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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