Kokuyo Campus High Grade (MIO) Notebook Review

Next in the series of Kokuyo Campus notebooks, today we take a look at another High Grade notebook. This particular notebook has Kokuyo’s MIO paper in it. An acronym for Mobile Ideal Original, MIO paper is thin, lightweight and portable. Although it says it is ideal for use with gel ballpoint pens, something tells me it will also work great with fountain pens.

Here’s a look at the cover of this notebook

First Impressions

Similar to all other Campus notebooks, this one is pretty basic. It has cardstock covers, a glue binding with silver trim and not much else. I do like the glossy bits on the otherwise matte cover. They give it a bit of “fancy” that the other Campus notebooks don’t have. I’m curious to see how this lightweight paper handles fountain pens, so let’s get to it!

Here you can see the glossy parts of the cover

The Details

• Pages: 160 (80 sheets)
• Paper Weight: 60gsm
• Binding: Glue
• Page Style: Lined (6mm, 7mm)
• Size: A5, B5

Ink-handling characteristics (A table with the following properties can be found at the bottom of this post)

• Sheen: Low
• Shading: Average
• Bleeding: Low
• Ghosting: Average
• Feathering: Very Low
• Dry Time: Fast

Other features

• Page/Date space in top margin
• Top and bottom margins
• Divider marks on top and bottom margin

Here’s what the top margin of each page looks like.

Actual Use

This notebook has a glued spine, so I don’t expect it to open and lay flat immediately. Fortunately, it does lay flat quite easily with just a bit of pressure. The cover is a flexible card stock, so it needs some support underneath it when writing. The lack of extras doesn’t really affect this notebook, as I’d say it is mainly meant for taking notes.

The front page of this notebook does have a space to write something if you’d like

This paper is nice to write on. It’s kind of strange… the description on Jet Pens (which I assume comes from the manufacturer) says that it is smooth but “has just the right roughness to give the writer good feedback while writing”. When I think of roughness, I think of something like Midori MD that has feedback. This paper has more of a resistance that I’d say is a lot closer to Mnemosyne paper.

Look for the MIO paper label on the cover

As with any thin paper, you may want to think twice about writing on both sides of a sheet. The ghosting is pretty strong with most of the inks that I used. I also experienced a bit of bleed through with heavy ink applications. With Platinum Carbon Black, I even had some bleed through onto the next page. It does show a bit of sheen and some shading, but the main reason to use this paper is the great dry times. There are notebooks out there with similar dry times and better overall performance (such as Clairefontaine Basic and the Profolio Oasis Summit), but this is one of the least expensive on a cost-per-sheet basis.

Paper test: Front

Paper test: Back

Conclusion

The Kokuyo Campus MIO notebook is not a fancy or flashy notebook, but it does fill a niche in the world of fountain-pen-friendly notebooks. With its thin paper, faster dry times and low cost per sheet, I’d guess that these notebooks will appeal to many fountain pen users. While there is better paper out there if you want to show off the qualities of your inks, that’s not what you purchase this notebook for. The only drawback that may keep people from flocking to this notebook is the amount of ghosting you’ll see with the thin paper. If ghosting doesn’t bother you and cost is an issue, this notebook should be at the top of your list.

If you’d like a bit more information about how I test papers and notebooks, I wrote an article about my paper rating system.