Maruman Spiral Note Basic Notebook Review

“Hi Brad,

I’m a student on a budget and am looking for a notebook with paper that will allow me to use all of my favorite pens and is affordable. Can you help me out?

Sincerely,

Lots of emailers during back to school season”

Historically, this is one of the harder emails for me to answer, until now that is. The Maruman Spiral Note Basic Notebook is the answer.

There are a ton of variables in the notebook needs for students. One main requirement rarely changes though: They want a side bound notebook. That’s what they have used all their lives, that’s what is available at local office supply retailers, and that is the most functional layout for sometimes limited writing areas students have to work in.

You would think this would be an easy answer, but for the stationery obsessives that are emailing me it isn’t. And it hasn’t been for me either.

Most students with this question are wanting to use fountain pens, and almost none of the readily available store options are going to cut it. The paper isn’t good enough. If it was, they wouldn’t be emailing me.

On the other end of the spectrum, paper that is fountain pen friendly usually comes in a bad format for students - top bound, hard cover, too few sheets, etc. - and expensive on top of that.

The Kokuyo Campus lineup is one I’ve pointed to on occasion. They meet the paper requirements, but are either too few pages or too expensive, depending on which of the many models you are looking at.

I also mention Rhodia a lot because they are more readily available, although not exactly cheap. The top bound nature of the pads isn’t great for students who need to constantly refer to their notes, or who need a more compact notebook.

So back to the Maruman Spiral Note. It ticks nearly all of the boxes students want in a notebook. Side spiral bound, 80 perforated pages, B5 size, high quality paper, and cheap, at least compared to other nice notebooks. I’ll grant that $6 is still expensive compared to the $1-$2 store bought notebooks, but the performance you get from the paper is worth it if you are using fountain pens.

The Spiral Note also comes in lined, grid, or blank, so students can choose the format that is best for them. If these were available when I was in school I would have a stack of the graph notebooks without a doubt. It handled every pen and pencil I threw at it with ease, with the exception of alcohol-based markers. The Sharpie test failed big time. But other than that is was a joy.

I’m having a hard time adding something to the negative column for this notebook. It’s kind of ugly I guess? The basic kraft covers are boring and are bad photo subjects, but at least they are thick and should stand up to heavy academic usage. They are perfect for doodles and stickers though.

The paper quality is the star here. If these 80 sheets of Maruman goodness came as a loose leaf pack it would still be worth the money in my book. That it is bound and designed with students in mind it makes it an easy choice for anyone wanting a better note taking experience.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Maruman Mnemosyne N195 Spiral Notebook Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

The Maruman Mnemosyne N195 Special Memo Notepad, like its other Mnemosyne siblings, is a notebook that easily makes the cut for replacing your standard Moleskine notebook. Sure, it's spiral-bound, but you'll probably be able to forgive that once you try the paper.

I've always enjoyed the N196, which is the same format as this notebook except that the spiral binding is on top. While that's a great format for some purposes, I also enjoy using a side bound notebook as well.

It's easy to compare this notebook to the top-bound brother because they're very similar. The sizes are a bit different, where the side-bound notebook is A5 and the top-bound is B6, and the former has 80 pages instead of 50 like the top-bound book. But, the same paper is used in both, which is the real star.

The N195 is an example of a "perfect notebook" for my use. I love the A5 size pages for most purposes, and it's one of the biggest things I consider when looking for a new general purpose notebook. This one fits the bill nicely with dimensions of 6 x 8.25 inches and 7mm ruling. The ruling spacing hits a sweet spot for me. It's not too small, but it still works well with my small-medium writing style.

Build

The Mnemosyne N195 is built well for being a soft cover spiral-bound book. The wire binding is strong and resilient against bending in loaded bags. The fact that it's a twin spiral also keeps the pages more secure from tearing out, which is helpful with perforated pages. It always irritates me when a page tears out from the binding instead of tearing at the perforation. I've never had that problem with this notebook.

The covers are pliable, but still sturdy. They're the perfect weight for protecting the pages inside a bag, but probably can't defend it from more distressing situations. The cover features the black, minimalistic design as every other Mnemosyne notebook, save for the single gold "Mnemosyne" in the top-right corner of the front cover. Even this branding is small compared to the overall size of the cover. The back cover has a small SKU sticker that is easy to remove. The inside cover has a yellow sheet that features some more branding, including the Mnemosyne tagline, "The ancient Greek goddess of memory," which is a great name for a notebook.

Paper

The paper in the Mnemosyne notebooks is exceptional. It's not extremely thin like Tomoe River paper, but it is supple. Some papers have a certain amount of tooth, while others are made to be smooth like glass. Mnemosyne leans heavily toward the "smooth like glass" side of the scale. It's an absolute pleasure to write on.

It handles all types of pens and inks with ease, and dries fairly quickly. The pages aren't numbered, and each page has a section at the top for Date, number, and title. I don't normally use this section, but it's a nice thing to include.

The lines are spaced at 7mm in a light gray dotted pattern. They're very well done and seem to blend into the background when using vibrant inks. There are 80 sheets in the notebook, and each one is micro-perforated.

Overall

This notebook is one of my all-time favorites in this spiral-bound A5 category. There are a lot of contenders, but this one takes the cake every time. And, it even beats out a lot of glue- or cloth-bound notebooks as well. Sometimes you just want a good spiral notebook, and the Mnemosyne N195 Special Memo Notepad is an excellent choice.

The N195 is just under $10 at JetPens, which is a great value for this exceptional little notebook.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Maruman Mnemosyne Imagination Notebook Review

(This is a guest post by Nick Folz. You can find more of Nick and his work on his blog, Smallberry Drive, Twitter, and Instagram.)

Hello everyone, my name is Nick and I have a paper problem.

I guess it started in kindergarten. Up until that point in my life I had been doodling on stacks of ragged, ripped out blue lined notebook paper, without a care in the world. What a fool I was. One fateful day my teacher passed out thick stacks of colored construction paper, and my world was turned asunder. "There are other types of paper!?!" My mind whirled. Other children we busy cutting the sheets up with their safety scissors, all making a pleasurable "SKRRRRIIT" sound as they cut, but not me. I was shoving every available piece into my Captain Caveman backpack. I knew that I must save those for later. That was just the beginning.

In high school I experimented, everything from spiral bound sketchbooks with crisp white pages to hard backed notebooks that looked more like novels than journals. It was a phase I would not grow out of.

Things only worsened in college, now I knew where to get the stuff I had only heard about: Stacks of A4 linen, 80 lb Bristol by the pile, Cardstock as far as I could see and Vellum in every tone imaginable. The Art Store was my enabler. It was just too much.

I bottomed out one day when my friends found me facedown in a pile of thick toothed, cold pressed Cresent board with two bulk rolls of newsprint stock paper tubes stuck over on my arms.

These days I try to keep it under control. Sure, I still stock up on Bristol board during holiday sales. It is a nice heavy stock with a good rough tooth, makes me feel safe to have it around.

Temptation still rears its head, though. Just the other day I received a Maruman Mnemosyne Imagination Notebook, A4, blank pages. Someone had done their homework, someone was trying to pull me back in. Then the first bit of doubt creeped in, the paper was light and smooth and I like my paper thick and toothy. Scoffing, I cracked it opened and took at it with a pencil and, well, wow. The paper is so damned SMOOTH, plus it took the graphite very well. That is usually my problem with smooth papers, the lead lays atop the paper like a stiff breeze might blow it away. My pencil glided over the page like an ice skater, leaving smooth black trails.

Impressed, but still not completely sold on this new stranger, I broke out my brushes. No way this thin stock could hold straight ink. I gave it my all. The full business. Ink wash and everything. The notebook continued to surprise as the brush slid across the pages, okay, okay. I was gaining respect for this notebook, but knew that would all fall away once I flipped the page to see the inky mess underneath from the bleed through. I flipped the page, and gave a gasp, the next page was pristine. I still can't believe it.

I had to take stock of the other features, now that paper quality had been put to the test, and passed. Dual rings bind the notebook together, adding strength to the overall appearance. A black plastic cover with minimal text and a matte texture covers the front, a thick woodpulp backing finishes the book. Each page has a micro perforation, along with a light grey area for "Title" and "Date/No." along the top. It is sleek and clean.

And that's not all! They offer it in a variety! I mean, over at JetPens you can get them ruled, graphed, and plain in everything from steno style to weekly calendars. Listen, if you just loan me a little bit I could just order a few, just two or three and I will be good. Just this once, I mean I'm good for it you know, I , I just... Okay... Breathe... Just breathe...

Whew. I'm good. I, I just got caught up. I still have many more black sheets waiting for me in my Mnemosyne, I'm good for now. I just have to remember the mantra: "I don't NEED more paper, I just WANT more paper, and that is okay."

Thanks for letting me share, now I've got some doodling to do.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)