Miliko Dot Grid Notebook Review (Including Pen Testing)
So many dot grid notebooks have boring, plain black covers. And if they have a pretty cover instead, it usually comes at the expense of the quality of the inside pages. So let’s see how the Milko notebook stacks up!
This is not a sponsored post. I purchased the notebook myself and all opinions are my own.
Quick facts
- Size: Just under 5.75″ wide x 8.5″ high (14.5cm wide x 21.5cm high)
- Hardcover
- Sewn binding
- 5mm dot grid
- 100 GSM paper
- 100 double dot grid sided pages (no pre-printed pages)
- No page numbers
Price: I purchased this notebook on Amazon a while ago but they don’t appear to stock it anymore. If you live in the USA (where the company is based) they have their own website where the notebook is $11.50 USD with free shipping on USA orders over $20.
Let’s take a closer look!
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The Cover
I’ll be honest, the cover was the reason I purchased this notebook – finally a cover other than boring black!!
So I was very disappointed when I took it out of it’s packaging and there was a stain on the front cover 🙁 I got most of it off except for this bit
Approx 0.75″ thick
There are no pre-printed pages, the notebook has dot grid pages only.
5mm dot grid (same size as most dot grid notebooks)
I like the dot placement – none are cut off on the edges of the pages.
There’s a roomy pocket folder fixed to the back cover
Pen Testing
The paper is cream colored and only 100 GSM thick so I was sceptical about the company’s website raving about how great their paper was…
…And unfortunately I was right. It’s not able to withstand pens, highlighters or stamps without it showing through to the other side of the paper. 100 GSM is thin paper. If you want something that doesn’t show pen on the other side, look for 140 GSM thick (or thicker) paper.
Related post: Bullet Journal notebooks with the best paper (my top 7)
Pros of the Notebook
- Portable size
- Lightweight
- Pretty cover
- Cheap
- Cheap shipping (or free depending on how much you spend) if you buy via their website
Cons of the Planner
- Cover arrived stained
- Cream paper, not white
- Paper is thin and prone to ghosting and bleed through
- Only 1 ribbon bookmark
- No page numbers
Would I use this notebook?
I was hoping this would be the dream combination: pretty cover and good quality paper that’s not prone to ghosting or bleed through but that didn’t end up being the case. I’ll be using this notebook for drafting spread ideas or brain dumping to do lists, not my actual bullet journal spreads.
If you don’t mind seeing ghosting / bleed through and a pretty cover is important to you, this is one of the nicer sewn bound hardcover notebooks I’ve come across (actually has a pattern not just plain in one color).
More dot grid notebook reviews:
Bullet Journaling Tips:
- 7 Tips to keep your bullet journal neat
- 15 Quick and Simple Vertical Bullet Journal Weekly Spreads
- 50 Themes for your planner or bullet journal spreads
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I love the clean look:)
Beautiful!
Good advice with the140 GSM paper.
Thank you for great work!
Regards from Swedish Bullet journal nerd!
Have you had a chance to try Law of Attraction Planners yet? There made by Freedom Mastery I do believe. I just got mine in the mail the other day and am super excited to get started with it. I think you would enjoy it as well! And I would really like to hear your thoughts on it as well and maybe see your review on it and how you went about setting it up. I’ve been following your work for a while now and came across this planner but haven’t seen any reviews from you on it or you mention it. Can you take a look at them by chance and let me know your thoughts and hopefully tips!!!
**Also I’m in college and have been looking at a simple cheap planner for just my college/college life stuff. I found Mead planners at my local Walmart (I’m in the USA) and was wondering what your thoughts are of Mead’s academic planners.
Hi Chyanne,
I did a review of the Law of Attraction planner here: https://allaboutplanners.com.au/law-of-attraction-weekly-planner-review-pros-cons-and-a-video-walkthrough/
I’ve seen the Mead planners online but haven’t purchased as they have the same generic layouts that most planners have. Have you thought about getting the TUL student planner instead? It has a similar layout / style (minimalist black and white) but it’s discbound so you can add, remove and rearrange pages. You can resize printables, punch and add them to the planner too. I did a review in this post: https://allaboutplanners.com.au/tul-student-planner-discbound-notebook-review-pros-cons-video-walkthrough/