Dot markers are one of the fastest and easiest ways to add checkboxes to your planner. They’re also useful for underlining and highlighting (especially since dot markers come in red but highlighters rarely do).

If you’ve never heard of dot markers, here are some other posts to check out:

• 7 Ways to use dot markers in your planner or bullet journal
• Dot Marker Comparison: Zig Kuretake Clean Color Dot versus the Tombow Play Color Dot
• Wordsworth planner using dot markers and stencils
• Rainbow Weekly spread using dot markers

Mont Marte Dot Markers

Mont Marte is an affordable craft brand that I’ve seen in discount stores here in Australia, but I actually found these dot markers on the Amazon Australia website.

There was another pack with 28 colors (including some metallic) but I like the rainbow colors of the 12 pack so purchased that one. It was only $12 AUD so $1 per dot marker which is basically half the cost of some of the other more well known dot marker brands (I have a comparison later in this post).

These aren’t just dot markers, they’re actually dual tip with a pen at the other end (writes like a thick fineliner).

I really like the rainbow colors and a grey is a nice bonus if you want to use minimal color (not many dot marker brands offer grey or if they do, it’s not a standard color included in most packs).

I was able to stamp 3 different dot sizes by applying varying levels of pressure.

Dot markers are ideal for creating checklists, color coding, underlining and using as highlighters (since most highlighter brands don’t come in red, grey or olive).

I swatched the Mont Marte markers in both a Plum Paper notebook (70lb paper) and the Archer and Olive dot grid notebook which has far thicker paper (160 GSM) and usually has no ghosting or bleed through.

You can see there were quite a difference. Not only did the markers bleed through the page of the Plum Paper, the fine tip / writing end looked far thicker on the thinner paper which absorbed more of the ink. It was harder to get 3 different size dots in the Archer and Olive notebook as the paper is so thick. In contract, just a light touch with the dot end in the Plum Paper notebook produced larger dots.

Here’s a close up of how the dot markers went on 160 GSM paper 

Mont Marte Dot Markers versus other brands

How do the Mont Marte Dot Markers compare to other brands? I’ve used these brands of dot markers over the years:

• Leisure Arts
• Tombow
• Zig Kurtake
• anko (from Kmart Australia)

I’ll do a whole separate post comparing dot markers (I also just purchased the Shuttle Art dot markers to test them out too). But in the meantime:

Colors

The colours of the Mont Marte are a good combination between the bright Tombow’s and the more muted Zig dot markers. Leisure Arts are near impossible to find these days, the colors of the Mont Marte are similar and I could easily find the Mont Marte on Amazon.

The anko colors are the perfect rainbow colors for me and they’re the cheapest of all the brands – but also the worst for bleed through (went through two pages of the Plum Paper notebook). So the Mont Marte come tie for second best colors with Leisure Arts.

Dot size

I love the Tombow dot markers but they can only do 1 dot size, at least with the Zig, Leisure Arts and Mont Marte you can do multiple dot sizes.

The Mont Marte has a good size pen tip – not too big, not too small – a similar size to the pen end of the Zig and Tombow. The Leisure Arts pen end was a lot thicker (more like a marker than a pen).

Price

In terms of price, Mont Marte comes in the cheapest – you can get the 12 pack I bought for $12 AUD. The Tombow, Zig and Leisure Arts are up to twice as expensive depending where you purchase them from. Unless you want to use dot markers all the time, the extra cost may not be worth it.

How long does the ink last?

I’ve had Tombow, Zig and Leisure Arts for 3 years and none of them have dried out. I’ll have to come back and update this post after I’ve had the Mont Marte Markers for a while.

The verdict? I still prefer the Tombow dot markers as I like those bright rainbow colors the best. Next would be the anko (with paper under the page to stop the bleed through), then Leisure Arts followed by the Zig Kuretake.

More pen reviews

• 10 Pen brands that are available in a pack of 20 or more colors
• How to choose the right planner pens: what to look for when buying planner pens
• After trying more than 20 pen brands, these are my top 5

Planning tips

• 8 Ways to use highlighters for Bullet Journal Spreads
• The best budgeting sticker books for your planner or bullet journal
• Minimalist Planner Decorating: Title Ideas for your Bullet Journal 
• 10 Quick planner hacks you need to try (planning tips & inspiration)

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