Piccadilly Notebook

[pmsalty]

Our Boarder's in Northridge, CA, stopped carring Pickadilly's and started carrying Moleskiene's. I'm going to have to try to find another source.

PMS

[bardharlock]

I recently ordered 5 from the Piccadilly website and am quiet pleased with mine. I ordered the graph paper, as I had been waiting for them to release the squares in the 3.5" X 5.5" format. I prefer graph paper because I write small. I need a stiff back writing surface because I use these in the dimly-lit rooms watching a projector sometimes in a church pew, not at a desk.

 

For testing purposes, keep in mind that I use Sailor Fountain Pens with XF nibs for nearly all of my writing, and so it was Sailor XF nibs used for these comparisons.

 

My testing puts the Piccadilly leaps and bounds ahead of the Moleskine for my purposes. First off, the Piccadilly paper is thicker than the paper in my Moleskine. The Piccadilly did not feather with Noodler's Legal Lapis, Bulletproof Black or Zhivago inks; the Moleskine matches this. The Piccadilly dried faster than the Moleskine by ten seconds or more (all of the inks tested dried in 3 seconds in the Piccadilly, ideal for note taking in the dark!) and the Piccadilly had minimal show-through and no bleed through, where as the Moleskine has bleed with the Legal Lapis (which is pretty common in my experience with Legal Lapis).

 

Obviously I am happy with my purchase and am considering ordering more of these delightful notebooks in various sizes for other uses.

[cmenice]

I should get a chance to post a pic today or tomorrow of my book. My pens write pretty wet so that could certainly be why I'm getting a lot of feathering. I'll test it will a gel pen too before I post the pic.

[sentraser165]

I was at Barnes and Noble today, and they carry Piccadilly journals for 5 bucks. They aren't the moleskine-esque notebooks with the elastic band; they are just normal hardcover journals. I wrote in it with a medium Lamy Safari loaded with Pelikan blue black (after buying one of course!). No bleed-through, no feathering. They are by the bargain books. I have a wetter writing Pelikan M800 that I'll try in it later.

 

Steve

[sentraser165]

An addendum to my previous post:

 

I was by a borders today, and I could not resist the temptation to see if they had the moleskine-esque Piccadilly notebooks. Sure enough, they had plenty of them. The prices (if I remember correctly) were 4, 5, and 6 dollars for small, medium, and large, respectively. If any of you are in the Milwaukee area, it is the Borders downtown on Wisconsin Ave. They are in the 'Gifts and Stationery' section.

 

Happy writing!

[oldnavy1988]

I've been using a medium Piccadilly for months now with 5 or 6 different pens (EF, F, and M nibs) and as many inks and have only found feathering to be a problem with one (Jinhao 500 EF nib with Noodler's Red Fox). I just went to the Boarders on Rt 23 in Riverdale NJ and bought 3 more medium for $4.99 each and a large (for pencil sketching) for $5.99 . I find the paper quality similar to my Moleskine day planner. I also draw and color with FPs in this book and while it is not of artisan quality it certainly works very well for the price. Also makes a nice side gift when I give an FP as a present. I switch off of the Piccadilly to Rhodia etc.. then go back. Just can't beat the value. Just my two cents.

 

Don

[pmsalty]

I found some at the Boarder's in Glendale, CA. Picked up another two small ones. I have not yet had any feathering by any of the pens I have used in them, and that has been a rather wide range of nibs and inks. but ymmv.

PMS

[jakespeed]

I went to my local Borders today, and saw the same prices as mentioned here. However, they were on sale for buy 2 get 1 free. I bought one in each size, and they were pretty cheap, so I'll have to give them a try and see how my experience stacks up with what's been posted here.

[sentraser165]

After using this notebook for awhile, I've noticed that it only feathers with a wetter pen/ink combo. For example Noodler's Tiananmen in my Lamy Safari (typically a drier writing pen) has a tendency to feather. Sometimes it looks fine, but other times it is horrible. The problem could be the amount of pressure I am putting on it, but Pelikan Blue/Black (horrible looking ink by the way, never using it again) in a Pelikan M800 didn't feather at all. The bleedthrough isn't so bad, but I'd certainly prefer it to be better. On the one side of the page, you can see pretty clearly what was written on the other side. Still, for the price, it seems like a good deal. From what I hear, moleskine paper isn't much better for FPs, and it costs like 3 times as much. I carry the notebook around in my front pocket every day. The cover (hard) is fine and the elastic band is fine.

[leprechaun]

After using this notebook for awhile, I've noticed that it only feathers with a wetter pen/ink combo.

I have noticed this as well. Very wet writers will feather.

[Carlitoes]

From my experience Piccadilly paper is very very slightly better than Moleskine as far as feathering, but wet writers would still have a problem. Having said that, personally I love the moleskine notebook design and find far better value paying $5 for a regular moleskine notebook as opposed to $16 for the big M.

 

I also use a 0.3 mm VP stub from Dillo filled with Noodler's Zhivago and I have almost zero feathering on the Piccadilly.

I picked up 3 more of the regular ruled since they have the buy 2 get 1 free promo going on at Borders.

[jimg]

Great review, thanks.

 

The good news for us Aussies is that they will be available here late April or early May as an Australian agent has been appointed. I am in touch wiith them and will let my fellow little vegemites know when they hit our shores. Keep in mind the agent is a book wholesaler so they may appear in stores we wouldn't usually look in for this type of product.

 

 

Hey Pete

 

Any further word on the Australian release of these?

 

Jim

[biffybeans]

Just a few quick words -

 

I have one of these and I will eventually get a review up. Thing to remember is that it's not unusual for companies that make cheap products to buy whatever paper is cheapest to use in their products - which can mean good one day... bad the next.

 

 

 

 

[inkypete]

Just a few quick words -

 

I have one of these and I will eventually get a review up. Thing to remember is that it's not unusual for companies that make cheap products to buy whatever paper is cheapest to use in their products - which can mean good one day... bad the next.

 

 

Biffy - are you suggesting the Piccadilly paper is ionconsistent?

 

 

JIMG - the distributor has a good range of the products including the Moleskin style. I have asked for a sample to review but they havn't got back to me yet. From what I can determine they have started distributing but sales are on the small side. They are book publishers so the notebooks may start appearing in bookstores rather than traditional stationers where we woiuld usually look. I will keep you informed as soon as they get back to me, although Biffy's hint suggests we may not be overly excited.

 

[biffybeans]

Any time I hear from one person, "The paper is great" and from another "the paper is bad" I draw my own conclusions. Using Mole's for as long as I did would reveal one good page followed by a bad. Companies can't make products this cheap without having to cut corners somewhere... and since Clairefontaine is the only company actually making it's own paper, I'd say that it's open to question whether or not the source of the paper is consistent from lot to lot.

 

 

Just a few quick words -

 

I have one of these and I will eventually get a review up. Thing to remember is that it's not unusual for companies that make cheap products to buy whatever paper is cheapest to use in their products - which can mean good one day... bad the next.

 

 

Biffy - are you suggesting the Piccadilly paper is ionconsistent?

 

 

JIMG - the distributor has a good range of the products including the Moleskin style. I have asked for a sample to review but they havn't got back to me yet. From what I can determine they have started distributing but sales are on the small side. They are book publishers so the notebooks may start appearing in bookstores rather than traditional stationers where we woiuld usually look. I will keep you informed as soon as they get back to me, although Biffy's hint suggests we may not be overly excited.

 

[Carlitoes]

I have to agree, the paper quality isn't guaranteed because Piccadilly really isn't a premium product. As for Moleskine that's 3x as costly though, it's arguable.

 

Having said that, I also buy and prefer Apple computers for the perceived quality, and the price premium definitely reflects that. However, even at that price there is still some inconsistencies with product quality...one MacBookPro could be stellar, and the next one total junk. So I guess it really is YMMV on a lot of things.

 

On notebooks, I just try to deal with it by pairing notebooks with suitable pens. I have a few Moleskines that feather on everything but my XF Hero 616 with Noodler's Black...so guess what pen I use with those notebooks. I know I shouldn't have to go to these great lengths to compensate for the notebooks' "inferior" quality, but hey, the payoff is I get to enjoy the versatile design of the Moleskine.

[tlaine]

I'm going to update this with a few new pictures of how it handled a watercolor sketch I drew last night.

 

I think this journal did very well with my watercolors. There was no bleedthrough, with only a very tiny bit of buckling. I left it sit overnight with a papernapkin folded around the damp page and closed the book on it, which did a great job of making the page mostly flat again. I am very impressed and very happy with it. I got really wet with some of it and worked the paint around and I didnt have any problems with the paper. In my opinion this particular journal did excellent! (Oops, I did forget to get a scan of it before I actually journaled on the backside of the drawing, sorry for smudging out the writing! You should still be able to tell that there was no bleedthrough of the watercolors on the back.) I just hope the next Piccadilly I pick up does just as well as this one.

 

http://www.trish-art.com/images/blog/piccadilly/piccadilly-watercolor-sm.jpg

 

 

[Ghost Plane]

Like your picture!

 

Local Borders just got a rack of them. $3.99 for the small lined and graph, $5.99 for the large lined.

[tawanda]

I just got a parcel of these through the post from Picadilly. I am a die hard Moelskine fan. I love the look, design, brand image, size, lay-flat ability, everything about them, so I can forgive the paper quality inconsistancies.

 

I've just completed a test page in the lge Picadilly quad-ruled notebook, and I'd say the paper quality is about the same. Its odd, though, that it seems to depend more on the ink used than the nib width. With Moles I know I can get away with more or less any ink as long as it's in a fine nibbed pen.

 

The same pen/ink combos in the Picadilly seem to give different outcomes. It definitely doesn't like Diamine BB, but with the same pen loaded with Pelikan BB its happy.

 

Feathering seems to be more of an issue than bleedthrough, which is a shame because I have less tolerance for feathering! Bleedthrough doesnt really bother me too much as I only use one side of the page anyway. (Although sometimes I am a 'flipper', I confess!)

 

Its also a shame that the rear envelope is not as robust as in the Moles. I use this quite a bit, and I can see it coming apart before long.

 

But, overall, I think they are great value for money, especially if you are on a tight budget. Definintely one for the recession!

 

TTFN

T

[LDB415]

I'm going to check for them at the local Borders and BN which are across the street from each other. Hopefully my Borders will be doing the buy 2 get 1 free thing on them. I'll take my pen most likely to misbehave and try it in one and if it behaves buy a few and if it misbehaves buy just the one I test, after talking it over with the manager and getting an ok to do so.