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Are Pukka Pads good? We give our honest thoughts

February 3, 2023 /
Pukka Pads

It's always seemed a bit weird to us that one brand of notebook has gained so much popularity above all others, but that is exactly what has happened with Pukka Pad. When you look at the range of products from this brand, they essentially just produce pads and notebooks which, while they are well made, always seemed pretty basic to us. However, the popularity of this brand is undeniable, so perhaps we are missing something. We decided that we wanted to get to the bottom of what has made Pukka Pad such a popular brand, so we went out and bought 2 pads from the Vogue range to give them a test. We'll be looking at the positives and negatives of these notebooks, as well as a few alternatives. Let's get into it:

What do we like about the Pukka Pads?

Firstly, we'll talk about the positives. There is no denying that if you're looking to take notes on a pad regularly, the Pukka Pad notebooks are ideal for this. They're well made and sturdy, but not too bulky and actually quite light. This is probably what has made them so popular with school kids, who need something to last them an entire school year of note-taking. Each pad that we bought has 200 pages and each page is made from 80 gsm paper, which means it is slightly thinner than copy paper you'll find in most pads.
The Pukka Pads we bought were A5 size, but the range includes A4 and A6 sizes too.
Front of Pukka Pad
You'll also notice that we've included an image of the inside of the front and back covers of our Pukka Pads, which feature 'Commonly Misspelt Words' and a 'Personal Details' sections, again both of which are handy for school kids. It's a nice touch but something you only get included in pads from a few of the ranges including the Vogue and Vision pads, and not in the most popular Pukka Pads like the Metallic or Stripes pads.
Back of Pukka Pad

What don't we like about Pukka Pads?

The main issue we have with the Pukka Pad notebooks is the price - for what is essentially some lined paper in a binder, £5 for an A4 pad with 200 pages seems a little steep to us. The price for the Pukka Pad notebooks seems especially steep when you compare them to other similar notebooks that you can buy, for example, this notepad from Tesco with 300 pages costs just £3. It's only a few pounds, but if you're buying these for a few of your kids and they might need a few per school year, those few pounds can very quickly add up. Aside from the price though, we don't have too many complaints about the Pukka Pads that we bought and actually quite enjoy using them.

So, do we think Pukka Pads are good?

We'd have to say that overall, we do think that the Pukka Pads are good products in the sense that they're well-made and sturdy without being bulky. Having said that, we do think they're a little bit too expensive for what they are, and given all of the cheaper alternatives out there, we're not totally sure that we'd want to pay full price for a Pukka Pad.
As far as good alternatives go, we really liked this notepad from Silvine. It's cheaper than the Pukka Pads and the paper is slightly thicker, which felt a bit more satisfying to write on. It might not have the Pukka Pad brand, but it definitely had the quality.
IMG_4751

So hopefully our thoughts on how good Pukka Pads actually are will help you to make an informed purchase. Let us know what you think about Pukka Pads and if you'd like us to check out any other notepad brands!

Finn is the editor of You Well and has been writing about travel, health, and more for over 10 years.

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