The folks over at Pencils.com recently debuted some new notebooks. Day one I ordered myself up some of them in medium sizes (8.5″ x 5.5″) Soon after, things picked up at work and I didn’t get to them as fast as I would have hoped. In the midst of the fray, Alexander over at Pencils.com, upon noting that I had purchased several of their luxury notebooks but no pocket sized, kindly sent a few my way to try out. These Palomino Flex notebooks are very nice. They look and feel like a higher quality version of the Moleskine cahiers for about the same price. I decided to do this review as more of a comparison to the Moleskine cahier since I’ve carried a cahier with me just about everywhere I go for a long time.

The moment I opened up and flipped through the Palomino Flex I immediately felt the difference. First off, the cover feels slightly thicker. Not a huge difference, but like the paper inside, it feels of a little bit higher quality. I have not put these into daily use so far since I just got them but I know that I’ve had several cahier covers fall apart so upping the sturdiness of the cover is always a plus. Speaking of falling apart, the addition of the orange cover to the spine is very practical. A couple of my cahiers have had their covers come off at the stitching. This looks like it might prevent that from happening. Also, one major difference that is very noticeable is that the stitching on the Moleskine is black, while the stitching on the Palomino is white. On the Moleskine the stitching is clearly visible on the inside as it contrasts with the paper but is not noticeable on the outside since it matches the cover. The Palomino’s stitching is not that noticeable on the inside since it’s white and blends with the white paper. On the outside it’s not visible at all because of the orange cover on the spine.

The Paper

Each Moleskine Cahier has 64 pages (32 sheets) with the last 16 sheets, or back half of the notebook, being perforated. The Palomino Flex has 80 pages (40 sheets) and only the last 8 are perforated. The paper quality on the Flex is 70 gsm as stated on their website while the Moleskine’s gsm isn’t really stated anywhere. I can tell you that the paper in the Flex feels smoother to the touch and while writing. As you can see from the writing test pics below, the Palomino’s paper is white while the Moleskine’s paper is off-white. Both of the notebooks that I reviewed are lined with 6mm ruling. The only difference there is that the Palomino has a header space and therefore 2 less lines (21).

Both notebooks performed similarly in the writing test. I only had slight bleed through when using the Sharpie and the Bic Mark-it markers and some ghosting with the Pilot G-2 1.0mm. But, in their defense, I do write heavy handed. My Platinum Preppy is a fine nib so if you use a wider one you might get ghosting or even bleed through depending on how much in your pen is pushing out. I know that Moleskines are not particularly fountain pen friendly. I decided to do an erase test since I messed up while writing with the Staedtler in the Moleskine. I colored in a solid block using the Staedtler 0.5mm with HB lead and used a Staedtler Mars Plastic Combi eraser. Both performed fine. (The eraser that I used when trying to fix the “2″ in “925″ was the eraser on the pencil itself. It erased the mistake but didn’t quite clean up as good as using the Staedtler Mars Plastic Combi eraser.)

The pics above show that both of the notebooks are flexible and open flat. I’m guessing that because of the orange cover on the spine of the Palomino it’s a little stiffer to fold back on itself than the Moleskine. Also, after bending them back on themselves, the Palomino doesn’t lay flat while shut as well as the Moleskine. (pic below). But, seeing as most of the time it would be living in my back pocket, I think that my weight would help it shut just fine.

Both of these pocket notebooks are offered with lined, graph, or plain sheets. The Palomino is only offered with a black cover while the Moleskine comes in many colors including black, blue ,and red.

As I stated, I have been using the Moleskines for a long time. That might be due to the fact that I bought a whole bunch of them at a sale a while back so I’ve slowly been going through them for a couple of years. But, I really like the look and feel of these Palomino Flex notebooks. I can’t wait to use them regularly as my capture tool.

Right now Amazon has the Moleskine Cahiers for $8.95 and Pencils.com is offering the Palomino Flex notebooks for $8.95. So, for the same price you get a little higher quality and more sheets on your capture tool. It’s like getting free paper! And who doesn’t like free paper?!?

Thanks for taking time to read my review and be sure to check back soon for more reviews of the rest of the notebooks I bought from Pencils.com along with the rest of the back log that I have of writing instruments. (There are A LOT!!!)

And, thank you again to Alexander at Pencils.com for sending me these Palomino Flex to review.  I will for sure be adding them to my next Pencils.com order of Palomino Blackwings.