Notebook Review: Rhodia Soft-Cover

Turns out I have a notebook problem and I’ve just added to it.  As you know, one of my favorite notebooks is my Rhodia Webnotebook.  Compared to the ever popular Leuchtturm 1917, the one downside I faced was that Rhodia’s dot grid notebooks typically come in their classic Black and Orange – for someone who’s all about jewel tones, this was disappointing.

Rhodia does make a line called Rhodiaramas (featured in the past by Kim) that are colorful, but lined.  I’m a dot-grid kind of gal, so fortunately for me (and unfortunately for my wallet), I came across a COLORED Rhodia dot grid – it’s a soft-cover available at the UK shop Bureau Direct.

I just got it in the mail and I am in looove.  Let’s take a walk through.

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RHODIA DOT GRID SOFTCOVER NOTEBOOK

A few key things about this notebook:

• It is a TOUCH wider than the Rhodia hard cover webnotebook – which puts it right on par with the Leuchtturm notebook
• There are 80 sheets/160 pages – the same as the hardcover, but much thinner.
• Comes in 7 color combinations
• Familiar pocket in the back
• To ship from the UK to the US I ended up paying about $23 for it, including shipping (if you buy it alone).

Since it is a soft-cover, the spine is glued – meaning that it doesn’t lay perfectly flat.  This isn’t a huge issue for me personally, but it is worth noting.

One of the biggest things for many bullet journalists is the pen test – is there ghosting? Bleeding? I used a few of my favorites to highlight a range of pens you might use in your notebook – a Micron fineliner, Pilot G2, Inkjoy gel, Pentel Sign Brush Pen, Lamy Safari for fountain pen lovers, and Tombow Dual Brush Pens.

Here’s the back! As you can see, VERY minimal ghosting, if any.  That’s the work of high gsm paper – 90 gsm for Clairefontaine vs 80 gsm for Leuchtturm. This makes me think I’ll use this for Sketchnotes since I mix and match a lot of different types of pens than a ballpoint or gel – knowing it won’t bleed through to the next page.

All said and done, I definitely love the notebook and can’t wait to find a use for it – however, if you are on any kind of budget or have too many notebooks already, PLEASE consider sticking with affordable alternatives.  Yes, this is a lovely and beautiful notebook, but you by no means need it to bullet journal.

Interested in other notebook options? I did a review of Erin Condren’s dot grid journal here.

Do you have other favorite notebooks? Let me know down below!

Yours,

Jessica