diseño, liviano y diseño de calidad. El bolígrafo llegó en perfecto estado.

Very comfortable pen that writes smoothly. Creates lines that are a bit thicker than what I am used to, but is clean.

Excelente calidad de fabricación, la escritura es perfecta y el color es un gris es perfecto.

I purchased this pen because I wanted a high quality rollerball, and many of the other options were outside of my price range. I've used LAMY products in the past, and although their ballpoints are not impressive (clogging, lackluster ink and poor flow in general) they have always come out on top in terms of design. I used to think the AL-Star was simply a different version of the Safari, but I've learned that it's a completely different beast. The box it comes in is typical minimalistic LAMY, with the pen and small warranty encased in a simple paper covering. Taking the pen out, you are immediately struck by the build quality - matte silver finish, fully encased in an aluminum shell, and hefty in your hands - everything about this pen screams quality. Removing the cap provides a satisfying click and pop, and attaches securely to the pen body. The stamped LAMY logo at the end of the barrel does look slightly cheap, however - you can see warping where the metal was depressed. Perhaps it's because of the cost of the pen, but for such a well presented product I thought it was something that should have been addressed. Being a rollerball (and having German reliability) the M63 refill wrote smoothly and with dark black ink with the first swipe across the page. Since the pen is all about the refill, I found the M63 very versatile for what I needed it to do. The point was a little bold - sometimes when trying to write slightly smaller, I found my letters being cramped up and looking unsightly. In general, however, I have no complaints about the writing experience of the refill itself. Why this gets four stars out of five is because of the pen's weight distribution. Without the cap, the pen feels nice and solid in the hand, and able to be manipulated appropriately. With the cap on the end (how I ALWAYS write), the added length is a bonus, but because of the aluminium's weight, it gives the pen a very top heavy feel, leaving the writing experience tiring and unenjoyable. This is simply a personal preference, but because I believe that pen caps are meant to be on the ends of pens when in use, a star gets knocked off. But overall, if you enjoy setting the cap aside and simply writing (and that's why we use pens, right? To write.), the AL-Star rollerball looks to be a very good choice. It's solid, high quality, and smooth writing, and it's aluminium shell gives it a very professional, elegant and sophisticated look. Next time you can actually pull this out with pride! UPDATE 11/14/2013 After some use, I have some additional comments: 1) The pen body dents easily. I already have several scuff marks all over, and small indentations from where (I assume) I've dropped it or hit it on something. The pen still functions perfectly, but does not look as good. Still feels solid though. 2) I've had to get rid of the refill - it started skipping after about two weeks of use. I've tried everything, but eventually writing became a chore rather than an effortless experience. This is not acceptable. As a boutique pen company, LAMY should not have people trying to get refills to work - they should be hassle free. Alas, this is not the case. Since the pen uses proprietary length refills, I did a simple modification to fit the Pilot G2 refill I used as a replacement - I stuffed a ball of paper into the barrel to "increase" the length of the refill. Now it writes like a champ (Pilot reliability is unbeatable!) and looks and feels good to boot! My score still stands at four stars, since my original point was a matter of personal preference. Still a great buy!