Traditional office supplies always make me happy, so when I had the opportunity to try out several TRU RED products from Staples.com, I was happy to put them to the test.
The Quick Dry Gel ink pens I reviewed last week are the exact definition of a traditional office supply, but does the Explore Journal I’m reviewing this week fall into that category as well? In today’s modern office, it absolutely does.
There was a time in my office heyday where not even I, the person who brought their own stationery to the office, would use a 200 page hardbound notebook for work. Nowadays, I’d consider it almost mandatory to use a notebook like this - along with a litany of other pens and paper.
The Explore Journal is TRU Red’s mid-size journal, designed to help you get your writing and note-taking organized, with a few helpful tips along the way. It contains 192 white paper pages, with a dot grid pattern, black hardbound cover, elastic band, and two bookmarks. The little black notebook basics, if you will. Those basics also include an 8” x 5” format, which is A5-ish, Smart Sized, or whatever non-standard name you wish to call it. I ride or die with paper-size standards, but you can’t win them all!
What this notebook offers in addition to those features are a few smaller details that office brands don’t normally add to their offerings, like a several-page index, page numbers, an Objectives list, a recap page, and a spine label for the exterior for when you’ve filled it up. There is even an insert to give you tips on various note taking and journaling styles.
All of these specs and features are well and good, but the real question us users have is “Is it any good?” Yes, with the standard fountain pen caveats.
What I really like about this notebook is the stark white paper stock. It’s not ivory, not cream, not yellow. It’s white, which is a bit of an outlier, comparatively speaking. Gel, rollerball, and ballpoints work well, as do drawing pens and graphite pencils. There is no feathering or bleeding, and you can use the back side of the page easily. I did my written review with a Retro 51 loaded with a Schmidt P8127 rollerball ink refill. That is a dark, wet ink, and it worked perfectly.
Fountain pens are another story. Fine nibs were great. They were fine enough to not bleed or feather, and the paper is smooth enough for them to feel nice when writing. The feel is the same with larger, wider, wetter nibs and inks, but it’s at this point that you start to see a bit of feathering and bleed through to the back of the page. From this perspective, the Explore Journal would fall in between Moleskine and Leuchtturm1917 performance-wise for fountain pen users.
That’s the thing about perspective when reviewing products. This is a journal that is made for Staples.com and their core customer. That core is likely 90%-plus standard pen and pencil users. And that core is going to love this product, especially at $16.99. It’s honestly cool to see the commitment to this type of journal for what I would consider a store-branded product.
Staples.com has gone all-in on the Tru Red product lineup, especially on the notebook and journal side of the ledger. While the products may not crack my own personal writing rotation, what they are offering has certainly made me sit up and pay attention. And I like what I’m seeing from a broader stationery perspective.
(Staples.com provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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