There seems to be an endless supply of Moleskine alternatives on Amazon and elsewhere so I figured I’d grab a random one and see what it had to offer. This particular one is the BookFactory Journal (via Amazon). I grabbed the dark green version that sports a lime green elastic closer band which is also accentuated with a lime green page finder ribbon. You can also find them at that amazon link in black with red accents, light blue with purple accents, and red with yellow accents. I feel like this version would be great if you work for or just have a huge love of TD Bank, and the red and yellow one pretty much screams McDonald’s to me.
The only branding on the BookFactory journal is on the back where the name is printed on in silvery lettering. You might be able to see a dark shadow of a rectangular box above that text, this is a stain that was left behind by the sticky residue of a label. Not sure if that label was put there by the folks from BookFactory or Amazon, but nonetheless was there and it did leave behind some residue. The cover on the BookFactory journal is pretty sturdy and has a very smooth feel to it that reminds me of the surface of an umbrella stretched tight. Not claiming this is waterproof or water resistant by any means though. I have to say that although not enough time and use has passed yet, I’m not sure how I feel about the elastic strap on the BookFactory journal. It doesn’t feel particularly strong or tight, and in my past experiences, elastic that starts off like this usually doesn’t hold up and becomes quite flimsy after some time.
Here is a quick look at the lime green ribbon page finder in the book and a sneak peak at the writing sample. For some reason I really like this bright green color and I think it does contrast well with the dark green cover. FYI, the 192 white pages are college ruled and the rulings are a subtle light grey. The journal itself measures 5.25 inches by 8.27 inches.
BookFactory Journal Review Writing Sample:
I was pretty happy with the writing performance in the BookFactory journal. I noticed a minimal amount of spread with the liquid ink pens and the fountain pen inks that I tried in here, but nothing that made me unhappy with how my normally kindergarten-ish handwriting looks. I should also mention there was no feathering with the fountain pen inks either. I added a writing sample with a mechanical pencil too because I always like to see how paper holds up to erasing. There is a light, medium, and dark scribble with an eraser mark through them and I can say I was pretty happy with how well the pencil markings came off without showing any signs of the actual paper rubbing off or degrading.
The scan above shows the backside of the writing sample in the BookFactory journal. I was kind of expecting this, and unfortunately my worst thoughts came to be true. The show through on the back of the pages were just unacceptable for me. Some people may have a higher tolerance for this, or some people may just be OK with not writing on the back of their notebook pages, so if thats you then this issue should be of no concern for you. One notable thing that the BookFactory journal is lacking is any kind of inside cover pocket, which isn’t a deal breaker for me but just wanted to point it out specifically since I didn’t mention or photograph one…because its not there. Overall, I’d probably steer clear of this one due to the potentially not so great elastic closure and the show through on the paper, but if you can get past those issues, you can grab yourself a BookFactory Journal (via Amazon) in a few nice color combinations to spice up the look of your journal collection.
©2016, Brian Greene. All rights reserved.
