SEQES Dotted Hardcover Notebook

I reviewed the Archer and Olive notebook earlier this year and was really disappointed in how it handled fountain pens, so I’ve been looking for a good alternative. I recently watched a YouTube comparison of a few different 160gsm notebooks, and the winner was this SEQES dotted hardcover notebook, aka the QiHeng notebook. After watching the comparison I decided to give the winner a try. I purchased my notebook from Amazon. It arrived quickly with a nice boxed packaging, some page flags and a ballpoint.

The details:

The notebook measures 5.7’’ x 8.2’’ x 0.9” and features a grey linen cover, elastic closure, pen loop and two bookmarks. The one thing that stuck out to me was that the pen loop is secured with a metal stud rather than just glued in. I thought it would interfere with how I use it, but it I didn’t even notice it while using the notebook.

The paper is white, 160gsm sturdy paper, similar to card-stock. It has a light 5mm dot grid and rounded corners.

The dot grid is nice and light-the dots don’t interfere with use.

Fountain Pens:

All of the pen/ink combos I tried had almost no show through and no bleeding. The juiciest broad nib was the one that had some show through, as well as the large swab. There was a little bit of feathering in the broadest nib, but other than that the paper handled everything well.

Pencils and Gel Pens:

The paper handled all of the gel pens, pencils and markers well except the sharpie which had some bleeding.

The Seqes notebook is on the left, and the Archer and Olive notebook I reviewed previously is on the right. They are very similar in almost every way except the paper and the price-the Seqes handles fountain pens so much better than the Archer and Olive, and does it at half the price too.

Overall, I enjoyed this notebook for both fountain pens and gel pens. I’ve been using this notebook for a while now, and find myself reaching for it often.

Disclaimer: I purchased this product myself, and all photos and opinions are my own. There is an affiliate link on this page but this post is not sponsored in any way.

Exceed Notebooks

Recently a friend recommended I try the Exceed notebooks from Walmart, so I went down to the closest one to see what I could find. On the left is the Exceed A5 Bullet Journal in black, and on the right is the Hard Cover Dotted Book in white.

Hard Cover Dotted Book:

The Hard Cover Dotted Book contains 78 gsm cream heavyweight paper, 2 page markers, 120 sheets, an inner pocket, and measures 5 by 8 1/4 inches. It retails for $6.64.

This paper handled all the fountain pens really well, even the flex nib. No bleeding or feathering, and the show through wasn’t bad either.

All gel pens and highlighters worked well on this paper, no issues there either.

A5 Bullet Journal:

The A5 Bullet Journal contains 100 gsm cream heavyweight paper, 2 page markers, 120 sheets, an inner pocket, and measures 5 3/4 by 8 1/4 inches. This notebook is 3/4 of an inch wider than the dotted journal and has heavier paper but my favorite difference is that the Bullet Journal has an index and page numbers! It retails for $8.64.

Just like the Dotted Notebook the paper handled all fountain pens really well, but because the Bullet Journal has a bit heavier paper, there’s even less show through.

For gel pens and highlighters there was virtually no show through, and zero bleeding and feathering.

I ended up taking the Bullet Journal to my local pen club last weekend, and tested a bunch of my friends’ pen and ink combinations on it. The paper handled everything perfectly until it came to the Noodler’s inks. Apache Sunset had dried completely but when I closed it it made an impression on the opposite page. X-Feather took a solid 5 minutes to dry and like Apache Sunset, bled a bit onto the opposite page. The Duke Fude nib full of Burma Road did feather and bleed just a little bit, but let’s face it that nib is like writing with a paint brush. I was impressed with how well it handled everything else.

Overall, I prefer the Bullet Journal over the Dotted Hardcover just because the pages are a bit wider, has less show through, and page numbers (which I’m obsessed with). It seems very similar to a Leuchtturm 1917 notebook, but is at a much cheaper price point. The only think I don’t like is the cream paper-I wish it was a bit less yellow. If you are in the market for affordable, fountain-pen friendly notebooks this ones are definitely worth a try!

Disclaimer: I purchased these products myself, and all photos and opinions are my own. There are no affiliate links on this page, and this post is not sponsored in any way.

The PenThing Ink Swatch Plot Log

The PenThing is a pop-up pen shop in Chester, New Jersey. They just released their first self-branded product, The PenThing Ink Swatch Plot Log. It includes 48 pages of white, 120 gsm paper with categories to evaluate your inks.

Each page has spaces for the ink’s name, a swatch, the pen/nib used, date inked, date cleaned, remarks, as well as a 1-10 scale for: saturation, flow, shading, bleeding, feathering, dry time, sheen, halo, shimmer and overall. I like the paper-it’s nice and thick, with very little show through. Since the paper is so thick, the notebook does not lay flat on its own. I also like the categories, the only one I don’t use is halo-the average user doesn’t know the difference between sheen and halo so not everyone would find that category helpful.

Overall, I like this little notebook. It’s useful, has very little show through, and is great for keeping track of ink notes.

Disclaimer: This product was provided by The PenThing for the purpose of this review. All photos and opinions are my own. There are no affiliate links on this page.

Endless Recorder Notebook

I go through a lot of notebooks each year, a rather ridiculous amount, so I get excited to try out new notebooks. Today’s daily carry notebook is the Endless Recorder Notebook. I have the A5 with the Endless Space black cover. I brought this notebook with me to the San Francisco Pen show, and the leatherette cover (8.3 x 5.5 inches) has held up beautifully. In the US, this notebook is available for sale at Endless Works, Pen Chalet, Goulet Pens and more. Thanks to Endless Works for sending the notebook over for review.

Paper

This notebook contains 192 pages of 68gsm dot grid Tomoe River paper. This paper does a great job with fountain pens, no feathering or bleeding. It’s my favorite paper.

This paper handles most mediums well, but it does struggle a bit with pencils. I love it for fountain pens.

I love that this notebook contains a table of contents and can lay flat. This notebook also has a ribbon bookmark, a back cover pocket, and an elastic closure. Included with the notebook was a cloth drawstring protective bag, a silver bookmark engraved with my name and a packet of guide sheets.

I like that the pages are numbered, but if you look at the numbers you can see one of my concerns with this notebook. The cut on the pages are not even. There is less space on the bottom margin on page 9 than on page 13. This inconsistent cutting means that you can sometimes see the next page’s dot grid occasionally ghosting through on the current page.

The last 30 pages of the notebook are perforated. At the bottom of the photo you can see the inconsistent cutting again-you shouldn’t be able to see the guide lines.

Binding

The binding is stitch and glue bound. There are a few spots in the notebook where the glue has seeped into the binding and partially sealed a few pages together. I had to separate a few pages near the binding which lead to some tearing.

Overall, I like the cover and love the paper. I do have some concerns about the inconsistent cutting and the glue in the binding, which I hope they can work out over time since they are a relatively young company. This notebook has held up to daily use for a few weeks and the cover still looks brand new.

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This product was provided by Endless Works for the purpose of this review. This post does not contain affiliate links and is not sponsored in any way.