Banditapple Carnet Pocket Book Size Limited Edition Notebook Review

[heath]

For the full review and all the images click here: http://penpaperinkletter.com/bandita...tebook-review/

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This is the Banditapple Carnet Pocket Book Size Limited Edition notebook. It has 64 pages of 80 gsm paper and is 4 1/8″ x 6 7/8″ (10.5cm x 17.5cm). The cover is a ribbed fibrous cardstock. Banditapple is a small company in Vietnam that makes a decent range of notebooks in various sizes. This is my first experience with the notebook so I want to talk about it and compare it to some other similar sized notebooks I have tried.

This is a special pocket book size that is larger than standard Field Notes or Scout Book sized notebooks. It is a bit wider and noticeably taller but still fits in my back pocket in jeans and in my dress shirt pockets though it sticks out noticeably. I actually like having the additional writing space for the most part. I used it for a few meetings and fount I felt more like I was using a small but usable notebook than a memo book.

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This one is unlined and though in this size I would probably prefer some guide so I can get the most of my pages I found the open space worked for some doodling and looked better than it would have on a grid or ruled page.

The cover is nice enough and the ribbed texture stands out as unique but there is nothing in particular to praise here. It does a good job. The binding though is machine sewn and I have to say I quite like it. I have actually had to re-staple some of my staple bound notebooks as the covers have torn through the staple but there is little risk of losing this cover to a similar situation.

The look and feel of the pages leans towards an artisan notebook more than a mass produced one. It is smooth and white moving slightly towards off-white. You can see fibers in the page but it is very minimal and I think adds to the charm and as it doesn’t make the paper any less smooth I only see it as a benefit.

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I would say these notebooks are absolutely fountain pen friendly and with a 1.1 stub and two flex pens I had no bleedthrough. I would even say you can use both sides of the page with most pen and ink combos. There was some feathering at the edges of the page with my 1.1 stub when the pages were not laying flat.

I am not certain what the limited edition is referring to here which makes me a bit hesitant to jump completely into these for everyday use. If it is a size they won’t always carry then any investment in covers or cases could prove costly. If it is only the cover style or some other cosmetic variance then I would be happy to have this size and brand in my daily arsenal.

I think those who will most benefit from these notebooks would be those that enjoy using Scout Books or Field Notes but find them to be a bit constrained in size. Also, the paper quality here is closer to the Scout Books than the non-FP friendly Field Notes.

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I am quite satisfied by the price to quality ratio and imagine that Banditapple will only continue to grow in the fountain pen community as a go to company.

-Heath
@WeThePPIL