Good quality I like it.Thanks

Between 2023 and 2024, the paper thickness for these notebooks seems to have decreased. I bought several (here and another retailer) and was very disappointed. I used to love that the paper was better quality and a better note taking experience than other mainstream notebooks.They’re otherwise good, functional notebooks if you’re not too picky about the paper thickness. I like the thick cover. The paper is still a bit thicker than other popular notebooks and the lines are nice, so it’s a decent notebook if the thickness isn’t an issue.

Okay, so I'm the #1 Amazonbasics notebooks fanboy. For the last few years, I've often bought the Amazonbasics grid-lined (or quad-ruled) notebooks because they were half the price of a Moleskine with extremely comparable quality. Note, that's still like 12$ (CAD) or so, but it has the 'bookmark' ribbon, a little stash in the back, has a nice faux-leather-like cover, and has the elastic to keep it shut when throwing it in your bag every morning.I think this notebook converted me to the Church of Hilroy.Here's a short summary of this notebook (the Hilroy 5star 200pg beast):- I'm pretty sure it's the cheapest grid-paper notebook for the page count and page size.- It doesn't have all the bells and whistles as fancier notebooks- It doesn't actually need the bells and whistles because it compensates in other ways- The paper is fairly thin and cheap, but it's acceptable for just about any ballpoint pen. I wouldn't limit-test it with a fountain.Now, to elaborate, this notebook doesn't have the fancy features like:- The elastic to keep it shut- The nice thick hardcover, err, covers.- The pretty faux-leather-like finish- The nice glue/thread binding- The page-marking ribbonBut, it does have one of those fancy features: Two pouches for loose-leaf pages.And, because this is an A4 notebook, those two pouches are both like twice the size of those Moleskin-like pouches.Also, the Moleskines are often much smaller/thinner. Off the top of my head, I think they're 120 sheet/240 page? Somewhere in that ballpark. Meanwhile this badboy is nearly double that, sitting at 200 _sheets_ for a grand total of 400 pages. Not to mention, A4 pages vs. A5 again. (Or a similar proprietary size that Moleskine invented to be incompatible with everything else)Now, do you really need that ribbon and elastic? Well, the elastic is nice to have, sure, but this notebook is pretty big because of the sheer difference in the amount of paper, that it stays closed on its own fairly well.The fancier hardcover notebooks are also nice because they are sturdy and keep your pages flat/straight, but again, this thing is so much heavier, and the plastic cover + thick cardstock backing do a great job of keeping things straight."Wow, that seems so awesome! What DON'T you like about this notebook?Two things primarily.1. The paper2. The binding.The paper is thin, like a regular stack of cheap ruled paper that you used in elementary school. Maybe a couple microns thicker. Most ballpoint/HB2 pencil users won't care about this. I sometimes like to write with a fountain, but this paper is thin enough that I can immediately tell they're gonna bleed through extremely easily. I'd rather not test the waters.The binding is, well, spiral. Not like those nice almost-flush spiral bindings. The diameter on this binding is twice the thickness of this notebook, easily. Is it a huge deal? Not really, but writing near either end of the notebook, at the part close to the binding is going to be difficult, because your hand will be like an inch higher up than the paper you're writing on. Naturally, this evens out nicely once you get 1/4 or 1/3 of the way through the notebook.BONUS ROUND: The coverIt's kinda meh. Boring, has the fivestar logo on it, whatever. I don't really care about the aesthetics a whole lot.What I do care about, though, is being able to label the notebook. If I'm doing all the problems in my calc textbook, I'm going to eventually run out of pages. That textbook is an absolute TOME and there are lots of graphing problems. I used to label my notebooks something like "Calculus Ch1-2" or "Networking Modules 1-16" or something similar, so I didn't need to look through the notebook to figure out what was in there, or what range it covered. I can't do this out-of-the-box with this notebook, because of the smooth finish on the cover. Maybe a sharpie would do the job, but I don't want to risk randomly smudging everywhere.The solution? Buy some cheap labels, or use some masking tape and write on that. It's honestly negligible, but I figured I should mention it anyway.Remember when I said that Amazonbasics notebooks were 12$ CAD? I sorta lied. That's what I was paying for them, back in the day. I just had a gander at my order history, and it turns out they now sell for nearly 20$, or the old price of a Moleskine (who have also raised their prices.)This notebook is less than half that price. For more than double the page real-estate.Just buy a bunch of them. Trust me.P.S. I know they have some study app or something-or-other.I don't care.I don't digitize my notes with OCR or anything because I use notebooks for doing practice problems and copying things for the sake of copying them. I keep a digital store of notes through, using Zettelkasten software, and I write fancier formulas and formatting with LaTeX and Markdown. I have no actual use for the app, so I'm not going to use it, and I can't reasonably review it here.

Bought this for my spouse attending college courses, and have since taken it. It helps save on paper,where to store the info and the gel erasable pen is fab. To be honest,it is all the pen,but having this all in one is worth it. A great but.

The folder at the front is so useful, the binding doesn’t break and isn’t weak. It is SOOO WORTH the money, durable, will last you FOREVER. thank you five star. I only use these for math because it’s grid paper but the other five star notebooks are great too.

The paper is thick and pens wont bleed through unless you are using sharpie. The pages have a cool feature where you download an app and it transfers your notes into the app. I love the plastic cover because it keeps the notebook sturdy.

Got a replacement, great. first was package was cut deep into the note book.

I’m in highschool and throw my backpack around a lot. Because of this, I need a sturdy notebook that also works for my math class and this notebook has been perfect since I started. It’s firm, sturdy, has thick but not too thick paper, and is overall a perfect notebook for my math class. It has survived being shoved into my backpack and shaken around as I run to catch the bus, and hasn’t bent, ripped, etc. Love it!