Nu:elite Products At Officeworks (Australia)

January 16, 2011

NU: elite Products

My attention was brought to the NU: products available at Officeworks by Fof 3's post here. I went looking for the loose sheets that refill the A4 Manager Compendium, but couldn't find them first time around. I did, however, find the NU: elite A4 Polypropylene Notebooks and bought one for a little under AU$10. When I got home, I re-read the post and on my next trip past Officeworks I was able to find the refills. So now, I have a sample of both.

NU:elite Wirobound Notebook A4

This notebook has 200 pages (100 sheets) of 120 gsm paper that is light cream or off-white in colour. The pages are perforated, but you will need to fold along the perforations to make a clean tear. The notebook also comes with a cheap elastic band to keep it closed and there is a pocket in the back cover. Cost - AU$9.95

NU:elite Manager Refill A4

This is a packet of 100 A4 sheets in 100 gsm. The paper is white and is designed to fit into the AU$40 Manager Compendium. However, it has a standard set of 4 ring-binder holes, so the block of pages fits nicely into a normal $4 4-ring binder. Cost - AU$3.50

The Paper

Whilst the notebook paper is a little thicker and heaver (120 gsm vs. 100 gsm) than the refill block, they both behave with inks the same way. Both papers will take even the most troublesome of inks with very little feathering. In fact, from Mont Blanc iron-gall Blue-Black through to Diamine ASA and WES Kensington Blue and Private Reserve Lake Placid Blue there is a tiny bit of feathering which is usually only visible with a loupe. I have not seen any bleeding or show-through, no matter what pen – fountain or dip – or ink, was used.

In Summary

These notebooks and papers provide surprising quality and performance for the price. They are cheap enough for me to take to work, and good enough to enjoy using. Finally, the website is http://www.nuco-international.com

Scan below…

In order, the inks are Mont Blanc Blue-Black, Diamine ASA Blue, Diamine WES Kensington Blue, Wancher imari Blue, Sheaffer Skrip Blue and finally, 2 lines of Waterman Florida Blue.

Edited January 16, 2011 by dcwaites

January 16, 2011

Will grab a notebook and give it a try. Thanks for the advice.

January 16, 2011

Not available in the Mildura Officeworks :E They have about two half-aisles dedicated to actual writing-on paper products (mostly spirax and some fancy brand that looks like it would rip at the slightest provocation) and a whole back dedicated to office furniture. Shocking, I tell you.

January 25, 2011

I just got a couple of the A4 notebooks today at Officeworks Mornington and wrote on one to test it and they are excellent. Really like the creamy white paper too instead of bright white. Makes a nice change. Smarter looking notebook than many so it could be taken pretty much anywhere. I got 2 of the Manager refills as well thinking I could put them in a binder but, lo and behold, they fit my leather writing compendium I got 20 years ago. Bonus! That paper is great too.

I had to look quite hard for them because they were in the section with all the Filofax and other fancy diaries and portfolios rather than the notebook section and up on a top shelf as well. Nearly sold out, nonetheless.

Thanks for the heads-up on these, dcwaites.