Docket Diamond Premium Writing Tablet

[fncll]

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5536/9970635215_2283e03917_n.jpg
Docket Diamond Fine Writing Tablet (box) by ChrisL_AK, on Flickr

[As always, comments and suggestions for improvement are WELCOMED! Also blogged on inkProne]

Verdict

Buy it! The Docket Diamond Premium Writing Tablet handled every pen and ink I threw at it with basically no feathering or show/bleed-through. I'm pretty sure there isn't a legal-pad style tablet out there that comes close to it. If you have a need for a pad for a clipboard or similar application, this is practically paper porn.

But that's not doing this paper justice: it's competitive with the best paper out there. The feel is substantial and the laid finish is a real laid finish, not the faux laid you'll see on some cheaper papers...enough, in fact, that your xxx-fine and sharp-as-a-razor italics might dig in a bit. Think G. Lalo Verge de France style finish and then add a bit more texture.

I own a lot of paper. And I mean a lot: at least 80 varieties (in hundreds of different packs, tablets, pads and notebooks) from vintage onionskin and typewriter paper to all of the top fountain-pen lovers' favorites, and I keep coming back to this paper...

Features

• 24lb; laid finish; ivory; watermarked
• 50 micro-perforated sheets; 10mm (legal) rule (one side only)
• 8.5 x 11.7 in. ; 8.5 x 10.75 in. finished size
• Rigid backboard with blue marble headtape

Performance
(Scale 0-5, 0=none 5=like a mofo)

 

• Feathering: 1
• Show-through: 0
• Bleed-through: 0 (obviously, unless you use invisible ink)
• Dry Time: 1

As you can see, it even survived my patented KiSS---knife, swab, scribble---test with no show-through or bleeding.

Cost Comparison

• Ampad Gold Fibre Retro Legal Pads: $31.50/600 sheets = .05/sheet
• Ampad Gold Fibre Retro Pad: $7.50/70 sheets = .11/sheet
• Clairefontaine Wirebound Pad: $12/80 sheets = .15/sheet
• Clairefontaine Triomphe Pads: $9/50 sheets = .18/sheet
• Kokuyo Campus Loose Leaf Shikkari: $9/50 sheets = .18/sheet
• Rhodia Premium Notepad: $13/70 sheets = .19/sheet
• Docket Diamond Premium Writing Tablet: $19/100 sheets = .19/sheet

The Docket Diamond tablets really are premium tablets and they cost accordingly, though not particularly expensive compared to their real peers. Keep in mind that none of the competing tablets listed here have the laid finish or are watermarked...and most don't have an ivory-color option.

The closest paper I know of is Southworth Antique Laid Business paper, which is only .06 sheet, but it comes in loose sheets and isn't lined. Similarly, G. Lalo Verge de France is similar, but better, except it also isn't lined and weighs in at a hefty .32 per sheet!

Other Reviews, Threads, etc.

• Brief Review of the planning pad version (same paper)
• Paul Theroux likes it!
• Diamine Merlot on Docket Diamond? Why yes!

Scans

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5473/9970630415_d4cd550d03.jpg
Docket Diamond Fine Writing Tablet (writing sample) by ChrisL_AK, on Flickr

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3799/9970699046_5212750fe5.jpg
Docket Diamond Fine Writing Tablet (writing sample, reverse) by ChrisL_AK, on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7388/9970758543_cb6535db38.jpg
Docket Diamond Fine Writing Tablet (KiSS test)) by ChrisL_AK, on Flickr

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5546/9970624125_506bc4fc4e.jpg
Docket Diamond Fine Writing Tablet (KiSS test, reverse) by ChrisL_AK, on Flickr

[WirsPlm]

Looking at your photos, I'm definitely seeing where you've written on the opposite side of the page. I wouldn't call this no showthrough.

[fncll]

Those aren't photos, but scans. What you are seeing is mostly an artifact of the scanning, which illuminates the paper in the same manner as holding a page up to the light. I might post photos later--or use them in next reviews--but I don't have a good lighting situation for photos to turn out well.

 

Or maybe I should use a dark sheet of paper on the back of the page when I scan it, to reduce the artificial effect of the scanning LED on the white plastic background.

 

In real life, with the page turned, you can see little or no show-through as I define it, which is where the ink saturates enough to be seen in normal light with the page turned over on a surface without being wet to the touch or contaminating the other paper as in bleed-through. Perhaps I'll revise that to a .5 on the scale. Naturally, the swab and knife smears have a bit of show through under normal circumstances, but only in a few spots, surprisingly.

 

The back side of the paper isn't, however, designed to be written on (no lines).

 

You don't have to take my word for it, YMMV, etc.

Edited October 5, 2013 by fncll