Review: Eighty Pages Made in NYC Notebooks

The kind folks from the Eighty Pages Kickstarter sent me this notebook to check out! While it's already been funded, keep an eye out!

ABOUT

Size: 3.5 x 5.5 inches
Color: White
Ruling: Blank
Sheet Count: 80
Where To Buy: Keep an eye on Eighty Pages on IG!

APPEARANCE

This notebook is a pocket-sized notebook with a firm red cover, clipped corners, a sewn binding, and thick white paper. The back has attracted debossed text that says Eighty Pages Made in NYC. Other than that, the notebook is unmarked. The binding is sewn with black waxed thread.

The notebook is quite thick, especially for a pocket-sized notebook. The pages are folded at the center and stacked inside each other. The binding is on the messy side - the holes are a little ragged looking. The notebook itself is decent looking but some more attention to the binding and folding of the pages would be nice.

PERFORMANCE & FEEL

The paper is thick and has some tooth to it. It works well with pretty much anything. it feels and performs like a high end sketchbook paper. I think it's the most fun to use with pencils, because of the toothy properties of the paper. Softer, thick leads look great on the paper and feel great going down.

Ballpoints, gel pens, and roller balls all work well. Fountain pens work quite well, too! The paper did not feather or bleed, but there was minor show through with wetter nibs. Particles in fountain pen inks showed up well but sheens were toned down.

The tooth of the paper makes it not the smoothest paper to write on. Most nibs can handle it, except I found very broad nibs (double and triple broads) would have start a little. Most nibs worked just fine, so if you want  fountain pen friendly notebook that will work with a variety of nibs and other utensils, this is a good one.

PROS

• Great paper - a lot of fun to use with almost everything!
• Hardy notebook
• Handmade.

CONS  

• Messy binding. (It is hand sewn though!)
• Since it's so thick, it doesn't close easily (especially once you've broken it in).

OVERALL

This is a nice notebook with the paper being the highlight. I enjoy using it but I look forward to a few improvements: cleaner binding and a better spine design (not just folding the pages over - maybe smaller signatures would help the notebook close better).

Most Kickstarter projects improve over time so I look forward to seeing refined products from Eighty Pages.

I received this item free of charge for the purposes of this review. I was not compensated monetarily for my review. Everything you've read here is my own opinion.