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Actually, I have found the opposite--at least as far as the grid pocket notebooks go, Moleskine paper and build quality has been inconsistent-bordering-on-bad [

Actually, I have found the opposite--at least as far as the grid pocket notebooks go, Moleskine paper and build quality has been inconsistent-bordering-on-bad [1]. In addition, I find dot paper superior to grid paper as it is more unobtrusive, but Moleskine has no dot configuration whatsoever in its product line. The two notebooks I tend to rely on are the Rhodia Webnotebook and the Leuchtturm1917, which are both much higher build quality than Moleskine in every respect (although the Leuchtturm has a bit of a smearing issue with G2 pens). But if you think a Moleskine is overpriced, you are in for a rude surprise with either of those. It does seem like there should be, out there somewhere, a cheap and high-quality engineer's pocket notebook. But if there is such a thing I have yet to find it, and I have tried probably 10 or so contenders. [1] Other reports: http://www.notebookstories.com/2011/10/17/moleskine-monday-hello-goodbye/ http://www.notebookstories.com/2011/10/17/moleskine-monday-h...

Swizec 13y ago
Wouldn't know about grid. I only use blanks and I find the paper fits a G2 pen perfectly. Maybe I lucked out on combination of favourite pen and favourite notebook and also on quality consistency here in Europe (I'm actually just 500km from Milan, where the company is based). Also I only use the soft cover ones, so maybe that affects their quality as well because soft covers are less prone to breaking and ruining the stitching. Here's my report from a few years ago: http://swizec.com/blog/notebook-fetishism/swizec/2729 http://swizec.com/blog/notebook-fetishism/swizec/2729
alsocasey 13y ago
Not exactly easy to find and probably still requires reinforcing the cover, but Clairefontaine notebooks can't be best for paper quality...
- eropple 13y ago
  Their paper is great, but I use Moleskine notebooks specifically because of the weak covers.
cgore 13y ago
The notebooks I use: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/home-gift-patina-brown-dragon-with-studs-embossed-italian-leather-lined-block-journal-7x10/22230020 http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/home-gift-patina-brown-drago... It has a dragon fighting a gryphon, which makes it much cooler than the moleskines. It's $50. On a serious note though, everybody should keep a daily journal, and a $0.99 cheapo from Wal-Mart will do the job.
DanBC 13y ago
I'd be interested to read reviews of notebooks and papers, written by someone who actually has a use for them. You could use referral links and put a google ad on the page for a tiny bit of passive income. Have you tried Black n Red? (http://www.blacknred.com/ http://www.blacknred.com/) I doubt they'll have dot grid, but perhaps. Or Field Notes? (http://fieldnotesbrand.com/ http://fieldnotesbrand.com/) I'm not sure if Field Notes is just a fashion brand or if they're actually good.
- drewcrawford 13y ago
  Well, this is as good of a time as any to dump my knowledge on the subject. I love dot grids, because each page has the potential to be either grid, ruled, or plain, depending on how seriously you take the dots. Having now gotten used to the various ways of using dotted paper, I don't think I could go back. If you are satisfied with other ruling methods, then you have many more potential vendors, but I am not. So that leaves these contenders: leuchtturm1917, rhodia, behance, field notes, scout, dotgrid.co, whitelines, ecoqua, monsieur, and nuuna. Vendors seem to come and go, as notebooks seem to be a bit of a fly-by-night sort of business. Behance and nuuna have that "fly by night" feel and seem difficult to get ahold of in the US (e.g. through Amazon, etc), so I have not tried them. Traditionally leuchtturm1917 has had this problem, but their US distributor seems to be straightening it out. Scout and dotgrid.co only come in something like Moleskine's "cahier" configuration (e.g., not hard bound). These might be worth trying, but I prefer perfect-bound. Field Notes only sells in "cahier" configuration, and their only dot grid product is on waterproof/fireproof/everythingproof paper. I hear they work well with pencil or ballpoint pen but the ink from my trusty G2s doesn't absorb well into the paper, so I will just be getting ink all over the place. Ecoqua sells a glue-bound notebook with a soft cover and no pocket, so it isn't really Moleskine-equivalent in its featureset. Whitelines is interesting because the lines/ruling is actually brighter than the paper itself, which scans well. However, their Black Ocean notebook is missing a pocket in the back cover, which is an important feature for me. I will probably pick one up eventually. They do have some nice pads though, including offbeat paper like isometric. Monsieur is a weird size (not very pocket-friendly), and seems to have some supply issues. This leaves the Leuchtturm1917 and the Rhodia. In my experience, the Leuchtturm1917 is smeary with G2 pens, but is otherwise perfect. The Rhodia's paper is perfect for the G2, but because the paperstock is so thick, the notebook feels a little thick in the pocket. I tend to alternate between these two notebooks. I have also looked into abusing the on-demand book publishers to create notebooks, but it seems self-published hardbound pocket books are not a thing. Things like boundforanything.com get pretty close, but you're still missing core features like a ribbon, elastic, and a rear pocket. tl;dr getting a notebook right is more difficult than it looks, rhodia and leuchtturm1917 come the closest for me.

Swizec 13y ago

Wouldn't know about grid. I only use blanks and I find the paper fits a G2 pen perfectly. Maybe I lucked out on combination of favourite pen and favourite notebook and also on quality consistency here in Europe (I'm actually just 500km from Milan, where the company is based). Also I only use the soft cover ones, so maybe that affects their quality as well because soft covers are less prone to breaking and ruining the stitching. Here's my report from a few years ago: http://swizec.com/blog/notebook-fetishism/swizec/2729 http://swizec.com/blog/notebook-fetishism/swizec/2729

alsocasey 13y ago

Not exactly easy to find and probably still requires reinforcing the cover, but Clairefontaine notebooks can't be best for paper quality...

eropple 13y ago
Their paper is great, but I use Moleskine notebooks specifically because of the weak covers.

cgore 13y ago

The notebooks I use: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/home-gift-patina-brown-dragon-with-studs-embossed-italian-leather-lined-block-journal-7x10/22230020 http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/home-gift-patina-brown-drago... It has a dragon fighting a gryphon, which makes it much cooler than the moleskines. It's $50. On a serious note though, everybody should keep a daily journal, and a $0.99 cheapo from Wal-Mart will do the job.

DanBC 13y ago

I'd be interested to read reviews of notebooks and papers, written by someone who actually has a use for them. You could use referral links and put a google ad on the page for a tiny bit of passive income. Have you tried Black n Red? (http://www.blacknred.com/ http://www.blacknred.com/) I doubt they'll have dot grid, but perhaps. Or Field Notes? (http://fieldnotesbrand.com/ http://fieldnotesbrand.com/) I'm not sure if Field Notes is just a fashion brand or if they're actually good.

drewcrawford 13y ago
Well, this is as good of a time as any to dump my knowledge on the subject. I love dot grids, because each page has the potential to be either grid, ruled, or plain, depending on how seriously you take the dots. Having now gotten used to the various ways of using dotted paper, I don't think I could go back. If you are satisfied with other ruling methods, then you have many more potential vendors, but I am not. So that leaves these contenders: leuchtturm1917, rhodia, behance, field notes, scout, dotgrid.co, whitelines, ecoqua, monsieur, and nuuna. Vendors seem to come and go, as notebooks seem to be a bit of a fly-by-night sort of business. Behance and nuuna have that "fly by night" feel and seem difficult to get ahold of in the US (e.g. through Amazon, etc), so I have not tried them. Traditionally leuchtturm1917 has had this problem, but their US distributor seems to be straightening it out. Scout and dotgrid.co only come in something like Moleskine's "cahier" configuration (e.g., not hard bound). These might be worth trying, but I prefer perfect-bound. Field Notes only sells in "cahier" configuration, and their only dot grid product is on waterproof/fireproof/everythingproof paper. I hear they work well with pencil or ballpoint pen but the ink from my trusty G2s doesn't absorb well into the paper, so I will just be getting ink all over the place. Ecoqua sells a glue-bound notebook with a soft cover and no pocket, so it isn't really Moleskine-equivalent in its featureset. Whitelines is interesting because the lines/ruling is actually brighter than the paper itself, which scans well. However, their Black Ocean notebook is missing a pocket in the back cover, which is an important feature for me. I will probably pick one up eventually. They do have some nice pads though, including offbeat paper like isometric. Monsieur is a weird size (not very pocket-friendly), and seems to have some supply issues. This leaves the Leuchtturm1917 and the Rhodia. In my experience, the Leuchtturm1917 is smeary with G2 pens, but is otherwise perfect. The Rhodia's paper is perfect for the G2, but because the paperstock is so thick, the notebook feels a little thick in the pocket. I tend to alternate between these two notebooks. I have also looked into abusing the on-demand book publishers to create notebooks, but it seems self-published hardbound pocket books are not a thing. Things like boundforanything.com get pretty close, but you're still missing core features like a ribbon, elastic, and a rear pocket. tl;dr getting a notebook right is more difficult than it looks, rhodia and leuchtturm1917 come the closest for me.