Bond Travel Gear A5 Notebook - First Impressions

[XYZZY]

Why aren't people talking about this? My guess is that the company (BOND Travel Gear) is just doing a horrible job of getting the word out. I have never heard of them before, and managed to just luck into this by seeing them mentioned in a post on reddit.

Short summary: I think this is good value at just $25 (from Amazon, or just $22 if you buy direct). If you want 68gsm Tomoe River, hard cover, elastic strap, page numbers, and the most "effortless" lay flat binding I have encountered.

 

Manufacturer link: https://bondtravelgear.com/collections/all/products/a5-notebook

On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/BOND-Travel-Gear-A5-Notebook/dp/B07FYDQL9S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1543425097&sr=8-2&keywords=bond+travel+gear+a5+notebook

I received my BOND Travel Gear A5 Notebook today. So far I am very pleased with my purchase. Basically, this notebook checks all my boxes:

The paper is 296 pages of Tomoe River 68gsm in white (or "ivory" or whatever it's called). Tomoe River has been reviewed extensively, I won't try to do that again. Personally, I think the 52gsm is unusable which seems to be much more common, but I really like the 68.

Hardcover: the hardcover is a bit thicker than I expected, at 3mm. That means that of the 17.5mm total thickness for the notebook that 6mm of it goes to the cover. I'm not sure what the outer material is, but it feels good. It also feels like there is a small amount of padding beneath the outer material. I'm guessing that isn't the case, and that maybe the outer material just has some squishiness to it. I'm sure that if it was a leather material they would have bragged about it and charged more, but it has a much nicer feel to it than I expected.

Lay Flat Binding: of the different notebooks I have tried that have lay flat bindings this one's binding is just about effortless. Other notebooks require some minor amount of pressure to achieve "flat", this one just goes straight to flat on it's own. Most of the signatures are 16 pages, which is just just 4 folios per signature, so I'm sure this helps them easily lay flat. For some reason one signature is just 2 folios, which is how they came to 296 pages: 18 signatures of 16 pages each, one signature of 8 pages. Weird? There is also no glue seeping from the binding into the pages (I'm talking about you, Leuchtturm!), although there must be some glue back there because the signatures have just the thinnest of attachment to each other. The stitching does not seem loose.

Elastic strap: not sure what to say about this. It seems tight enough: not too tight, not too loose. Only time will tell how it holds up.

Page numbers: to me this is a bonus, but it's nice that they are there.

The only thing keeping this from perfect: the dots in the dot grid don't line up with each other on the front and backs of the pages, and you can kind of see the ghost of the dots from the other side of the page. But the "dot ghosts" are lighter than the normal amount of show-through you get on this paper once you have written on it, so the ghosts aren't noticed once writing. I'm guessing that if the dot ghosts bother you then you're already not using this because of the show-through that normally happens with 68gsm TR paper. Nevertheless they kind of jumped out at me when I was looking at what I expected to be virgin paper.

Only time will tell how it holds up, but I am very happy with this purchase. But this isn't going to be my regular journal for a couple of months, yet, as my OCD requires that I first finish the Taroko Enigma that I started just 10 days ago.

Dimensions: 212mm x 155mm x 17.5mm (external). Pages are 208mm x 150mm. 5mm dot grid.

 

Packaging: I ordered from Amazon. The notebook arrived wrapped in thin plastic. Amazon had tossed it into a box with other items, and Amazon failed to add any padding. You can see in the first photo that the bottom left of the front cover has been "embossed" by the other items getting squashed against it in shipping. This doesn't bother me, as I carry my journals everywhere and I expect the cover to get banged up anyhow.

 

Lastly: No, I'm not affiliated with these guys; just a customer.

Edited November 28, 2018 by XYZZY

[da vinci]

Interesting. Sounds good. Could you post some pictures or maybe a link to the product?

[XYZZY]

Interesting. Sounds good. Could you post some pictures or maybe a link to the product?

 

Done. I also added external dimensions, and a note about Amazon's lack of padding in shipping.

[FountainPenBibliophile]

I bought this same notebook last month sometime, but haven't used it yet. Thank you for your review!!! I too am surprised that it's not getting more buzz. It's a pretty good value!

[XYZZY]

A couple more things about it:

 

It does NOT have a ribbon for use as a bookmark.

 

It does NOT have a rear pocket.

 

I've already been in the habit of keeping blotter paper at that page in the notebook, and I've long since decided that I don't use the pockets and would prefer to not have additional thickness for it. But ribbon and pocket are pretty common so probably a lot of people expect them.

[da vinci]

 

Done. I also added external dimensions, and a note about Amazon's lack of padding in shipping.

Thanks

[inkypete]

Thank you for the review. Does seem to be very good value. Looking forward to more user reports.

[LizEF]

Thanks for the review. Mine should be here tomorrow.

[MG66]

Is this available in lined or blank paper?

 

C

[FountainPenBibliophile]

Is this available in lined or blank paper?

 

C

 

I believe it is dot grid only.

 

HTH

[WirsPlm]

 

I believe it is dot grid only.

 

HTH

That's a shame. If they come out with a line ruled version I'd be very interested.

[MG66]

That's a shame. If they come out with a line ruled version I'd be very interested.

 

Same here.

 

 

C