This Maruai Basic Notebook is pretty darn small, and its orange, two things that immediately made me want to snap it up the second I saw it over on JetPens (right here if you want one too). This review is probably going to be more about looking at and appreciating the tiny form factor rather than the actual performance of the notebook, which isn’t bad but is nothing to write home about, pun intended. Also, just a quick side note that we received this item for review as part of our sponsorship with JetPens and this does not impact the honest thoughts and opinions reflected in the review below.
Here you can see the orange cover of the Maruai Basic Notebook comes in just shy of 3.25 inches from top to bottom.
And its just shy of 2.5″ across. You can see though that I’ve got the ruler about 1/32″ too far to the left too though. My own faulty eye sight didn’t catch that until I started to edit the pictures and saw it this close and clear.
With such tiny dimensions on the Maruai Basic Notebook you can actually slip something the size of a credit card into it and it almost completely disappears. In the above photo you can see that I’ve got my credit card stuck in the middle and the edges barely peek out. This also means you can tuck this entire notebook into a wallet or other small place which makes it great for emergencies or just quick notes on the go.
When I ordered this from JetPens I didn’t realize how nicely textured the cover was. Its got a nice tactile feel and its actually a surprisingly nice thickness of card stock that they use. The heavier cover should give it the added durability to help hold up to being taken in and out of a purse or pocket on multiple occasions.
Maruai Basic Notebook Writing Sample
As I mentioned, the writing performance for the Maruai Basic Notebook isn’t anything spectacular. In the photo above you can see that some basic Sailor fountain pen ink from a cartridge feathers quite a bit on this paper. To the left of the Sharpie Pen on the blank page you can also see that the fountain pen ink transferred to the other side because it wasn’t completely dry even after finishing writing with the other two pens before closing it. The Sharpie Pen and Pilot G2 didn’t suffer from any feathering at least, so I’d recommend one of these two pens or a pencil to use with this notebook.
Here is a quick look at the see through on the back side of the page from my writing sample in the Maruai Basic Notebook. Its mostly just from the fountain pen writing sample, but its definitely enough to confirm that writing with a fountain pen in this notebook would render it kind of useless and wasteful. Thats not to say this isn’t a worthwhile notebook though, its got its place and that is in small places like your small pocket or purse, or even your wallet but just don’t expect to be able to use your favorite fountain pen with it. Check it out over at our sponsor’s website, JetPens right here where its available in different colors too!
©2017, Brian Greene. All rights reserved.
