BUKEA5 OWL Dot Gird Journal Dotted Notebook 160 Pages, Size 5.7X8.2 Inch, 180 GSM Ultra Thick Bamboo Paper, Drawing Sketchbook(PINK)

At first I was skeptical of the gsm of the paper and it being bamboo based but I am very impressed with this journal. I’ve been bullet journaling for 7 years and tried all the big names but I needed a mid-year fresh start at an affordable price. The cover has a great feel, I didn’t love the owl but covered it with an old pin and now it’s personalized 🤣. I do have some slight ghosting with black but only if you really look hard, I’ve experienced worse in more expensive journals. My Tombows, mildliners, supertips, and microns swatched beautifully, the sharpie SGel is the slight ghost. If you’re looking for a new journal this one checks all of my (excessively picky) boxes.

I am allergic to some paper material. This journal is awesome because I do not experience an allergic reaction when I use it. I may be unique on why this notebook works for me, but I really like it because it works well for me.

It’s a very good notebook with somewhat thick sheets of papers. I’m currently using a sketch book that you can buy from Office Depot for $7.99usd and the quality is not fountain pen friendly.This journal is fountain pen friendly. I like my papers on a slight scratchy side and this did not disappoint. I’m currently using a pilot custom heritage 823 with pelikan 4001 black ink. It has little to no feathering, absolutely no leaking to the back side and it absorbs ink fairly fast like a Mindori MD cream notebook.Why is it not perfect? The first sheet of dots is glued onto the intro sheet. So you do see a poorly glued section that will fall apart down the road. There is a very feint ghosting and my apologies, the phone is rejecting access to photos for security reasons. Besides that, I’ve got no complaints. It feels very nice in the hands and my fine nib glides smoothly with a little bit of feedback; just the way I like it.Edit 2/23/22:The pen holding elastic part tore off. It’s a poor quality material that didn’t like my custom 823 after being put into so many times. It just gave up entirely and spontaneously. The papers have ZERO feathering even with a dual line, ebonite feed. The papers are not very flat and you’ll find yourself fighting each page by holding it down when writing. The cover is holding up well. Pages are thick but the ghosting is more prevalent with the ebonite feed.

I'm new to bullet journaling but it only takes a week or two of getting involved before you realize what works and what doesn't.I tried this one, the Clever Fox bullet journal, and the Minimalism Art one.The latter, I returned right away. It seemed cheap.The Clever Fox one is very pretty. But it's a mix between a softcover and hardcover, which I'm still on the fence about.This Buke one so far is my favorite because:- it's a TRUE "lay flat"...pages don't pop up when I keep the book open- the dots are paler shade of grey, so it makes the page seem cleaner- the hardcover is sturdy- the texture of the cover feels like butter- the thickness is greatMy ONLY beef is that it's pages are on the yellow side, whereas Clever Fox's pages are white.For the price, I think it's a great bang for your buck. I bought it in February, so I'm hoping by the end of this year there will be more color options.

Great value. Smooth, true white (not cream, not bright white) paper. Not ideal for fountain pen do to feathering, but stands up to every other pen I tested. Ghosts only with copic and sharpie. Tombow brush pens glide on smoothly and copics layer and blend like a dream. I wouldn’t paint or do anything with too much water as the paper has no sizing. But this is a journal, not a watercolor block, so I’m ok with that, lol! Copics actually work really well on this paper. You can only use one side with them, but it’s quite receptive to several layers of alcohol ink. Nice dot alignment. Dots are a good middle ground of visible but not obnoxious. No extra frills text wise, but I like that in a bullet journal. Sturdy sewn signatures and lay flat binding make it easy to flip through and use. Pen loop, ribbon marker, elastic closure, and pocket are a nice bonus. Wish it came in more colors and without a logo. I covered up the owl logo with a sticker, but The the pink color is lovely, it’s a soft peach pink. For the price I would defiantly grab one. Also would work well as a sketch book for alcohol based markers.

Sturdy yet flexible, very smooth and beautiful. Has pre-numbered pages.The page thiccness is EXCELLENT. I can really layer on my stabilo highlighters and they don't soak through the pages to the other side. I use very dark gel ink pens and it doesn't cause problems at all, I never worry about it.

I bought this after I finished a different bullet made by a different company. I bought it cause I do a lot of drawing and watercolor along with my planning, because it said that it was 160gsm but I don’t think so. And if it is then it really absorbs my tombow and watercolor. I have to rush my watercolor with a heat gun to make sure it doesn’t ghost through. My previous journal was only 130gsm and did better with marker and watercolor than this one. I gave it three starts cause if your a minimalist BUJO journal user it should work fine if you use ball point pens, gel pens, color pencils, and maybe some highlighters. But if your a creative journaler like me you might want to go another route. I bought this because of the reviews but noticed nobody posted any pictures so I thought I would show you. The last 2 photos are from my previous journal only 130gsm. The first of the last two photos show marker and watercolor and the last photo is on the back of that page. No ghosting and bleeding.

The book itself is very nice, and the paper doesn’t bleed through. I’m very impressed overall with the money for value aspect. My only critique, and therefore only 4 stars, is that the dots are extremely difficult to see.