Posts filed under Notebook Reviews

Endless Recorder Hardcover Notebook: 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.)

The Endless Recorder notebook is a creation by Endless Works, a company in India. The company is built on three pillars: simplicity, aesthetics, and service. Their logo--a long cigar-shaped line followed by three dots--represents content (the long line) that proceeds to infinity (the three dots).

The notebook comes in a handmade cotton pouch with a pull tie and a sewn-in pen loop. It’s a nice touch, but I doubt I’ll ever use the pouch or the pen loop with the notebook.

Included with the notebook are a sticker that says, “Ideas are Endless,” and a card with a QR code with which you can register your notebook. As far as I can tell, registering simply puts you on the company’s email list.

The notebook comes in four leatherette colors: black, blue, green, and red. Each color has a turquoise closure band.

The notebook corners are rounded and the binding is sewn.

Several details make the Endless Recorder special. It has a ribbon bookmark, an expandable pocket on the back cover, a two-page table of contents, numbered pages, and sixteen perforated pages at the end.

In addition, the paper is a higher density Tomoe River paper (68 gsm as opposed to the usual 52 gsm). This means that it is less prone to show through and feels more substantive. The notebook contains 187 numbered pages and is A5 size (8.3 inches by 5.5 inches).

I’ve used my Endless Recorder for several months as an everyday notebook. I’ve taken faculty meeting notes, written Pen Addict reviews, and tested inks in this notebook. There’s absolutely no bleeding and the paper is smooth and enjoyable to write on.

It stands up well to nearly everything I throw at it. Only a thick Sharpie penetrated the paper, but even that was minimal.

Show through is still an issue, although it’s not as noticeable with the 68 gsm paper. I’m not bothered by show through, but if you are, you’ll want to write on only one side of each page.

I’m quite impressed with the Endless Recorder notebook. I appreciate the extra touches, such as the Table of Contents and the page numbers. I prefer its white 68gsm Tomoe paper over cream, especially for ink swabbing. I love the perforated pages. I just wish all the pages were perforated, because I like having the option of removing pages from a notebook. I honestly have nothing negative to say about this well-crafted notebook. It’s going to give my go-to journaling notebook (the Seven Seas Writer) a run for its money.

The Endless Recorder costs $22.95, and you can chose lined, dot-grid, grid, or blank paper. Blank paper notebooks come with guide sheets. The dot grid and grid are spaced at 5mm with 7mm ruling. You can get your notebook personalized at additional cost.

(Endless Works provided this notebook to Pen Addict at no cost for review purposes.)

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Posted on October 18, 2019 by Susan Pigott and filed under Endless Notebook, Notebook Reviews.

Pebble Stationery Co. Glacier Edition Pocket Notebook: 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.)

Pebble Stationery Company was founded by Lois Ho and Joohn Soh. Both founders originally did corporate work in Australia, but they decided to leave the world of meetings to create products that are useful, minimalistic, simple, and beautiful.

The Glacier is Pebble’s first limited edition notebook, inspired by the glaciers of Antarctica. Thus, the linen cover is an icy blue with the company’s logo in silver.

The pages are edged in silver foil as a special touch.

Each pocket notebook is sewn stitch bound with silver thread.

The notebooks are 3.5 inches by 5.5 inches with rounded corners.80 pages of 52 gsm Tomoe River Paper are printed with 4mm dot grid in light gray ink.

The inside cover includes a space for the owner’s name, contact information, the inclusive dates for the notebook, contents, and location.

As you would expect, Tomoe River Paper works extremely well with fountain pen ink. I tested the paper with a variety of pens and inks, and none of the bled through (although there’s definitely show through).

I also did several ink swabs. The paper handles all of the inks well, showing off the shading with no bleed through. I didn’t notice much (if any) sheen, however.

I also tested the paper with various gel pens, rollerballs, and ballpoints. The paper tolerated all of these quite well. Even the Sharpie ink (fine point) did not bleed through.

The paper is thin enough that when you write with sharp nibs or press down hard enough with rollerballs, the page underneath bears the imprints. But, those imprints will be obscured by any writing you do later.

The notebook is the perfect size for capturing to do lists, swabs, and short quotations.

My only criticism is that the dot grid is quite light and hard to see. I had difficulty keeping my lines straight because of this.

The Pebble Stationery Glacier Pocket Notebook is an example of outstanding craftsmanship. I love the attention to detail--the silver gilded page edges, silver thread, and silver embossed branding.

You can purchase the special edition Glacier Pocket Notebook directly from Pebble Stationery Company. For $12.00 you receive a pack of two beautiful notebooks. Get them while they’re still available!

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

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Posted on September 27, 2019 by Susan Pigott and filed under Pebble Stationery Co., Notebook Reviews.

Apica CD Notebook Wear Cover with Monthly Schedule Book 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 first novel, The Bone Weaver’s Orchard, now available where books are sold!)

It's time to plan your plans! Planning your planning! It's planner season!

Confession: It stresses me out. Because I know what I want. And I know what works for me. And they are not the same thing! I usually cave and buy a complex, ambitious planner system at the beginning of the year, stick with it through April, and then things gradually deteriorate until about... oh, now... and then I spend the rest of the year with just a monthly spread and a lot of lists.

I started this year with a Hobonichi Cousin, last year with a Weeks, and the years before that with complicated and over-decorated bullet journals. Starting last month, I switched to a plain, slim grid notebook that I drew my own monthly spreads in and I've been keeping notes and lists in the back half of the notebook. Not long after I set that up, this Apica Monthly Schedule book arrived, which is the exact same layout as what I had designed for myself. I know that this layout is all I really need to know where I need to be and when. Yes, the squares are small. But days are short! So, if I run out of room in the square, I've also run out of room in my day. You might be surprised how much I can fit in a square, though. I can still thoroughly overbook myself in this small space.

This faux leather cover has an interior fold that the schedule book slides into. It can hold two slim A5 notebooks, or one notebook and a memo pad, or one thicker A5 notebook. It has an interior card pocket, two ribbon bookmarks, an extra back pocket, and a pen loop. The stitching is neat and sturdy, so it should stand up to the wear and tear of holding a planner, though I do find that the faux leather can warp over time with use. The pocket slits tend to stretch and lose a bit of integrity after a while, so I'm not certain if it can manage a year of daily use.

The cover doesn't need to be for the schedule or planner. It can hold any of the Apica A5 notebooks. Or nearly any A5 notebook, for that matter, as long as it isn't too thick. It's a decent cover, but it didn't blow me away, especially for the $25 price tag. There are a lot of better covers out there for less cost, in my opinion. When this arrived, it was the bonus schedule book that really got my attention.

The schedule book itself is a thread-bound soft cardstock cover book in A5 size. It begins with a yearly overview page. I've never really figured out what those are for, so I typically leave those blank. Then, there are sixteen monthly spreads, all unlabeled, so you can start and end on any month. The monthly pages have a lined list along the left edge of the page for tracking tasks. After the monthly spreads, there are 15 pages of 5mm grid paper for notes and lists. The paper is fantastic. It's smooth, acid-free, and takes even the most broad and inky fountain pens without so much as a feather. The only pen that bled was a Sharpie fineliner.

It's certainly not a life-organizer. It won't have all the details of my comings and goings, or the minute breakdowns of my goals and plans. But it's the perfect place to keep the crucial info handy, and it's all I need to carry with me to make sure I don't double-book anything as I go about the day. I know it's all I need, because it's all I use for a good quarter of the year. The cover and schedule set is $25 on JetPens, and the schedule itself is only $3.80 for the A5 size. Yes, I can have all the planner I need, with some of the best paper out there, for under $4. I don't need a $50 planner.

Of course, I'll end up getting the big fancy planner, anyway. I always do. It never fails. And even if it doesn't help me organize my life better, at least it helps me get excited about the start of a new year. And when it all gets to be too much, I have this simple but effective tool to keep me going through what promises to be another busy year.

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

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