I’m filling up my Field Notes notebooks quickly, so I’ve been on the lookout for my next set. I figured I would go cheaper this time, since Field Notes (it’s a brand) are quite pricey. I found some generic A6 size notebooks on Amazon that looked nice and have about 10 times the number of pages as the Field Notes.

I’ve been scribbling in one the last couple of days, and I realize that I don’t care for them as much. They’re too thick. They’re not as easy to write on, nor do they feel as nice to write on as the Field Notes.

Maybe it’s just the notebooks that I bought, or maybe I’m just coming around the idea that smaller notebooks are better. It seems wasteful when I can get three of these fuller notebooks for cheaper than the price of three Field Notes, but if I’m not going to be happy with them, then I’m not really saving any money.

My dumbass, though, bought six of these new ones. After all, I figured it was the 3.7" x 5.7" nature of the Field Notes that made them special. I didn’t take into account that the number of pages in the book mattered. In fact, I always looked at the 48 pages of the Field Notes notebooks to be a downside, since I filled them up so fast. Turns out, I was wrong to make that assumption.

I’ll use the new ones. I’m not going to let them go to waste, but I may just use them for scratch notes and get more Field Notes (or an off brand of the same) to be my main notebook.

If anyone does want to check out the notebooks I bought, here they are