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Palomino Flex vs. Moleskine Cahier

October 25, 2011 By 8 Comments

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.

Review: TOPS Writing Pad – Canary

March 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

These are the writing pads that we have here at work. My boss likes simple, plain, boring writing pads. Usually we get white ones but whatever is cheapest usually gets purchased. They’re used for writing out scripts, notes on scripts, graphic changes, and the like. The paper is smooth and only showed bleed through when using the markers.

I generally don’t like using pads at work because when I do,  I always end up bending the corners up. It just happens while they sit on my desk. I put my paper in front of me so whenever I reach for anything on my desk it gets in the way and the corners get bent. Other than that, they serve their purpose. Plus, these are made in the USA!

Minor bleed through

Write Dudes “Super Gel” Metallic Gel Ink Pens

March 3, 2011 By 6 Comments

ROYG.... wait

I saw these on a trip to Target recently. Honestly, I didn’t notice that they were metallic colors until after I had them home. My favorite pens are gel ink pens and I saw a pack of 8 in assorted colors for $4.99 and thought I’d give them a go.

I can hardly find any info on “Write Dudes” at all except for a couple of reviews at Does This Pen Write? (here and here) and that “The Write Dudes” trademark is owned by Mega Brands International, Luxembourg. Just about every search for “write dudes’ diverts to “Board Dudes”  or Zebra Pens.(what?) The only place that has them posted is Michael’s but I see no prices and those look different.

Several Write Dudes trying look cool around a Signo DX

The Pens:

This pack has 8-1.0mm (I think) metallic gel ink pens. The colors (or the tip size) are not listed anywhere on the packaging. They seem similar in shape/design to the Uniball Signo DX but they don’t feel as sturdy. They are much lighter and made in China which probably means “breaks as you use”. They’ve been in my briefcase for a while now and haven’t busted but I’m not taking any chances on having glitter gel ink all over my stuff. (Especially my Bloc Rhodia No.11 & dotPad No. 12 that I keep in that section as well) I don’t need my briefcase looking like my nieces got a hold of it.

The colors would be better if they stayed as rich dry as they look wet. They fade pretty (ugly) bad. Also, the tip somehow causes what looks like “railroading” which I’ve only seen using my flex nib fountain pen when I write too fast, push down hard and not enough ink flows out. (Check the words “GOLD” in gold and “WELL” in green) I can only assume it’s the flow of ink getting clogged by the glitter. There is bad skipping if you write faster as well. If you look at the color samples ( where I messed up purple and rose – they really should have marked which is which! ) you can see some skipping where I was writing out the lines. The grip is fine, but I don’t like how there is no “click” when you post the cap as it does with the Signo DX.

This came out looking better than it truly is. If they looked this rich it would be nicer!

The Packaging:

The packaging just states that they are metallic gel ink pens but lists no colors. So, I named the colors myself. (see pic) On the back is a picture of two “dudes” and has some schpeel about “striving to bring you high quality products that are fun and fashionable while making you look better, stronger, and smarter…”. My theory is that Mega Brands bought that pic of “Mike and Ben” off of iStockphoto and they don’t really exist except in their little logo which is the same as the Board Dudes logo. That brand is on the Mega Brands site. It seems they have a lot more dry erase board supplies than pens and pencils out there. The fact that they didn’t reply to my email inquiry only bolsters my suspicions.

My favorite thing on the packaging is what appears to be a QC disclaimer on the back that reads, “Products and colors may vary. Keep this information”.  What exactly does that mean? Is it that the QC is so bad that you might not get matching colors from batch to batch? Do they package the colors randomly so that every pack has different colors? Is this why the colors are not listed? Those are questions that could have been answered as well, had they replied to my email.

Like I wrote in the sample, for $4.99 they are not bad. I don’t hate these pens but I would not buy them again. (I’m not going to be signing anyone’s yearbook in the foreseeable future) If I want good metallic colors real bad, I’ll just stick with one of my favorite pen‘s version of metallic colors.

Review: Shopping List Notebook

March 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Borders filed for bankruptcy. They are closing many stores including one by my house. Angela and I decided to stop by and see what kind of deals they were having. So far it’s only about 20% throughout the store. (30% off of Blu-ray and DVDs) We found several books for the kids and some things for us. One of them was this shopping list notebook. It has a “leather-like” cover, tear-out-easy perforated sheets, boxes next to the line so that you can check the item off your list, a ribbon marker, and it’s made in Italy! Not bad!

Here’s what it says inside about Pierre Belvedere. I went to their site but couldn’t find this particular notebook. I did find the Shopaholic List Journal that looks similar in their Specialty Journals section though.

Click to read text.

Click to read text

They are having a warehouse sale so, if you’re in Montreal you could stop by and check it out.

Uni-Ball Signo Gelstick 0.7mm – Black

February 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The body features a "frosted, semitranslucent barrel" that is non-refillable.

This is one of the many pens that my coworker Hoo won from a Pens’n'Paper Giveaway! (Thanks Chris) Hoo was nice enough to spread the wealth, so I picked this pen out of the lot. It has a bigger tip than I prefer, but it looks good on paper. The ink is not as dark as the black from my Platinum Preppy but it’s dark enough to still look black and not a dark gray like the Zebra Surari that I have.

Uni-ball states that the Gelstick ink is waterproof so I ran water over the page from our water cooler here at work. Believe it or not, I ran water for  several seconds over the section that is between the red brackets. It didn’t budge. Then I ran water over the comparative samples. The Platinum Preppy and the Pilot G-2 spread all over the place. The Gelstick ink stayed put and the Sarasa and Surari did pretty well also.

Seems waterproof to me!!!

I’m not a fan of the plastic grip on the barrel. I can’t comfortably write for a long period of time feeling like I’m fighting to keep hold of a pen.  Plus the fact that it’s 0.7mm makes it really slide around on the paper for me. It’s almost like the pen is trying to get away from me. I like my pen to be a little scratchy on the paper so I prefer fine and extra fine tips. It makes me feel like I have more control over it when it grabs a little. With my penmanship, I need all the control I can get.

Even with the waterproof aspect of it I don’t think this pen is for me. I can get a more comfortable pen to use to address envelopes if I want.

Zebra Surari Emulsion Ink Pen 0.5mm – Black

February 10, 2011 By 3 Comments

I bought this pen because of how it was described to be a “breakthrough in ink history”. Emulsion ink is supposed to combine the smoothness of a ballpoint ink with the vibrant color of a gel ink. I think they got it half right; at least with the 0.5mm size anyway. It writes smooth but the color is just not there for me. As you can see in the sample, the color is lighter than a gel ink. (Click any photo to super-size)

Sorry about the glare. I really need to buy a scanner.

The barrel size and the grip are nice and comfortable. It fits nicely in my hand and I could write with it for a while. The problem I have is that the “black” ink on paper looks like a gel ink pen that is running out of ink. In the comparisons I used two 0.4mm gel pens and you can see that the Surari is just not putting out a full 0.5mm line of ink compared to them. It looks thinner than the 0.4mm lines. I looked at the samples that JetPens has on their site and it seems like the 0.7mm and the 1.0mm are a bit richer in comparison to the 0.5mm. Maybe I’ll give the 0.7mm a try. They are only $1.50. I’m thinking of putting 0.4mm Sarasa refills in this one though. If that works I’ll keep it.

Review: The Home Owner’s Journal

February 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I was reorganizing our hall closet when I came upon the Home Owner’s Journal. I remember buying it when we first moved into our house. It seemed like it might help in keeping track of stuff we would do to the house. Well, it’s now been over six years and there is nothing written in this thing. Somehow it got lost in all the mounds of paper work that just kept getting stacked on top of it for several years.

The Home Owner’s Journal is made so that you can keep track of any improvements or modifications that you do to your home. Every part of the house is covered. There’s a section where you can attach the paint swatch or daub some paint so that you can have a record of what paint color you used in a particular room. There are lines that specifically help you record what contractor was hired for a room remodel. There are grids for drawing out diagrams of rooms and for the lawn & garden if you want to plan or keep track of  what you plant in your yard. All areas have lines where you can write in your costs and every page has a notes section so you can leave even more details for yourself.

It is limiting in a way because you only have certain pages dedicated to specific areas in your home. But, if you use it as your “Final Draft” it shouldn’t be an issue. This gives you an excuse to have another journal just for sketching out your ideas about what you will do to a certain area. (Like you need an excuse)

Most things are itemized similarly for every part of the home, it might help you not miss something while you are remodeling or upgrading. Plus, there are some helpful tips included for standard maintenance like keeping your furnace in top shape and how to measure your floor for carpet and your windows for coverings.



I probably bought this on a whim. Any journal will do to keep track of your home improvements. The only thing this might offer is a prompt in a particular area that you might not have thought of yourself like retailer info, cost per unit, warranty info, and model/lot number info. The back cover has a pocket where you can store receipts and the like. One thing that would greatly improve this, and something that I have found myself adding to more and more of my notebooks, is the addition of tabs so that I can find a section easier and faster.



So far the only things I’ve written in it are when I changed the fluorescent bulbs in the garage, the re-grouting of my shower in the master bath, and the new sink a friend installed in the hall bath. That’s just in the last month. We have some plans to move things around in the near future in our bedroom and the kitchen. We shall see if this journal is employed in the planning.




One Dollar Notebooks – Travel Themed Blank Journal

January 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

When we walk into Target we always go through the $1 section. Sometimes we find pens, pencils or markers for the kids. Sometimes we find games. And, sometimes we find little notebooks like this one. Usually though, the one dollar notebooks are all spiral bound and wide ruled with about 40 to 60 pages and with some sort of kids cover on it. This one is attempting a “traveling” theme on the cover with the compass and faux passport stamps. The paper inside is blank…and very thin. I’m not sure exactly how thin but it’s thinner than my cheap Staples multipurpose paper that I use in my printer and that’s 20lb. (75gsm) It’s also not pocket sized at 7″ by 5″. (17.8cm x 12.6cm) But with only 60 thin pages, it’s  3/16″ (.5cm) “thick”!

You could try to use this as a traveling notebook but it’s larger than pocket size and the paper cover will protect nothing. Plus, you’ll only be able to use one side of each page because everything bleeds through. Right there you’re down to 30 pages of writing space. In fact, the echoing is so bad on the paper that you can see the writing through another page. (see below) It’s actually so thin, it could be used for tracing.

Writing Samples

Back of page and bleedthrough

Writing samples seen through previous page.

I think that this would be better as a sketching pad. It could be something that you whip out quick on the spot when you want to do a fast sketch of something. Even though the Niji 500 HB with the 0.5mm lead still echoes through the page, a lighter pencil like a 3H to 5H could work.

Basically, for a dollar you get a cheap scratch/sketch pad. And if you want to use all of the pages, use a 5H pencil and you’ll do fine. You could always transfer your weekend jaunt’s memories to a more permanent location and then dump this in the recycling bin.

Pentel Slicci Gel Ink Pen 0.3mm – Blue

January 20, 2011 By 1 Comment

Here is one of my purchases from the “Tokyo Japanese Lifestyle” store in the Brea Mall. It’s a Pentel Slicci Gel Ink Pen 0.3mm in Blue. I like the feel of it as well as the .25mm Sliccis that I own. It’s just a little smoother than them but just “scratchy” enough for my taste. I like the feel of a pen gripping the page as I write. It makes me feel like I have more control. The grip feels good as well even though the barrel of the pen is pretty slender. But, it doesn’t feel like the pen would slip out of my hands easily. The fine tipped writing makes the blue look a little bright but if it was a 0.7mm I’m sure it would look darker. All in all, a fine writing utensil to add to my ever expanding arsenal.

Click for the "Hi-res" pic taken by my phone.

If you don’t have a Tokyo Japanese Lifestyle anywhere near you, you could always order it from where I got all of the 0.25mm that I have, JetPens!

Review: Markings by C.R. Gibson Faux Croc Leather Notebook

December 27, 2010 By 2 Comments

Since I started trying to incorporate GTD into my life and get more organized, I resurrected my Franklin Covey binder and bought some refills for it. Soon after I started receiving the Franklin Covey catalog in the mail. I picked up this notebook from them. It’s the Large Croc Journal here. The site doesn’t give you a very detailed description of it. It just states that it’s embossed with an “attractive” croc pattern, has 160 ruled white pages, and has a ribbon marker. Oh, and it gives you the dimensions. (5.75″ W x 8.25″ H x 0.625″ D) I don’t normally get notebooks that have designs or embossed patterns on them but for the price I thought I might as well give this a try.

It’s actually a very nice journal. I personally prefer off-white/cream colored paper but this bright white is nice, kind of like the Quo Vadis Habana. I did some pen/pencil/ink tests on it and it performed very well. There was no bleed through with gel ink pens or fountain pens. As you can see from my pics, only the markers actually bled through to the other side and even they didn’t make a mark on the next page at all. I even held a Pilot Varsity medium nib fountain pen on the page for 5 seconds and it hardly sucked any ink out. In fact, since my birthday I have been using it as my daily journal and I can write with a fine nib fountain pen on both sides of the pages and it’s great. Like I stated, the site doesn’t give you very much info so I don’t know what the weight of the paper is but it does feel pretty thick. Also, I measured out the line spacing at 6mm.

Nice hair in the pic. :)

Another plus is that it lays flat when you open it up. That’s nice for those of us that like to use as much of the page as possible.

Nice and flat

A couple of things that I don’t like are that it doesn’t have an elastic closure and it seems like you lose the first and last pages due to the glue. But, there is another version of this journal on Amazon and it not only has an elastic closure, it has a pocket in the back. The cover is the weakest link in my opinion. But, it will take a beating and protect the paper well. If the cover matters not to you, the paper sure is worth it. This is a review of the larger of the two sizes. They also offer a pocket sized version on the Franklin Covey website and on Amazon.

UPDATE: FYI, this review is for the Faux Croc Leather Notebook. There are other “Markings” notebooks that are sold at Target and Amazon that are not the same. I just saw one this weekend and the paper is much thinner and off-white like a Moleskine. The paper in these Faux Croc cover ones is thicker and white.

The glue affects the first and last page.


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