I have picked up several of these Moleskine knock-offs on sale now at Sainsbury's. They have 96 sheets (192 pages total) made from 70% recycled material which is finished in an off-white colour. All sheets are detachable, by the look of it. The paper is ruled and looks reasonable quality; a quick test with my Pilot M90 and Parker Blue Quink showed no sign of feathering or bleedthrough, and it takes pencil well enough, too. There's even a little pocket at the back for ticket stubs, receipts, postage stamps, and other kipple. This notebook is covered in black polyurethane, which has a satin finish that picks up fingerprints and grease marks.
The best thing is that they are on sale at 75 pence each, making them less than one-tenth of the price of a Moleskine equivalent, which costs £8.99 and is certainly not ten times better than this. I suspect the low price is a close-out, so if you can get hold of one of these, give it a go.
Sounds great. I never noticed them in Sainbury's, but will look what else they have. I have a similar notebook from my local post office, but it was more expensive and doesn't have a pocket.
ReplyDeleteI love the tag line of your blog so much, I am probably going to note it in a post at my blog. But then someone will be talking about the blog, eh?
ReplyDeleteInteresting... did they come in other formats? (Side-opening, unlined, large size?)
ReplyDeleteYes, they do a conventional notebook.
ReplyDeleteMy Sainsbury's no longer has this reporter's notebook unfortunately (good job I bought seven of them). I was using this one earlier this evening at a professional event and it sat on my lap very well for taking notes. The one thing it does not do though, is fold back on itself (which I think the Moleskine does).
@Note Booker: yes, if people do start talking about this blog I'll have to think of another strapline! (Not much danger of that just yet, though)