Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Ampad Mead Cambridge Mr. Pen Amazon Basics All share the following features: - Ruled on both sides - Tear-off from top - Cardboard backing AMPAD: This is by far the poorest quality pad of the bunch. Folded/wrinkled sheets, misprinted lines, misaligned grid (front-back on a single sheet as well as from sheet-to-sheet in the pad). That problem is compounded by the paper’s weight/thickness, which allows more transparency. That might be a good thing if you’re tracing, but even the lines from the back side of the sheet show through, thus obscuring the front-side's lines, and making tracing more difficult. The only good thing is how stiff the backing is (tie with Mead/Cambridge). MEAD CAMBRIDGE: This was my runner-up pad. More sheets than Mr. Pad, gray lines make illustrations standout more than the brighter blue lines of Mr. Pad. Good number of sheets per pad, and very stiff back. It also features a fold-over cardboard cover, which none of the other pads have, which could be good for preventing smudges of drawings or confidentiality. Beneficially, that fold-over cover can be removed (it has perforations to tear it off). MR. PAD: The clarity of the lines is good (strong). For my purposes, that's fine, though others may want their drawing to stand out more from the lines, in which case a gray or more subtle rule might be preferable. The backing isn’t as thick or robust as the others, but if you’re using the pad in a portfolio (like me), then this may not be a big deal. I also like how the sheets were cut so that the edges of the pad line up with the end of a square. No other pads have that attention to detail, and it just makes this pad look nicer than the others which all have partial squares at their edges. AMAZON BASICS: I have no idea where they came up with the size of the squares. Six per fifteen-sixteenths of an inch (or five per 2 centimeter, but not exactly). Maybe I’m missing something here. The thickness of the back cardboard is nearly the same as Ampad and Cambridge, but it’s not as rigid/stiff. For my use, I decided the Mr. Pad was the best way to go. I’ll be using the pad professionally, and want the tools of my trade to reflect how I practice: With precision. I don't need lots of sheets in a pad, since I less frequently hand-write notes and illustrations compared to dictation or typed.