Midori MD Notebook Light: 7-Color Set, 70th Anniversary Limited Edition 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. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

Midori paper is some of the best out there, and this 70th Anniversary Limited Edition set of the MD Light notebooks is a lovely celebration of that legacy.

The set includes 7 of their A5 notebooks. The cover is light cardstock in a cream color, and the paper is ivory. The notebooks are bound with different colors of threading that can be seen along the spine, and the grid pattern inside the pages matches the thread color, which was an exciting surprise. The grids are well printed, so they are visible in the light colors and not too obtrusive in the dark colors. It's the perfect balance. The colorful grid lines also don't add any distraction when writing, though I admit I'm tempted to coordinate my pen and ink colors to the notebook's color. But that just makes it more fun.

The grid is 5mm with 10mm marks along the edge for extra guidance. It works well as a typical grid, for outlines and lists, but can also be used as lined paper for writing at either the 5mm or 10mm marks. The grid is heavy enough, though, that it can't be easily ignored. It doesn't fade into the background like some do. But it isn't meant to--this is a birthday party notebook!

The colors are dark red, sepia brown, yellow, green, light blue, navy blue, and purple. The notebooks come in a sturdy cardboard sleeve that can also work as a storage box. The set comes with a label and number sticker for each notebook.

The Midori MD paper is one of my favorites to use. It holds up well to almost any writing utensil. Sharpie bleeds through, but all fountain pen ink does very well, with no bleeding or feathering and very little ghosting. It's a pleasure to write on, and the colorful grids in this edition make it even more fun. Each notebook has 32 sheets, and since you can easily use both sides of the page with this paper, that gives you 64 pages per notebook, or 448 pages in the whole box.

The cost of this set is $45.50 at JetPens, which is a great value for the number of quality pages you receive. There's enough here to write a whole book, or a year's worth of class notes, or seven months of daily pages... Endless possibilities. Happy 70th, Midori!

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

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Ensso UNO XL: Stainless Steel Pen For Hi-Tec-C, Now On Kickstarter (Sponsor)

Back in 2015, ēnsso designed the Pen UNO, a minimalist pen to hold Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto refills. The pen was very successful due to its simplicity, and innovative retractable cap system. This week, ēnsso released the UNO XL, a full-size version of the pen for the standard Hi-Tec-C refills.

The UNO XL is machined from stainless steel, featuring a retractable cap that also serves as grip section, with diamond knurling to improve grip and comfort. It measures 135 mm in length, has a diameter of 11 mm at the grip section, and weighs 37 g. It is currently available to preorder on Kickstarter at up to 55% discount off the future retail price.

Ēnsso is a pen manufacturer and design studio based in California with 15 successful Kickstarter campaigns. The studio is the recipient of the Red Dot Award and the Good Design Award.

My thanks to Ēnsso for sponsoring The Pen Addict this week.

Pilot Dr. Grip Play Balance Shaker Mechanical Pencil Review

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

We all know that there's a lot of preference that goes into the perfect balance and handling of a writing instrument. The lower the center of gravity, the better the control. Too low, though, and it just feels weird. Each pen or pencil has a unique balance, and that attributes so much to the overall writing experience. But what if you could customize the balance of the pen or pencil by adding/subtracting weight to the grip section?

I'm guessing this is the question that came up in a Pilot design session at some point, because that's why we now have the Dr. Grip Play Balance Shaker Mechanical Pencil. There's a lot going on in this name, so let's break it down.

• Dr. Grip — contoured and squishy grip that you'll either love or hate
• Play Balance — you can add or remove weight from the grip section to alter the center of gravity!
• Shaker — you can press the nock at the top of the pencil to advance the lead like any other mechanical pencil, but you can also advance the lead by giving the pencil a little shake.

The Dr. Grip product line has been around quite a while now. If you've never tried one, you owe it to yourself to see if the grip fits your hand and grip style. If it happens to fit, it's really one of the most comfortable writing experiences I've had for a moderately cheap pen that I can buy at most big-box stores. It's got plenty of soft give while also having enough firmness to easily control. For me, the Uni Signo Alpha gel grip is just too soft and I have a hard time writing precisely.

With this mechanical pencil, you have the option of 0.5mm or 0.3mm lead sizes. The version I have is the 0.5mm in the clear body color. There's also black, red, green, and blue if clear isn't your thing. Regardless of the lead size or color, there's a chrome lead advancement button on the top of the pen, a chrome nose cone and lead shoulder, and a small nub at the top of the pencil to keep it from rolling away. There's also a small hole in the nub, so you could theoretically attach it to a lanyard strap or something else to secure it. Unfortunately, there's no clip on this pencil!

I have several mechanical pencils that use the shaker mechanism for advancing the lead, and I have to say that I like it a lot more than I thought I would. At first glance, this just seems like a gimmick that only exists to sell units. But, after retraining my brain that a quick shake will extend enough lead to keep writing, I was instantly sold. The quick shake is milliseconds faster than changing my grip to click the button with my thumb, and it's also just more fun. The shaker mechanism in this pencil is well done — it works easily and doesn't take much effort.

Now, let's talk about the main differentiator for the pencil — the reason is exists and has its own SKU: the Play Balance feature. While I'm not a fan of the name, I actually like the ability to change up the balance of the pencil will little effort. I've seen this type of option in gaming mice — the mouse comes with a cavity inside that you can fill up with a number of small weights until you achieve the perfect weight for your preferences. The idea here is similar, but since you hold a pencil upright instead of laying it flat on a desk and moving it around, you're actually shifting the center of gravity when you move the weight around.

So how does this work? Well, the package comes with three weights (equal sizes) and two silicone spacers. The pencil is preloaded with one weight and two silicone spacers. The weight is closest to the writing tip of the pencil. Changing out the weights and spacers is easy — just unscrew the cone, slide off the Dr. Grip squishy bit, and add/remove weights and spacers to the inner section. The grip section slides back over pretty easily, and as soon as you screw the cone back onto the pencil, you're ready to go. Since there are three available spaces to play with, your options are quite numerous. It's been a long time since I had a statistics math class, but I think this comes out to eight unique configurations (I checked the JetPens page after spending an embarrassing number of minutes trying to remember how to calculate the number of possible options, and JetPens had me covered). It's difficult to tell a difference between small changes, but it's really obvious when you from one extreme to the other. This is similar to how it feels to write with a pen that's posted versus one that isn't. For me, the perfect balance is one spacer at the top, and then two weights at the tip of the section. The beauty of this system is that you can find the perfect balance for your writing style or the task at hand!

At just under $12, this is a fun pencil that I'd happily recommend if you need a solid mechanical pencil that also allows you to play with the balance. It seems like there are so many gimmick-y stationery items in this price range, but this one actually delivers. Even if you never play with the weights, it's still a solid pencil that will serve you for decades to come.

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

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