Dingbats* Wildlife Lined Writing Journal Notebook A5 - Vegan Leather Hardcover - Ideal for Work, Travel - Pocket, Elastic Closure, & Bookmark

I am an avid journaler and go through an average of four journals a year. Since I started with the bullet journal system, I have used Moleskine and then Leuchtturm notebooks. I debated for a long time about whether to give this notebook a shot, and I’m very glad I did.Bottom line: I am converted to Dingbats brand and will re-order the next time I need a new notebook.Pros:1. The paper quality is superb. Better than both Leuchtturm and Moleskine. It’s thicker and smoother. Great for fountain pens. No ghosting or bleed-through. And no feathering with my Lamy Al-Star pen.2. It is slightly larger than both the Moleskine Large notebook and the Leuchtturm Medium (A5). I like that you have a bit more room on the page, but it is still small enough to fit in my purse— Important because I carry it with me everywhere.3. I love the square grid.4. Unlike Leuchtturm, there aren’t margins at the top and bottom. The grid covers the whole page, which gives more flexibility for different spreads and layouts.5. The cover is a great color and texture and seems to be more durable than than hardcover Moleskine and Leuchtturm notebooks. The elastic that holds the book shut is very sturdy.6. It comes with a pen loop hardwired into the notebook cover! This is a big deal for me. I was starting to resent Leuchtturm for making me spend $5-8 on a stupid pen loop every time I spent $20 on a new notebook. For $20, a notebook should come with a pen loop and this one does! The pen loop is sturdy but stretchy so I think it would fit pretty much any size pen. It easily accommodates my Lamy Al-Star, which is pretty fat.6. It has the same back cover pocket as Leuchtturm and Moleskin. And one ribbon bookmark.7. I like that it is (allegedly) environmentally friendly and that the company is family owned.8. All of the pages are perforated for easy and neat removal.Cons:1. No pages set aside at the front for an index. This isn’t a huge deal for me, but it is a nice feature of the Leuchtturm.2. Pages are not pre-numbered. Again, not a huge deal, but a nice feature of the Leuchtturm.3. The square grid lines are a bit darker and more prominent than in the Leuchtturm and Moleskine, but I find they still fade away once you write over them.4. The increase in paper, size, and cover quality makes it a bit heavier than the Leuchtturm and Moleskine, I think. But it also has fewer pages (though the surface area of the pages is significantly larger) than the Leuchtturm, so it may be a wash.5. I like that the Leuchtturm comes with stickers and spine engineering that make it easy to label for archiving. This notebook does not have that feature. I’ll probably just end up labeling the spine with a sharpie when I’m finished with it.

Hubby bought this for me as a gift. Omg, this journal is the bomb! Cover feels nice and well-constructed, red color is vibrant, elastics and single bookmark ribbon are sturdy. Pages are a cream color to combat eye fatigue, plus pages are nice and smooth and don't feel flimsy at all. The dot matrix is not only a perfect light gray color (not distracting nor invisible), but the dots are well-aligned across a spread. Journal lays flat when open.Because the paper is 100gsm, there is less ghosting. As you can see in my photos, only the Uniball Vision Exact bled somewhat. Of course I expected the pigment and dye ink pads to bleed, but I did them in case people were curious.Also if you can see in the photos, there are about 58 dots across a spread, and 38 dots down a page.I highly recommend you order from D Notebooks USA, awesome service!

This book is very much like described. Lays flat, includes please return memo on patterned front page, does not include index or page numbers, all pages are perforated for tearing out (this has not yet presented a problem). If you have previously used a LT1917, the dot grid is the same color and size, but extends one dot further width wise and the Dingbats paper is 20gsm higher and a slight bit creamier. It includes one bookmark and a pen loop. There is a small logo symbol on the bottom outer corner of each page if you plan on adding page numbers, you'll need to work around them. The cover is beautiful and leather textured. I'll include photos of the mentioned details as well as ghosting of sharpie pens on a pen test page to help gauge paper thickness visually.

Pro: The paper is lovely and smooth. It has minimal ghosting with my favorite black pens. It's slightly large for an A5 which gives a touch more room. The paper is a nice color that's creamy without being too yellow. (Compared to Rhodia Webnotebook which seems too yellow.)Cons: The texture of the cover shows oily marks from your hands, the table, everything. It will never look clean. The pages are micro-perforated; they seem to be both sewn and glued. The book does not lay flat easily. There's an odd flower in the bottom corner of each page. For all that, they could have just put in page numbers. I don't love the kangaroo feet end papers. (I should have gone with the Elephant)The patterned paper tore when I opened the book because it was bound tightly.I'm not in love with it, but it's very functional.

Absolutely love this notebook - I bought it to start my first Bullet Journal and it's awesome!! Love the quality of the pages very little bleed when using colored pens. I have had a few times where I've accidentally ripped the perforated page a bit that's the only downside. I have yet to want to tear a page out ;) The cover is beautiful and I love the elephant design. The grid is great for my purpose. However, I'd like to try dots next time only because they wouldn't show up as much. Just wish you had elephant/dot options. Pocket in the back is great. Very high quality! I will buy again for sure and have recommended to others.

Simply great notebook. I use an ink pen and find that in most notebooks have ink striking through to the next page - not with these notebooks. The quality is very good and the designs are fantastic. The cover can hold its own against the rest of the crap I keep in my bag, and the pages don't tear easily.I normally use Moleskine notebooks, and never thought I would use anything else, but Dingbats have turned my head. I would (and have done) buy again.

Although I like that this is slightly bigger than your regular A5 notebook and the pages are thick. I have found that pen smudges easily on the pages so you have to wait a while for it to dry. I have also found that the text prints onto the page opposite when you close the book, even if you are sure the ink was dry. I am a bit disappointed as this notebook cost more than my regular one, and I thought I would try it out as I love that some of the money goes to charity and it has environmental messages in it. But I am just left disappointed.

I'm a bullet journaling fan, and I want to emphasise: Dingbats make beautiful products. I own the A5 Serengeti and Arctic and the A6 Elephant, Whale, and Hippo. The "earth" series make beautiful gifts (not available in A6 sadly). For utility I recommend sticky tabs as well. I don't really like the Hippo (purple). The others are either good (Elephant and Whale) or stunning (Serengeti and Arctic).

I used to recommend these sketchbooks to everyone. But the quality is really different. The pages are more yellow and a lot glossier than there previous versions. Its so much easier to smudge ink and I've found the pages under the one you are working on get wrinkles really easily. Really sad to see. I would rather pay more for the old one :(. Used to rate these 5/5.

I ordered two Dingbats notebooks and I shall be leaving the same review for both, because my experience has been consistent for both of them.Now, for the review: I have tried many 'popular' brands of notebooks in the past (Rhodia, Moleskin, etc.) and I would like to say that I have found Dingbats impressive in so many different ways. The 100gsm silk cream acid-free paper absorbs my choice of fountain pen inks perfectly, without any signs of feathering at all (RARE!). This is excellent since I am inclined towards free-flowing inks that minimally shade and are able to reasonably saturate the paper I write on. Furthermore, the outer texture of the hardcover is actually fabulous (and weirdly rewarding to touch); the tiger engraving is fashionably minimalistic, yet, quite elegant. I am also impressed by Dingbats(R) green initiative described in the tiny little booklet that accompanies this notebook: water used to produce the paper is returned back to the river cleaner than when it was taken, only biodegradable and recyclable materials are used to produce the notebook, and only FSC or PEFC certified paper is used in the product. The pouch at the back is also quite handy for notecards etc.Perfecto!