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I picked up a Seven Season Writer A5 Journal this week (4th edition). It arrived surprisingly quick and well-packaged. It looks absolutely amazing as I paged through it and I can't wait to begin using it but I promised myself I'd finish off my current journal before beginning a new one. But, I got to thinking--do I want to use it for journaling or something else entirely? Time to brainstorm; perhaps you're willing to share your ideas. For what purposes do you have/use/recommend a dedicated notebook?

*This is my first review, and I know my pictures and scans aren't up to par with some of the review heavy hitters on here. But I'll do my best. :-) I've been using the Seven Seas journal for a week now, and I figure that I've had enough time with it to write a bit of a review. Full disclosure: I bought this product with my own money and the review is entirely my opinions based on my experiences. I judged the notebook on 5 criteria - portability, durability, value, writing experience, and details. The details are all the little extra things that make a product extraordinary. An otherwise perfect notebook that has nothing special (no "soul," if I may) could only get, at best, a 20/25. And with that, onto the review! Scores: Portability 4/5 Durability 5/5 Value 4/5 Writing Experience 5/5 Details 3/5Total: 21/25 Portability A5 is a bit big for a notebook to be carried around all the time, but any smaller and it would probably not be as pleasant to write in. The slim thickness also helps to keep it from being unwieldy, so overall the size works for me. Durability After a week of being toted around with me everywhere it still looks brand new. No problems with pages crinkling/tearing. Currently using the cheap plastic cover, but I plan to buy the Gfeller leather cover once it comes back in stock. The thread binding seems like it can take a lot of abuse, but I'm babying it anyway. Value These journals are not cheap, but you get a lot pages, durable binding, and quality paper. For what you get, I would say the price is more than fair. Writing Experience It's Tomoe River paper, need I say more? Edit - there is significant ghosting (which you can see on the scans) and ink does take a bit longer to dry, but I have yet to have any bleeding or feathering and the ghosting doesn't bother me at all when it comes to actually writing in or reading from the notebook. Details I absolutely love the color of the paper and lines, two page ribbons, rounded corners, and the line spacing. I hate the color of the cover (personal preference, so no points lost there). I wish it had numbered pages, options for blank/grid lines, and maybe a pocket in the back.Overall I really like this notebook. To the point that I've decided this is the only journal I ever want to use (at least for a while). I definitely plan to buy a few more soon, probably once I can get a cover too. :-) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I highly recommend this product. I am one of those people who just couldn't find the perfect journal and now I've found it. Even though I just use it a bullet journal, the wonderful experience of writing on that paper keeps me coming back throughout the day. Also, Dave is awesome. My journal took a bit of a roundabout trip to get to me and got a bit lost for a few days, and he was very reassuring when I emailed him about it. Thankfully everything worked out ok (actually, later that day it resurfaced on the tracking info). And now, a few gratuitous, poorly lit pictures: Also, in case you were wondering, the pen/ink used to write the review is a Pilot VP broad, inked with R&K Scabiosa. :-)

Hey guys. The Topic Title pretty much says it all. And yes, I've searched through the forums, but I'm an information hog and need MOAR DATA before I make a decision on where to spend my precious $20. (That might not seem like a lot to users of $250+ pens, but cash is not exactly flowing like water in the Black Crow household). Specifically looking for something that will support a semi/flexi pen (a.k.a. an Ahab), on the relative cheap. And yes, I've seen the reviews of the Rhodia Webnotebook and the Clairefontaine journals etc. I'm scouring in other places. Does anyone know where or whether a lowly end-user can get paper samples from any of these makers? I'd really like to test and see whether particular papers are going to be FP-friendly, esp. with flexi/semiflexi/maybeflexi nib. I know Seven Seas is much-beloved by many and uses Tomoe River paper, but does anyone know if one can just get a few sample sheets to test out? 480 pages and $30 is a BIG leap of faith.... Ecosystem--how is the bleed-through? I know it's all recycled paper; does anyone have problems using the back side of the page (the. . . verso, maybe? The back, posterior side. Dammit, why can't books be anterior/posterior or dorsal/ventral or something? ) for writing? There's a separate Paperthinks thread, but has anybody seen or used an actual notebook from them yet? I haven't found any good reviews online related to FPs. Shinola looks nice, American-made, but it uses 60# stock (which I'm pretty sure is the same thing as 24# copy paper). Has anyone had any successes or failures with this particular brand? I've seen the one thread about it, but do we have any other happy/unhappy customers hiding in the woodworks? Thank you all in advance!