(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)
The Mark's HiBi Weekly notebook is a small spiral notebook that spreads your entire week on a single page, making it easy to plan events and tasks for each day. Unlike a lot of weekly or daily planners, this one features a wide landscape orientation, and also sports a back cover that allows the notebook to stand up on its own so you can easily reference the planner on your desk.
At 8.3 x 4.6 inches, it's a familiar size. It's a bit smaller than an A5 notebook, which makes it easy to store and transport, but also allowing enough room on the page for an entire week. While it's great that the full week is available on every page, that's where this notebook causes me trouble. Due to the small size, I've had trouble using the notebook since I don't normally write super small. Even if I do write incredibly small, there still isn't much room for me to add meetings, appointments, and tasks for each day without everything feeling incredibly cramped. At first glance, it looked like a great format. After using it for a week, I was a bit disappointed.
For me, the functionality was a flop, but what about the build quality? The notebook features a top-bound twin spiral ring that seems rugged, but can be difficult to turn pages without getting stuck. The chipboard that makes up the front and back covers are incredibly strong, and I have no doubt they'll stand up to a great deal of abuse. The kickstand on the back cover is a novel idea, but it does add bulk to the notebook when it's closed and laying flat. If you're using it to stand up the notebook, it works great.
Once you get to the paper, the build quality starts to decline. The paper has a smooth feel that's pleasant to write on, and it's thin without feeling fragile. I also haven't seen any feathering when using different pens on this paper, which is a good sign. However, the show-through on the opposite page is significant. Even with a micro-tip gel pen, there's almost too much show-through to use the back page. And since every page has a front and a back, that poses a significant problem. The Schmidt P8126 and fountain pen inks caused the most show-through, but the only option that hasn't caused some sort of show-through is pencil. I was disappointed by this attribute of the paper, because it's pleasant to use if you discount the show-through property.
Unfortunately, this notebook didn't mesh with my daily routine or writing style. It could potentially be fixed by removing a lot of the lines that create the feeling of cramped writing space, but fitting seven days of information on a single sheet is always a tall order. This might work great for some people with specific use cases, but it just didn't hold up for me. That, together with the paper quality and problematic spiral binding, ultimately makes this notebook difficult to recommend unless you can think of specific uses that will suite your needs.
The model used in this review is orange, but that color isn't currently available on JetPens. Today, they offer blue, pink, and yellow, and each notebook is just under $10.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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