Exceed Notebook Review

A good friend of mine has become a big fountain pen fan, and told me she’s been using the Exceed notebook from Walmart. She said it was a fountain pen friendly notebook at a bargain price, so of course I was intrigued! She was kind enough to send me two of them as a gift, so let’s take a look.

exceed notebook small and medium from walmart

The Exceed notebook is a very standard Moleskine clone. A wrap-around paper band has product and brand info, and the logo is stamped on the back cover. It has the black faux-leather cover, an elastic closure, back pocket and as a nice bonus, two ribbon markers instead of one. It has a somewhat chunkier feel than a Moleskine, with slightly thicker cover boards but similar cover overhang. There’s a fine line between “chunky” and “clunky,” but to me, the Exceed notebook stays on the right side of it!

exceed notebook review
exceed notebook moleskine alternative

The pocket notebook has 192 pages/96 sheets, same as a Moleskine. The construction seems very good quality, with tidy corners and everything square and symmetrical around the edges. The ribbon markers seem not to be sealed off at the ends, so they are a bit ragged, but I always dab nail polish on the ends of my ribbons as even when they have been sealed, as they always seem to fray over time. The elastic closure is the perfect length to wrap around the back cover snugly when it’s not being used to hold the notebook closed.

The spine is a bit tight, and its lining is stiff, so the notebook can’t be opened quite as flat as some of the competition, though I think it is comparable to a current production Moleskine. (I prefer the older Moleskines and Bindewerk linen notebooks where the cover is flexible enough at the spine that you can fold it inwards when the notebook is open, allowing the pages to open more flat.)

exceed notebook dotted

Inside the front cover, there is a place to write your contact details and a large Exceed logo. The paper is a creamy off-white, slightly more yellowish than Moleskine’s. The dots have the same spacing, and look slightly darker or bolder than Moleskine’s. In the pocket notebook, the paper weight is 78 GSM, but in the medium, it is 100 GSM.

exceed notebook dot grid vs moleskine

My friend was right: the Exceed notebook paper is great, with a smooth, substantial feel. Fountain pens don’t feather or bleed and inks shade nicely. The creamy color of the paper means that some colors look a little less vibrant than on bright white paper like Clairefontaine’s, but not by much. Drying times can be a bit long, but all in all, I think fountain pen users will be very happy with this paper. Other pens also work well, with only the usual wet markers bleeding through. Show-through is about average. The 100 GSM paper in the medium notebook feels noticeably thicker– pens perform even better here, with less bleed from the markers and less show-through in general.

exceed notebook fountain pen tests
Pocket size notebook with 78 GSM paper
exceed notebook fountain pen tests back of page
Pocket size 78 GSM paper back of page
exceed notebook 100 gsm fountain pen test
Medium size 100 GSM paper
exceed notebook 100 gsm paper fountain pen test back of page
Medium size 100 GSM paper back of page

The Exceed notebook comes in the 3.5 x 5.5″ pocket size and 5 x 8.25″ medium size shown above, as well as a 7 x 9.75″ large size. Various colored covers are available, with lined or dot grid pages, as well as what appear to be softcovers. (On Walmart’s website, there are versions with slightly different packaging, which do not seem to specify the paper weight. I don’t know if these are newer versions that might have different paper, so buyer beware!)

On the whole, I think the Exceed notebook from Walmart is a great value. The paper is very fountain pen friendly, and the quality of the build is much better than I’d expect for something of this price. The pocket notebook is normally $4.64, but as of this writing I’m seeing it at a $3.00 clearance price for in-store purchase only. Grab some while you can! The medium is $9.64 and available for purchase online. Exceed notebooks are made in China and sold by a company called Norcom, which is based in the USA. As far as I can tell, Walmart is the main seller for the notebooks I’ve reviewed, although there are some listings for other Exceed/Norcom products on Amazon and other retailers.

I almost always compare notebooks to Moleskine in my reviews, because they are widely available and easy to use as a basic standard. But vs. the Exceed notebook, Moleskine is just a much worse notebook for a much higher price. A closer comparison is the Taotree notebook I reviewed in December 2019. The Taotree notebook has 120 GSM paper in a brighter white color, with less show-through and shorter drying time but a little bit of feathering with some pens. It only has one ribbon marker but it adds a pen loop. It is very similar in construction and quality. The Taotree is currently available on Amazon for $8.99 for a 2-pack of pocket size notebooks, so it is also a great value. Unfortunately it is only available in lined right now, rather than the dot grid version I was able to buy last year, but if you can’t find the Exceed notebooks at your local Walmart, Taotree is also well worth a try.

[The samples reviewed in this post were received as a gift from a friend who has no connection to Walmart, Exceed or Norcom. All opinions are my own.]

5 thoughts on “Exceed Notebook Review”

  1. I’ve been using the Exceed A5 notebook as my Bullet Journal this year, and I’ve been very happy with it. I agree with you that this notebook is superior to Moleskines! I haven’t had any trouble getting it to lie flat, though I do have it in a notebook cover, which might help. :)

  2. The Exceed notebooks with the smaller logo writing are the old version- they are no where near as nice as the current version. I’ve been using for a year, with fountain pens (all nib sizes) and love them.

  3. I’m currently using an orchid colored exceed notebook, and I also find it comparable to a moleskine. I’ve used both sizes you reviewed and I’m pleased with them, myself.

  4. On the Walmart website, several comments mention the poor quality of these notebooks, which they had ordered by mail. Another commenter suggests that Walmart was selling off old inferior stock by mail order and that the notebooks in the physical stores were of the much higher quality you describe here. Sounds like Walmart brick-and-mortar is the way to go.

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