Review: Bomo Soft – Bomo Art Softcover Notebook

Remember how we looked at the flagship notebook from Hungarian Bomo Art a few months ago? It’s time for its younger brother, Bomo Soft, a soft-cover notebook. I can also say right away that I like it much more.

If you want to learn more about the brand itself, you can find a more extensive post about them here. However, it is worth reminding that this is a brand with over 20 years of experience under its belt, which stands out precisely for its amazing cover designs.

Bomo Soft Notebook

Like most soft-cover notebooks, Bomo Soft has a cover made of thicker cardboard. It is printed in one of four available patterns, absolutely beautiful. Inside we will find 192 pages of off-white lined paper. The creators also do not hide what kind of paper was used in the notebook – Fedrigoni Bioprima (an Italian manufacturer with over a hundred years of tradition) with a grammage of 85 gsm.

The corners of the pages are rounded, giving the notebook a slightly more premium look. However, it lacks the typical notebook extras of a ribbon, a closure, and a back pocket. Instead, on the inside of the cover, in my case in a dirty yellow, we find a few words about the notebook and the inspiration behind the design on the outside. In addition to the Hungarian version, we also find an English translation there.

The entire Bomo Soft notebook is neat, and the matte cover with a beautiful pattern makes an impression. The low weight, with quite a large number of pages, also encourages you to buy it, and then maybe even use it!

Paper test

As I mentioned, we are dealing with Italian paper with a grammage of 85 gsm. It is not very much, although often enough – let’s look at Leuchtturm or Rhodia with a similar paper thickness. The pages are smooth, off-white – much brighter than in the previously mentioned notebooks, while still not being completely white, like typical copier paper.

Thanks to this, we do not have to worry about color distortion in the media used, while enjoying the possibility of using even brighter colors.

The lines printed on the paper are separated by 6 millimeters, and there is also a little space on each side. In many notebooks, this is off-putting to me, but here, when the lines are not hopelessly black and the paper is perfectly white, you can hardly notice it.

Media used:

1. Pelikan Edelstein, Golden Beryl, M,
2. Ferris Wheel Press, Double Raspberry, B,
3. Ferris Wheel Press, Grape Ice Pop, M,
4. KWZ, Cappuccino, F,
5. Llamas, Mango, M,
6. Lamy, Benitoite, M,
7. Les Couleurs du Comte, Comte d’or, M,
8. Lamy Tipo ballpoint pen,
9. Faber-Castell Loom ballpoint pen,
10. Wonderous Winterberry, Ferris Wheel Press Ink Rollerball Pen,
11. Gel Pilot G-2, burgundy, 0.7 mm,
12. Gel Pilot G-2, black, 0.7 mm,
13. Leuchtturm Drehgriffel oil pen,
14. Pigma Micron fineliner, 0.1 mm,
15. Stabilo Point 88 fineliner, 0.4 mm,
16. 2in1 marker,
17. 2in1 fineliner,
18. Edding 2185 gel pen,
19. Faber-Castell metallic highlighter,
20. Pilot Frixion Light highlighter,
21. Faber-Castell Pitt Artist brushpen,
22. Pentel Sign Touch brushpen,
23. Promarker

Bomo Soft tests came out surprisingly well! Apart from the standard bleed-throughs with Promarker and Faber-Castell highlighter, the rest of the pages hold nicely, as they should. Sure, we have some bleed-through, because with this grammage their absence would be practically impossible, but it’s still good.

Writing on the notebook itself is very pleasant, and the easy opening flat significantly improves the comfort of use. This last issue was my biggest problem with the flagship Bomo Art notebook.

It’s worth noting, however, that this is a notebook with margins! I don’t like them, especially in lined notebooks, but here it doesn’t really bother me.

Details

Application

Due to the lined printing, it will be a great notebook for long texts. It will work well as a diary, a dream book, or a notebook in which you will note down books you have read and their descriptions. A notebook with this cover would definitely work great as a collection of knowledge about plants, and the second size – the much smaller B7, would be a brilliant companion for hiking.

I happened to come across a Bullet Journal with lines, so if you really like these covers, you can compromise.

I’ll say it again: this is a really good notebook that’s hard to stop looking at. Despite the large number of pages, it remains very neat, and once opened flat, it can still close nicely. Honestly, this is one of the biggest surprises, because when I first saw this notebook, I didn’t have too high expectations.

Where to buy

Bomo Soft notebooks can be found on the official Bomo Art website – you can choose from two formats and four cover variants.

Angie

Started collecting notebooks and inks, trying to find the perfect ones, but at some it just got out of control.