Review — Pacific and West Notebook

 

The Pacific and West Large RefillableNotebook.

I’ve long been a fan and user of disc-bound notebooks. Going back to my first Levenger Circa purchase almost 20 years ago. Such notebook systems are great for those cases where you need to be able to easily rearrange the pages. So, when Pacific and West reached out to me to ask if I wanted to check out their take on the concept I accepted the opportunity.

The quality is decent and it looks attractive. The disks are a solid brass which pairs nicely with the walnut wood cover. The cover was unexpected in that it is a very thin veneer that is sturdy yet very flexible. One can almost roll it completely up without feeling the wood is going to crack and it pops right back into shape when released.

In the model I received, the paper is blank and the paper quality is okay. Only okay, though. Fountain pen and gel inks feather a fair bit. Ballpoints, pencil, and non-gel rollerballs will fair much better. As a fountain pen user and paper nerd this is the most major knock against it. One other minor knock, that is some what related, are the dimensions. The large I received is 5.75”x7.7“. If it was, say, a more standard 5.5” x 8.5’, one could replace the paper easily with that from another manufacturer or easily cut their own.

Price wise, while it may seem high at first glance, it is actually on par with similar quality offerings from the other major players who make disk-bound notebooks.

In all, it’s an attractive initial offering. If the paper quality could match that of the other materials I’d be able to recommend it more highly.