Life Noble Mini-Ring Notebook Review

Life Notebooks is one of those companies that does very little wrong in my book. Their aesthetic suits my style perfectly, and fortunately, they perform as well as they look.

This doesn’t mean the Mini-Ring Notebook is perfect across the board - more on that in a minute - but it is a fun and functional pocket notebook that works well with any writing instrument you throw at it.

Starting with the exterior, the bright orange front cover is made from what feels like 80# cardstock, with a thicker and stronger chipboard-style backing. The design and lettering of the front cover is striking, just like with every notebook Life creates. I love the looks.

The inside is filled with Life’s high-quality paper that made them a hit with stationery lovers everywhere. Like other Japanese paper brands, they focus on the writing experience for all types of pens and pencils. They deliver on that too.

Fountain pens glide across the page, from my finest needle points, to wider stubs. There is no feathering, bleed, or ghosting to be found. None. The dry time is even reasonable. Gel and ballpoint pens work great as well, as do all grades of pencil. The rollerball ink of the Schmidt P8127 was the only one I could even see on the back side of the page, and just barely at that.

As a binding method, I like twin ring both from a functional and aesthetic perspective, but I don’t like it on the side on a small notebook like this. I’d prefer it on the top in this approximately 3-1/4” x 5” format because side doesn’t work as well in pockets. It’s great on A5 and up formats where it is more of a desk pad.

Also, Life’s paper is too ivory for constant use. I’d like a whiter or yellower tone for every day writing. I use inks with color, and they don’t show up as well on this tone.

And finally, there is the price issue. It’s more expensive than it’s competitors. The Mini-Ring runs nearly $5 for 40 smaller than Field Notes sheets. It’s not egregious, and it may be as good or even better for many users, but you are paying for the privilege. Rhodia is more expensive than basic paper, but it is far cheaper than Life, and has many more options (although Life is gaining on that.)

But like Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, it is hard to stay away from the good stuff on occasion. Despite some preference changes I would make on a personal level, they is no denying the quality of Life Notebooks.

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

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Posted on July 10, 2017 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Life Notebooks, Notebook Reviews.

Goulet Notebook with Tomoe River Paper A5 Dotgrid: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

Goulet Pens now offers its own brand of notebooks in various sizes, including A5, Traveler’s Notebook regular size, Traveler’s Notebook passport size, and Pocket size. Each style is offered in blank, ruled, dot grid, and graph options, and all are filled with Tomoe River Paper.

I’m reviewing the A5 size dot grid notebook. It comes simply packaged in cellophane paper with a sticker on the front identifying it as a Goulet product. The back sticker indicates the thickness of the Tomoe paper, the size, and the type of ruling.

The notebook itself has absolutely no branding. The cover is made of dark brown kraft paper. You get 32 sheets of 68gsm Tomoe paper for a total of 64 pages. The notebook is staple bound (two staples).

I like dot grid paper because it is less distracting than ruled paper and it allows you to write in any direction.

The dots on the Goulet paper are visible but aren’t so dark that they overwhelm the page.

I tested out the paper in various ways. I wrote a forthcoming review about the Visconti Divina Elegance fountain pen. The paper behaved wonderfully. The ink doesn’t bleed, but it sheens pretty dramatically on this paper.

*Close up of writing. Ink: Robert Oster Peppermint.*

I did a currently inked pens page with swabs, and the paper handled all the inks and swabs well.

And I tried out several different writing instruments (ball points, fountain pens, and mechanical pencils). No problems at all.

The paper is what you’d expect from Tomoe: creamy, smooth, and thin. Except for pencils and super fine ball points, you do get quite a bit of show-through on the reverse sides of pages.

But the only significant show-through I experienced was with a swab of some super wet Kyoto ink. None of the ink actually penetrated through the paper, but the show-through is much more noticable.

The show-through you get with Tomoe River Paper may be so distracting for some writers that they will only want to write on one side of each page. That is what I wound up doing with my Visconti Review. However, I use Tomoe River paper in my daily journal. I write on both sides of the page, and the show through doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, I love how crinkly the pages become as I fill them in. I’m weird that way.

The Goulet A5 Notebook Dot Grid is $8.00 at Goulet Pens. I am a huge fan of Tomoe River paper, and Goulet offers it in the sizes most pen folks want. I highly recommend you try some if you haven’t already.

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

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Posted on July 7, 2017 by Susan Pigott and filed under Goulet, Notebook Reviews.

Parker Jotter Ballpoint Pen Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter.)

The Parker Jotter is a tried and true classic that keeps upgrading, and this new two-tone, all-metal Victoria Violet body feels fresh while still nodding to vintage elegance. I was genuinely surprised by the price of these new editions, because they look and feel like a much more expensive pen. The writing experience was also a pleasant surprise.

The all-aluminum body is made in France. It's quite small and slim, so may not be comfortable for long writing sessions if you have large hands. The clip is stiff and in the classic Parker arrow shape. The edges of the arrow are sharp, so I'd caution against clipping this to light fabrics. The pen is small enough that the clip also ends up hitting my hand when the pen rotates, so I find I have to adjust it from time to time. The finish can be a bit slick to hold if your hands are at all sweaty, but the texture of the aluminum helps with grip under normal writing circumstances. The new line of colors are fun and gorgeous, ranging from whimsical to executive. And the premium styles of the Jotters are downright snazzy.

This pen has one of the most satisfying clicks I've ever experienced. It's loud, solid, and has a good amount of resistance. You could drive people crazy with this click and I love it.

The refill supplied is a blue Quinkflow cartridge, which is specially formatted for smooth, consistent writing. I think it achieves that. The ballpoint glides nicely on paper, and I never had any skips or hard starts. I did sometimes get that blob of ink at the start of a letter, and it will smear a little if you run your hand over the blob. But that seems like a universal ballpoint issue. The pen will take any parker style refill, though, so there are a ton of other options. I think a Fisher Space Pen refill in this would make it the perfect purse pen, or traveling journal pen.

For me, this pen is unseating the Karas Kustoms Retrakt in my I-need-a-pen-that-isn't-a-fountain-pen slot. Other pens that have occupied that seat are the Cross Click Classic and the Retro 51 Tornado. All of those are at least twice (if not three times) the cost of this Jotter, and so far it has performed better than all of them, for me. And if you're primarily a fountain pen user, but you acknowledge the occasional need for a ballpoint, this really is the perfect one. It looks and feels like you're spoiling yourself, but the price is low enough that you'll still have to add a fountain pen to your cart to get free shipping.

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

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