Paper from Vietnam is usually great for fountain pens/inks. I found another 100 sheet 9.75x7.5 in college ruled notebook that is great from Walmart UStyle No rain No flowers. No bleedthroughs or feathering with any of my inks/pens. Noodler's Baystate Blue is usually the worst offender but it was great on this paper. Noodler's red also did well but took forever to dry. Now need blotting paper :-)

James, I just purchased a Walmart "Pen+Gear" Steno Pad. Being a Walmart title I found they had several types of paper pads. They ranged from small to large pads and were made in several locations throughout the world. Some made in the USA, some in China, and some in India, The Steno Pad I got was from India. They all were distributed in a couple places in the USA. When first getting home I gave it a good test using my dip pen and Noodlers Baystate Blue ink. I am happy to tell you that it did not bleed through except for one area. That area was where I did similar to a flow test by going over the same area several times. Very understandable to bleed through that saturated area but it really wasn't that bad.

I love the Pen and Gear graph composition book! It's just so good! I'm using it for one of my college classes and it is making it an absolute treasure!

Appreciate the time it takes to make these comparisons. Always looking for great values. In my journeys into less expensive notebooks, I've found quality varies a lot. As you mention, can't judge a notebook by the cover. I've also found variation page to page. Best expression, "Your mileage will vary." But there are great notebooks to be found.

Thanks for the review. Here in Germany even cheap notebooks often have good paper quality as children use fountain pens in school. If I need a very good simple notebook, I buy something from Oxford paper. It's a french manufacturer and their notebooks with "Optikpaper" are awesome. Their copy paper is just average but the notebooks are top notch. An A4 80 page notebook costs about $3.50 and sometimes you can find special offers like a pack of 5 for $10 from Amazon.

The pen gear is one of my go to's. Inexpensive and very functional. Thanks for the review

I still have a couple of Vietnamese notebooks that you reviewed previously. I really like them and have been impressed with both the price (low) and the quality (high)! I'll have to go out and see if I can find some of those graph paper notebooks.. :-). Thanks for this review!

I have found that with well behaved inks in F/EF sometimes even M nibs TruRed, the Staples brand, works well too. I have their Moleskine lookalike as my work notebook and their loose-leaf paper, good with all my Noodler’s (about 5) but not so much my Diamine Shimmers (mild bleed through I can still write on the back but some might not want to).

Great video. For people in new England, where there is a cvs on every corner, the caliber notebooks they sell are made in Vietnam and work great with fp ink. My local cvs was selling them for 67 cents a few weeks ago

I’m using a pen n gear pocket calendar and I have been using a fine nib fountain pen and no bleed through or ghosting so far.

I hadn't thought about looking where the paper was made. Walmart vendors will change with the winds, seemingly. I looked at the back of my Pen+Gear notebook and it was made in Columbia. Not sure about the culture, but; it is fountain pen friendly. Pretty funny when the graph paper has bleed through before you even write on it.

The Walmart dot pad is fabulous. I bought a few to test myself after watching this and went back to get 10 more. Im new to fountain pens. I have only found one noodlers sample that even feathered in my Lamy Safari M. For a notebook that is cheaper than anything at the dollar tree, I can't ask for anything better.

I use the same walmart brand but the ones I use are side spiral. I don't run into too many issues when I use my Pilot fountain pens with fine nibs and Pilot ink or my Jinhao with Monteverde Smoke Noir. Where I live in Canada they're 40-70 cents. I've also had some success with some notepads from the dollar store.

Love mine pen + gear one subject notebooks (made in Vietnam, 100 sheets). Excellent quality for one dollar price!

Hi James, Great video! I am shocked that the Pilot V5 bled through most of these notebook paper. Wonderful idea to have a test page. I've found Parker black Quink ink combined with Platinum Preppy [Plaisir] fine nib tends to do well with most cheap paper [sadly I do not have a choice in the matter; tends to be cheap photocopier paper]. Well James & all fellow viewers of this channel - have a Happy Winter Holiday!

Great review! Thanks!

Pen gear composite notebooks I buy a lot, even with a wet medium Baystate Blue pen almost no bleed through, some ghosting but with a fine or extra fine is totally usable.

Looks like I may have to re-evaluate Pen+Gear. My initial thoughts about the brand was that it was almost useless for me. Of course, may have been the pen/ink combinations I'd been using last time... 😉 Jinhao ink cartridges are a nice surprise, aren't they? They've been my go-to for when I give a first fountain pen to someone, but I'd seldom used them myself. But, a über cheap Jinhao 992 (the pens I tend to have on hand to give away) and Jinhao ink cartridges are what finally convinced my nephew to try a fountain pen again. Worked great on the unknown paper he wrote me on. Now, still trying to find a letter quality paper (preferably unlined and won't look like it was torn out of a notebook) that is a more budget friendly option than the "preferred" paper (Tomoe River, Clairefontaine, Rhodia, etc.) Wishing you a safe and happy Christmas, James, and God bless!

Can you please try some sheening inks on the pen and gear dot grid composition book to see how well it would show off the sheen??

Picked up a couple of the Wal-Mart composition books. Do you know of any leather binders for something this size? I'm thinking of a Traveler's or Endless Explorer type cover.

A closer view of the writing samples would have been more helpful.

Target Unison composition book .50 cents I bought 12 of them they are so good

I have been buying Walmart composition book since this video came out. I have found that the good books come from Brazil. The US books are much too absorbent. Even the lines printed on the page have feathering! The different books have identical labeling except for the country of origin.

very cool

"Inexpensive" notebooks are my bane. Not only are papers ink and marker fickle, even pencil performance varies. I guess it's the tooth and the finish of the paper. I'm constantly cruising the paper issue at Staples, my only stationary source within a practical distance. And some are great with ink and poor with pencil...or great pencil sketching paper and deadly with marker. One petty annoyance is so many notebooks, filler papers and gum-glued pads are still "composition book" size; 8" x 10". A hold over from the old US Government's official paper size before letter size became ubiquitous.

important have paper, what gsm this papers have. thats have what peoples need know not ink, if buy papers, school notebook papers need but what have good whit FP. 80gsm or 120gsm papers ?

Have you found any loose sheets that work? I prefer loose sheets or glue pads, no lines, just plain paper. Enjoy Walmart. I do miss not having one here

Too bad most of these notebooks are US-only. It has been a real struggle to find decent notebooks here in Mexico but oh well. I've got good news, though! I'd like to report that the Mead Composition Notebooks (the marble black and white ones, to be specific) are also FP friendly! They are made in Vietnam, I guess that's why. Too bad they don't have a 5mm ruled option, otherwise they'd be perfect... If you ever find a 5mm notebook (I don't even care if it's graph!) would you please make a video of it? Anyways I hope you have a great week!

That first notebook is right. College did rule.

James, thanks for this terrific review. But I have to say that my gut tells me that those who are able to get away with cheaper paper tend to have a light touch. There’s nothing worse than writing a long session with a firm hand and feeling like paper bits are getting wedged in your tines. I bought some Caliber paper at CVS made in Vietnam but it seemed a bit thin and flimsy. And not every pen I own is silky smooth-some are a little toothy. Are you a light touch user of fountain pens and if so did you make an effort to become that or were you always like that from the beginning.

There meight be many users in India. But nobody in India cares about quality. Look a bit into the many special products for India.... like Paker Jotter made by Luxor ... only for India, becasue the product are so bad.