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Really, i can't stand it. The dots don't form a nice line on which to write. They're hard to see when writing; when drawing, they're okay. And the worst part is that most manufacturers are opting for dot grid instead of regular grid. Please stop doing that. I like regular grid paper for note-taking and even journaling. I can write on it, draw on it, and doodle when bored. I like using the grids to mark indents for note-taking, for organizing notes under headers and main subjects. Lined paper doesn't give you indent markers for subordinate notes. I may be a minority of one here, but it had to be said. I hate dot grid.

Recently I've suckered myself into buying a bunch of different A7 sized notepads that attracted my attention simply by being made in Japan, France or Germany, and offered at 'reasonable' prices in retail stores here. Personally I find A7 to be an awkward and almost useless size, because I have trouble writing decently and with a light hand close to (say, within a margin of 8mm to 10mm from) the right-hand and bottom edges of any notepad, and of course the margin-to-useful-writing-area ratio on an A7 notepad is quite significant. However, it's probably not a bad way to test out certain papers. Anyway, I bought this one from Daiso, for the price at which most of Daiso's products are priced locally. At 11mm, the pad is slightly thicker than the Maruman m.memo DMP-A7 line grid notepad, but offers 20% more pages than the latter. The paper weight is not specified, but I expect it to be on par with if not lighter than the Maruman's, which uses 60g/m² paper. The paper is coated on both sides and not quite bright white, but looks very slightly greyish. The dots on the recto side of each sheet are small and subtle, and the verso side is blank like on the m.memo. Unlike the Bloc Rhodia No.11 notepad and the Maruman m.memo, the sheets are bound by glue along the top edge. The advantage is that the entire page area is available for writing, instead of losing a whopping 13% of it to the staple and the 'stub' of the perforations; and the disadvantage is that the pages could come loose more easily before you're ready to tear them out, or if you're using the notepad as a reporter-style notebook and folding used sheets around the top edge but wanting them to stand attached. Personally, the binding of this notepad is an overall plus for me. On where the stub of the perforations would be at the top of each page, instead of dots there's an area set out for writing the title and the date of the content, and that could be convenient depending on one's note-taking habits. The paper is quite resistant to feathering thanks to the coating, whether writing on the recto or the verso side, but with such lightweight paper ghosting is inevitable. There are a couple of spots of bleed-through where I've allowed the nib to linger while I tried to get my Pilot Elabo inked with Diamine Iridescink Robert to flex. In that regard, the Maruman's paper performed better. The coating on this Daiso paper seems to be a bit more hardy than that on the Bloc Rhodia No.11, but less so than that on the Maruman m.memo. There was one sheet (not shown here in the photos) where I had a feathering problem with one line of writing in KWZI Azure #2 ink; and, sure enough, when I dunked that page in the sink, I can see that the coating over that line/spot has been 'compromised' by something which has the shape of a fingerprint. (Note: After my experience with the Bloc Rhodia, I now cover the rest of the page as best I could with a thick, clean paper napkin as I write on these A7 notepads, and so that fingerprint was probably not mine.) Most inks that are apt to exhibit sheen did so on the paper in this notepad. On the whole, given I'm unlikely to write on both sides of a page on an A7 notepad, I think this is a better buy (for my purposes!) than the Maruman m.memo in that the printed guide markings (as in the dot grid, line grid, etc.) are great and well thought out, the paper performs well enough, and effectively this notepad offers >35% more usuable writing surface per page/notepad than the Maruman m.memo DMP-A7, but I must concede that the Maruman's paper quality is superior.

Some of you like to match specific inks to specific pens. And I do that myself, sometimes. But do any of you try to match specific inks to specific papers? I really love Kaweco Paradise Blue but recently discovered that the strokes of ink form a weird greasy-looking halo, plus bleed-through, apparently only on cream-colored Rhodia paper after several months. I checked back in my Leuchtturm 1917 notebook where I had used the ink about a year or two ago with no such problems showing up (just a tiny bit of bleed-through). And some inks look dulled on off-white paper, while others look richer. Right now I am trying to find a good A5 notebook match for J. Herbin Cacao Du Brésil, my all time favorite ink. I was using it in my Bullet Journals but the color visually made the dot grid on my journal pages look extremely prominent, causing each page to look like a crazy Svengali hypnotic pattern (i.e. hard to read)! I’ve been trying lighter dot-grids than what is in the Rhodia “goalbook,” but I may have to move to a lined or blank journal if I want to use my favorite ink. What inks and papers do you like to use together?

I absolutely love dot grid notebooks, but the one problem I run into with them is that they all have exactly the same dot spacing! Every dot grid notebook I have ever seen has had 5mm spacing between the dots, which is just too small for me. I have been trying to find something closer to 1/4" spacing, but I haven't been able to find much. the closest thing I have found is Kokuyo's Campus notebooks, which have dots printed along the lines in an otherwise normal ruled notebook. That isn't what I'm looking for though, I want pure dot grid. Do you guys know of any wider-ruled dot grid notebooks out there?

Alright, I've got a search challenge related to several practical limitations. I'm a hook handed lefty that has been using ef to med nib fountain pens for everything, but I've recently run into a problem where I can't find notebooks that fit my needs. The following preferences for the notebook are in order of relative necessity. The notebook has to be bound, glued, or otherwise spiral free (because spirals are murder). It has to be either grid or dot graph. Preferably 3 mm-4 mm I'm not opposed to it being a nonstandard graph such as isometric graph, because, why not. I have to be able to fit a regular set of lectures in it. e.g. it needs to hold approx 100 pages of notes and have fp friendly paper. I want it to be somewhere between B5 and A5 although a little bigger or smaller isn't a deal breaker. I prefer it to be a simple cover... nothing too fancy: simple softback or hardback are fine.I usually can find something that meets 2 of these specifications at once, but rarely can I find something that meets 3-4 of them, and I have yet to have found something that meets all 5. I would be deeply impressed if someone found something that met all of these things. May your bandwidth be wide, Alexander O.

I recently bought a Taroko Enigma A5 journal, featuring 68gsm dot grid Tomoe paper. At the same time I bought a similar journal from Taroko featuring their 80gsm Orchid paper. I thought it would be worth trying it out as it is half the price of their Tomoe version, at US$15 + shipping. Delivery from Taiwan to Australia was under a week. I am vey impressed indeed with the customer service from Steven Chang at Taroko, his comunications, the care with which he packs and ships his products and with quality of the journal. All these factors are excellent. Summary from their web-site. My comments in italics * 400-page of Taroko Orchid Paper (80gsm of fountain pen friendly paper with most nib/ink combinations. Wet nibs, flex nibs, and certain inks will occasionally bleed. Not suitable for watercolor) The paper is great with all the inks I've tried so far. There is minimal show-through, especially when compared to Tomoe 52gsm. There has been no bleed-through or feathering. * Sewn bound journal reinforced with glue at the spine (in essence, like a case bound book without the hard cover), and when opened, will lie completely flat. If you are familiar with Nanami Seven Seas journals, the construction of the Mystique is very similar. I actually think the page alignment and sewing is better than Nanami's, which I've found a little inconsistent. The cover is an attractive dark red, with a textured finish. It is a soft cover, same as Nanami. It does lie almost completely flat with very little central gutter to impede hand position when writing. No pressure is required to make the pages lie flat - they fall into place easily. * Layout in 5mm dot grids I really like the dot grid print. It is a soft grey, not too dark, so doesn't impede writing and could be easily used for sketching. Yet the dots are visible enough to provide a good guide. * Comes with 3 index pages at the beginning.The index is useful. The pages aren't numbered so you'll have to number them yourself to take advantage of this useful addition. There are also Keyword/tag list pages at the back for your use and a 2016 and 2017 calendar. The calendar page also has the top and bottom edges marked with an imperial and metric ruler respectively. * Perfect for bullet journaling. Lots and lots of pages to write with, if you write at length, and feel like you should have all your writings in one place. I don't bullet journal but I think it would be ideal for those who do. There are indeed plenty of pages - 400 in fact. I've put mine in a Mircofibre slip cover from Belle & Sofa, but it could be used without. Being a standard international/ISO A5, covers are very easy to find. It doesn't come with a page marker/ribbon (but my Belle & Sofa cover has one already so that addresses the omission). Shipping from Taroko Shop in Taiwan, to me in Australia, was US $10 - about a third of the shipping charged by Nanami. Overall, I'm delighted with this journal. It's good quality and a fair price. (NB Taroko Design Enigma A5 68gsm Tomoe journal is the same construction, with a dark blue cover, the same dot grid print and other features, but with 420 pages. It costs US$30 + shipping) Finally, here are some photos. Apologies that some are rather blurred, I tried to keep the sizes down. I hope this overview of the Taroko Mystique Journal is helpful. STURDY CARDBOARD WRAPAROUND PROECTION, SHIPPED INSIDE AN OUTER CARDBOARD BOX THE JOURNAL COVER THE INDEX PAGES THE KEYWORD/TAG AND CALENDAR PAGES AT THE BACK LAYFLAT PAGES - THIS IS APPROX THE MIDDLE OF THE 400 PAGES TAKES INKS WELL - NO FEATHERING LITTLE SHOW-THROUGH AND ZERO BLEED-THROUGH MYSTIQUE JOURNAL ON TOP OF NANAMI SEVEN SEAS (TOMOE) WRITERS JOURNAL, TO SHOW COMPARABLE THICKNESS (BOTH INSIDE BELLE & SOFA MICROFIBRE COVERS)

Does anybody know if acid-free paper is used in this Muji notebook, http://www.muji.us/store/stationery/notebooks/high-quality-easy-open-notebook-a5-dot.htm ) The paper is listed as 5% recycled, which would normally suggest not, but I've seen other papers with more recycled content which have nevertheless been acid-free. I've attached a photo of the label for anyone who might read Japanese. Thanks! (In case the website isn't clear, the notebook is 96 sheets, dot grid, cover in the usual brown thin cardboard, white tape on the spine, thread-bound in signatures, item 4549337193741.It's also listed elsewhere as "Muji Thread-Binding Notebook." Apparently there was also an A6 size made at some time, I'm not sure it's still available. There was also one with similar features done in a black cover, but I believe the paper is different.)

Can someone compare the dot grid on the Rhodia Dotpad No. 16 vs the dot grid on the Leuchtturm journals. Are the dot grids the same? Are the dots lighter or darker on one of them? Thanks.