Mini review: Tidbit Notepad

Notepads come in all shapes and sizes. They also come in many different styles, such as lined, dotted, graph, etc.

The notepad we'll be looking at today is something that I bet most of you have never seen before. It's a new take on the standard lined sheet of paper.

Have you ever been out somewhere, with your notebook, and you needed to cut out a small piece of paper, to perhaps give someone a note, but you didn't have any scissors on you? I sure haven't... but if you have, then this notebook will solve all your problems!

Enter the "Tidbit" notebook, by Kokuyo. This little fellow is packed full of features, making standard notebooks shrink away from it in shame. :)

Let's take a peek at what this notepad has to offer!

First and foremost, it's a smaller notepad. About 4 1/4" long.

Makes my TWSBI 540 look rather huge. It's not super small, but it's definitely not a big one. It's the perfect size for the pocket, but it should be noted that this "Tidbit" is much thicker than most pocket notebooks, such as the m.memo.

Now for one of the more unique features of the notepad - It has a pocket on the inside of the cover! How odd is that? This is something I have never seen before is a small pocket notepad.

And the paper! What do you see? Can you guess what this paper "is" now?

Yup, that's it - perforated lines! These lines obviously serve as your writing guides, along with being points for the paper to tear at.

This is a very strange and unique feature for any notepad. It is not something that I have seen anywhere else. For me, it's practicality is obviously limited, but as a novelty item it is incredibly fun! For those who actually do need to cut/remove small piece of their notepad pages on-the-go, this would be an ideal choice.

But before I can start recommending this notepad, we ought to look at the paper quality!

The paper on this notebook performs both excellently, and poorly. Allow me to elaborate with the aid of some photos:

Top sentence is writing with my VP F nib, Iroshizuku Yama Guri. No bleedthrough, no feathering, very pleasant to write on.

The lower sentence was done with my super-soaker Ahab flex pen.a moderate amount of feathering, and well... Check out the next photo.

Herein lies the problem - those nifty perforations are not "sealed" like the paper surface is. This allows for ink to bleed right through them. My Ahab flex pen (take note that it is about 10/10 wetness!) bled through six pages, right on the perforations.

Here's the sixth page - tiny dot of blue right in the center of the photo.

Now, don't let that Ahab be your judge. It is way to wet for many good papers. But I wanted to demonstrate the principle. This paper does excellent with any normal nib, particularly dryer F and M nibs. You won't write on both side of the page though, that's for sure.

The one last important thing to point out is how well the perforation work. I was afraid they'd be poorly done, and perhaps tear the sheet apart int he wrong way. Not so - the perforation tear smoothly, and very cleanly.

Just fold it over once or twice...

And tear it apart!

Ta-da. Two piece of notebook paper, as cleanly as if it were done by a knife.

Overall: All things considered, I find the "Tidbit" to be a slightly impractical, but nevertheless enjoyable notepad for daily writing. I doubt I will ever be in need of it's special "abilities", and having them there does present a few problems. But without the perforated pages and inside pocket, this would be just another notepad to get lost in the herd. Even with it's unique quirks, this little fellow stands out from the rest, and it keeps me coming back every time I need to write a note down.

Would I recommend you get one? Certainly! You should at least try it out for a little fun. If you hate it, you can send it to me. :)

The Tidbit memo pad is available in both graph and lined, from JetPens.com.

I recommend you purchase one, if you're curious. Trust me, you will enjoy playing with the notepad, if nothing else.

And with that, I will close this mini-review out. I'll do another short post featuring the graph one too once I get a chance to try it out.

Leave me a comment below and let me know what you think of this notepad. Highly impractical? Fun? Weird? Maybe all three. :)