I am barely halfway through the first of the two Pebble Stationery Co. pocket notebooks, and I have already had to tape the spine where it has started to split:
I really wanted to like this notebook, but I will not be buying any more of them. I likely will not even be using the other one I already have.
My use-case for pocket notebooks is to carry one around in my back pocket for jotting down random thoughts and ideas that occur to me throughout the day. I generally use a fountain pen for writing in them, but also sometimes a Uni-Ball Micro 0.5mm pen, or failing that, whatever random pen or pencil happens to be lying around.
Besides the spine-taping, I have run into a few other problems with the Pebble Co. notebooks, mostly due to their use of Tomoe River paper. This paper is usually great, but I have come to the conclusion that it is absolutely the wrong choice for my use-case. The main problem is that, due to its sheen, the ink takes longer to dry. That is usually not a problem, but when I am taking a quick note, I don’t want to have to wait to close the notebook and put it back in my pocket.
The other problem is how the pages are. When I pull the notebook out of my pocket, I want to be able to flip immediately to the next blank page and start writing. With this notebook, I find that I have to carefully turn each page and that they often stick together.
These gripes seem petty and very particular as I write them. However, they happen nearly every time I use the notebook, generally 10-15 times per day, and the aggravation adds up.