The Miquelrius Flexible Pocket Size Notebook

On my trip to Massacheusets, I picked up a bunch of items in my tour of the local office supply stores, and this small Miquelrius Flexible Notebook came from Bob Slate Stationer.  I was excited when I saw this notebook on the shelf there because I really like my other Miquelrius notebook and recently I’ve been on a small pocket size notebook kick.

Miquelrius Flexible Notebook Binding and Band

Because of how much I liked my previous Miquelrius notebook I couldnt wait to unwrap this pocket size version.  Upon taking the wrapper off, I was impressed with the super soft and smooth leather-like cover on this, so I was feeling good about finding another of these notebooks that Id really like.  I also liked how taught the elastic band closure was, not too tight, but not at all flimsy….so lets crack this sucker open.

The ruled pages of the Miquelrius Flexible Notebook

Once I opened up the notebook, I was a little surprised to see the size of the ruled lines, I think I had been expecting something similar to the lined version o f my Moleskine Volant Mini.  Although the lines were wider than I had hoped, I was still ok with this based on the nice look and feel I had come across so far.

What happened here? I guess the glue dried out causing the pocket to break.

When I moved to the back of the notebook to check out the back pocket I was disappointed to see that as soon as I gave it a slight pull to open it, the glue gave way and my pocket was now nothing more than a useless flap.  Although I dont typically use the pockets in my notebooks, it is still upsetting to see something like this happen, especially having hardly even used it.

The first writing sample in the Miquelrius notebook using a Pentel Slicci

Trying to move past my disappointments, I decided to get writing, so I grabbed my blue Pentel Slicci in the .25mm.  Right off the bat, the Slicci laid down a nice smooth line on the 70g paper in the Miquelrius notebook, and there did not appear to be any feathering.  Ok, looks like we are back on track, the writing experience is going well.

Various pens tried out on the Miquelrius 70g paper

In addition to the Pentel Slicci, I tried out the Sharpie Pen, some Private Reserve Ebony Green, J. Herbin Orange Indien,  a Waterman Rollerball Refill, and a Zebra Sarasa gel pen.  Each pen and ink wrote very nicely on the paper, the line was smooth, it didnt seem to spread or feather, and the colors looked nice against the white paper.

Bleed through on the Miquelrius Flexible Notebook pages

The above photo is a scan of the back of the page that I used for the writing samples.  You probably dont even have to click on it to get the larger size so you can see the amount of bleed through on the paper.  Pretty much all of the pens and inks bleed through enough that you really wouldnt want to write on both sides of the paper in this notebook.  I dont always write on the other side of my notebook pages, but when I carry one around in my pocket, I do tend to want to write on both sides because I view these types of notebooks as being very tactical or utilitarian, rather than something like my Levenger notebooks which are more for the purpose of archiving important notes.

I’m not sure if the high expectations I had going in, and the busted back pocket had anything to do with my being not so thrilled with this notebook, but at the end of the day, this notebook is not going to be any threat to my Moleskine Volant mini that has been in my shirt or pants pocket almost every day since I bought my first one.  For an alternative opinion on these notebooks you might want to check out the review from The Amateur Economist blog, where they were reviewed over a year ago.

If anyone wants this slightly used, and partially broken notebook, be the first person to leave a comment saying so, and its yours.  Just shoot me an email with your mailing address after you submit your comment and confirm that you are first.  If used and broken notebooks arent your thing, then dont forget to enter my July 4th giveaway that ends at 11:59 PM Friday (thats today) for some good, unused and fully functioning office supplies.

©2016, Brian Greene. All rights reserved.