Review: @NuNotebooks Nu: Elite A4 Wiro Journal - Tan

ABOUT

Size: A4
Color: Tan cover, cream paper.
Ruling: Lined.
Page Count: 200
Price: £9.50 inc VAT
Where to buy: Staples UK

APPEARANCE

This large A4 journal has a lovely tan front and back cover with a matching elastic closure. The wire coils are the twin wiro set up and look quite nice. There is a full-sized pocket on the inside back cover of the journal. Both the covers and the pages have rounded edges. The paper is cream with grey-violet lines; all 200 are perforated. The colour scheme is quite lovely.

PERFORMANCE & FEEL

I love how this notebook feels - it's huge and solid and I love the massive stack of paper in it. It has a great look to it. Like the A5 Multi Event journal, I wonder if the elastic will wear out over time, as it's rather loose to begin with.

I love that the cover is semi flexible!

The paper is smooth enough - not textured nor is it coated or extra smooth. This shows in its performance. It does fine with pencil, ballpoint, and gel ink pens.

When it comes to wet rollerball pens and fountain pens, it's very different. This is not a fountain pen friendly notebook, despite the heavy paper weight. There is show through, bleed through, feathering, and sadly, there is no sheen. Because of the absorbency of the paper, drying times are fast.

PROS

• There are 4 vibrant colours for you to select from, light tan, dark tan, cool grey, and black.
• Lots of paper!
• Performs well with pencil, ballpoints, and gel ink pens.
• Full-sized pocket at the back of the journal. It's huge.

CONS  

• Cover material scuffs easily.
• Hard to close cover or turn pages are not properly aligned on the coils.
• Not fountain pen friendly.
• Bleeds through.
• Show through.
• Feathering.
• No sheen.

OVERALL 

I really like the look of this journal - the colour scheme is very attractive and the size of the journal is very appealing (although a little intimidating when I think about how much writing space is actually in the journal itself). However, because I am primarily a fountain pen user, this notebook would not be a top choice for me because of the paper's inadequate performance in the fountain pen test. My favourite of the Nu notebooks remains the Nu: Elite Polypropylene notebook as the paper does the best with fountain pens.

This notebook was provided to me for review by Nuco International, free of charge. I was not compensated monetarily. All opinions you read here are 100% my own!