Review Of 6 Different A5 Notebooks

[jamwrite]

Great review! I agree that Nanami and Midori are right up there. I've tried pretty much every A5 Tomoe River (and similar) notebook on the market, and I still find Nanami to be top class, and coupled with a nice leather cover, they're epic. And for non-TR paper for a great value, the Midori MD paper is good. Midori has a great little B6 slim version that I like, and I *love* Midori's goat leather covers. I've also recently become a fan of the Stalogy notebooks. They are not made with Tomoe River paper, but I find the Stalogy paper is quite enjoyable to write on and somewhat similar to 68gsm TR overall. However, I still like 52gsm TR a little better. Taroko Design has some decent options too, but in the end, I prefer Nanami a little more.

 

My only problem with Nanami is that once you find a notebook design from them that you like, you better stock up on it, since you never know if it will go out of stock and might get replaced with a revision that you don't like as much. Sometimes that works in your favor though -- it's unpredictable. Namami just released a v2 of their Cafe Note B6 grid, for example, and I far prefer the new design to the v1 design... so in this case, I'm thrilled. But sometimes it goes the other direction. So if you love the your Nanami exactly as-is, buy some more now, lol.

 

Thanks again!

[GardenWeasel]

Wonderful review! It should be pinned... I’ve bookmarked it for future referral. Thanks!

[DrDebG]

Great review! I agree that Nanami and Midori are right up there. I've tried pretty much every A5 Tomoe River (and similar) notebook on the market, and I still find Nanami to be top class, and coupled with a nice leather cover, they're epic. And for non-TR paper for a great value, the Midori MD paper is good. Midori has a great little B6 slim version that I like, and I *love* Midori's goat leather covers. I've also recently become a fan of the Stalogy notebooks. They are not made with Tomoe River paper, but I find the Stalogy paper is quite enjoyable to write on and somewhat similar to 68gsm TR overall. However, I still like 52gsm TR a little better. Taroko Design has some decent options too, but in the end, I prefer Nanami a little more.

 

My only problem with Nanami is that once you find a notebook design from them that you like, you better stock up on it, since you never know if it will go out of stock and might get replaced with a revision that you don't like as much. Sometimes that works in your favor though -- it's unpredictable. Namami just released a v2 of their Cafe Note B6 grid, for example, and I far prefer the new design to the v1 design... so in this case, I'm thrilled. But sometimes it goes the other direction. So if you love the your Nanami exactly as-is, buy some more now, lol.

 

Thanks again!

 

Thank you for your kind comments. I haven't tried the Stalogy notebooks yet. They look interesting. I may have to order one and give it a try. I have found Dave at Nanami to be very open to different ideas. I think part of the issue is that the manufacturers that he gets the notebooks from only manufacture so many and may not be open to re-orders. And those manufacturers may only be open to certain page configurations at one time. I have heard that Tomoe River is a huge company and part of a larger company and that their target market is much larger than supplying smaller notebook manufacturers. Again, this is only hearsay. But, personally, I would like to keep "the small guys" in business.

[DrDebG]

Wonderful review! It should be pinned... I’ve bookmarked it for future referral. Thanks!

 

Thank you for your very kind comment!

[jamwrite]

 

Thank you for your kind comments. I haven't tried the Stalogy notebooks yet. They look interesting. I may have to order one and give it a try. I have found Dave at Nanami to be very open to different ideas. I think part of the issue is that the manufacturers that he gets the notebooks from only manufacture so many and may not be open to re-orders. And those manufacturers may only be open to certain page configurations at one time. I have heard that Tomoe River is a huge company and part of a larger company and that their target market is much larger than supplying smaller notebook manufacturers. Again, this is only hearsay. But, personally, I would like to keep "the small guys" in business.

 

Yes, for anyone that appreciates TR paper, the Stalogy notebooks are definitely worth trying out at least one of them, since they share some similar qualities. I still prefer the 52gsm TR paper, but the Stalogy notebooks come in some nice sizes that are rare or not available in TR-based notebooks. Specifically, Stalogy has full B5, B6, and 1/2 thickness varieties of A5 and A6! That's pretty great. While Nanami has B6 slim, sometimes it's nice to have a full B6. And while Nanami has A5 and A6 sizes, they have a ton of pages, and sometimes it's nice to have a thinner (1/2 thickness) A5 and A6. And then of course sometimes it's nice to have a giant B5. So Stalogy has some nice options. But in terms of paper, I prefer the TR.

 

And yes, I agree that Dave has been very open to ideas. Over the years, like many others, I've wished for and suggested a bunch of things, and out of my wish list of about 8 notebooks, he's now done maybe 5 of them! So I know he listens, and I'm now a loyal customer. And I'm very thrilled about this new round that has the new Cafe Note B6 slim v2 and the Cafe Note Pocket Edition -- both things I've been hoping for (and asking for!). Once my first order comes in (hopefully today), I'll probably put in another order for a bunch of them, since you never know with Nanami how long that model will still exist.

 

What I'm really hoping for now with Nanami is that Dave will do a 1/2 thickness A5 and A6 in a 3.7mm grid. Right now the full-thickness versions are a bit more cumbersome to carry around, and I've got Stalogy 1/2 thickness notebooks in those leather covers for now. If Dave would also do the Cafe Note Pocket Edition with a standard cover + Gfeller cover, then I'd be done with my search. :-)

[Cursive Child]

Excellent review. I know what I need to look for now!

[Cursive Child]

Curious, do most of you write single sided?

 

I write on both sides of paper, and am bothered by excessive showthrough. Have been exclusively using Staples Bagasse notebooks for years, and unless the batch is bad, they're pretty good.

I am looking for good quality paper journals that are reasonably priced, and thinking of Seven Seas, but looks like both 52gsm and 68gsm have noticeable showthrough. Is Midori MD one of my best options? Any others. Would love to try Tomoe 52gsm based on this review....

[Karmachanic]

Curious, do most of you write single sided?

 

I write on both sides of paper, and am bothered by excessive showthrough. Have been exclusively using Staples Bagasse notebooks for years, and unless the batch is bad, they're pretty good.

I am looking for good quality paper journals that are reasonably priced, and thinking of Seven Seas, but looks like both 52gsm and 68gsm have noticeable showthrough. Is Midori MD one of my best options? Any others. Would love to try Tomoe 52gsm based on this review....

 

For me showthrough disappears when i write over it. In other word go for the 52gsm.

[mhguda]

 

For me showthrough disappears when i write over it. In other word go for the 52gsm.

I have the same experience with paper that has only showthrough. Both T.R. weights are excellent performers. The little showthrough actually serves as a guide for writing on the reverse side.

[XYZZY]

Curious, do most of you write single sided?

 

I write on both sides of paper, and am bothered by excessive showthrough. Have been exclusively using Staples Bagasse notebooks for years, and unless the batch is bad, they're pretty good.

I am looking for good quality paper journals that are reasonably priced, and thinking of Seven Seas, but looks like both 52gsm and 68gsm have noticeable showthrough. Is Midori MD one of my best options? Any others. Would love to try Tomoe 52gsm based on this review....

 

I have no idea about "most", but it seems that writing single-sided is more frequently mentioned in discussions of 52gsm Tomoe River.

 

I personally prefer the 68gsm Tomoe River over the 52gsm: it's just a wee bit less smooth, it feels less like Bible paper, and of course it has significantly less show-through than the 52gsm. And while I dislike showthrough and for a long time avoided the 52gsm because of it, I'm quite pleased with the Nanami writer notebook that I'm currently using: it has enough other things that it does really well that I don't mind, and consider the major drawback that it uses cream and not white paper. Of course I'd prefer if it was 68gsm.

 

Personally I think the Midori MD and Tomoe River 68gsm are in the same ballpark for showthough, and I much prefer writing on Tomoe River.

 

I think the key thing to understand is that everybody perceives these things differently, so don't take my word for it. In addition, there's more to a notebook than just the paper. For example, I have learned that I get annoyed by a lay-flat binding that required that I apply pressure on every page turn to get it to really lay flat, whereas others never notice. So try several, you might be surprised by what you find.

[Cursive Child]

Thanks all! Helpful replies.

 

I am balking trying a bit because of the high shipping cost of the Nanami Paper notebooks. To make it reasonable, I need to buy 3-4 at a time, which means I'm going to commit to using them for a couple of years at least!

 

Will look for more reasonable options where I can buy one notebook and try the paper. Perhaps even try loose leaf paper of both 52gsm and 68gsm

[DrDebG]

Since I did this review, I have sampled several other notebooks including the Endless Recorder and the Bond Notebook - both with 68 gsm Tomoe River paper.

 

I must say that I still prefer Nanami Seven Seas notebook with 52 gsm Tomoe River paper over any other notebooks I have tried.

 

I write on both sides of the paper. But, I do not typically use super saturated inks. I prefer an ink that is less saturated that has great shading. So, with a less saturated ink, I have less show through. So, for me showthrough is not an issue.

[CoolBreeze]

Curious, do most of you write single sided?

 

I write on both sides of paper, and am bothered by excessive showthrough. Have been exclusively using Staples Bagasse notebooks for years, and unless the batch is bad, they're pretty good.

I am looking for good quality paper journals that are reasonably priced, and thinking of Seven Seas, but looks like both 52gsm and 68gsm have noticeable showthrough. Is Midori MD one of my best options? Any others. Would love to try Tomoe 52gsm based on this review....

I write on both sides of the page. I find that is one of the benefits of writing in a notebook. I like to see as much information as possible at the same time when I am reviewing my notes. I found the 52gsm has enough show through where it does distract me a bit. However, the showthrough on the 68gsm does not distract me (admittedly it is slightly present). I can also confirm that a dark piece of paper under the page in question will mitigate that when writing however, that is not something I usually do. I like the way the ink looks on 68gsm better so that is yet another reason to just stick with that over the 52gsm.

[ibrahim]

Thank you very, very much. I learned a lot from you here!