LiveNotes A5 Staplebound Journal by PenGallery

Product Description (From the Manufacturer):

In our search for writing perfection, we created LIVENOTES especially for fountain pen livers.  Made with Tomoe River paper, LIVENOTES offers a luxurious writing experience with most pens and inks.  The low feathering and smooth finish of these pages will also showcase sheen and shimmering inks, letting you fully explore the art of writing with pen and paper.  LIVENOTES notebooks are exclusively brought to you by PenGallery.  These notebooks are great for bullet journaling.

Basic Info:

• Brand: LiveNotes by PenGallery
• Cost: 12.90 MYR (approximately $3.10 USD)
• Pages: 64
• Format: Dot Grid
• Paper: 68 GSM Tomoe River
• Binding: Staple-bound
• Colors offered: Purple, Orange, Black (Spiral-bound)

Pros:

• Cost.  A similarly-spec'd Tomoe River notebook from Goulet Pens costs $8 USD.
• Some unusual color options for Tomoe River notebooks (orange and purple), though this may be a con if you're looking for more traditional colors
• Tomoe River is a fountain pen champ no matter what notebook it's in
• Good customer service.  The company forgot to pack in one of my notebooks; they promptly issued a refund, including some of the shipping cost.

Cons:

• Format.  This notebook is only offered in dot grid, so if that isn't your flavor you'll have to either get used to it or look elsewhere
• Construction.  The notebook feels cheap (because it is).  While it survived daily use for a month, it also hasn't left the house due to COVID.  I can't help but wonder if it'd hold up to my pre-COVID routine.
• Shipping is either cheap and slow (taking weeks to arrive), or fast and as much as 9 notebooks (115 MYR, or $27 USD).
• The binding / printing is somewhat sloppy.  Some of the grids are obviously misaligned on the page, for example
• (Nit-pick) As I stated above, they forgot to pack in one of the notebooks I ordered.  I am only listing this as a nit-pick because of the quick customer service response
• (Nit-pick) The branding on the spine isn't my favorite.  While I wouldn't call it gaudy, and it certainly isn't a deal-breaker for me, those seeking a more "stealth" or minimalist approach may be turned off.

Conclusion:

The notebook comes with its fair share of issues (see: cons).  It's hard to be too upset about any of them, though, because of the price.  Are there things I would change about this notebook?  Absolutely.  Am I likely to find anything better in the same price bracket (especially anything that offers Tomoe River paper)?  Absolutely not.  Ultimately, while there are better notebook / stationery experiences to be had (especially when Tomoe River is involved), they are regularly 5-10 times the price.  If you want a Tomoe River notebook at a rock bottom price (and you don't mind the aforementioned concessions), this may be your new favorite notebook.