Twist Ring Note

On a recent trip to Kinokuniya I spotted an unusual notebook, the Lihit Lab Twist Ring Note in B5 size. I'd seen OfficeSupplyGeek's review, and was curious to try this. The concept is to gently pull open the opposite ends of paper at the top left and bottom right of the rings. This opens up the binders, to add or remove pages. It's a great concept, and the packet from Kinokuniya included refill pages. (Unfortunately my pictures didn't turn out too well, but OSG's review has lots of snaps to enjoy.)

I was a bit nervous the first time I pulled on the paper, as I thought I'd need to apply more pressure than what turned out to be necessary and that would rip out the pages. No such thing, the rings opened up right away and snapped shut with a very satisfying click. The square holes remind me of Doane Paper's journals, but unfortunately the Lihit Lab's paper is punched with many more holes in it than Doane's. The paper has a soft feel to it, like Clairefontaine, and probably plays well with many pens (I'll try it out later). All in all it's a lot of fun and relatively inexpensive (about $7.50 if I recall correctly).