TOPS Engineering Computation Pad, 8-1/2" x 11", Glue Top, 5 x 5 Graph Rule on Back, Green Tint Paper, 3-Hole Punched, 100 Sheets (35500)

I had been hesitating for a long time before finally rolling the dice and ordering this pad. As a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering, I have grown very particular with my writing utensils and media, almost to obsession. This engineering paper is the diamond in the rough, though, as it satisfies a very particular paper-palate and inexpensively. As far as my paper goes, I had always preferred the "cheaper" engineering computation pads that would pop up from time to time at my school's student store. With the more expensive "quality" pads, the sheets are thick enough to be solid yellowish on one side, nearly perfectly concealing the grid on the other side. Writing on that paper was basically like writing on a piece of printer paper with a yellowish tint, which I am sure is preferable for some. But here is why this (the paper for which this review is written) paper, and other "cheaper" paper is superior in my opinion: 1) The paper is thinner, so when you stack two sheets the grid shows through to the front. It is faint enough that your pencil or pen is far darker in contrast, so your pencil or pen strokes won't be lost in lines while writing. But you can see the lines well enough to use them as guides for using it like notepaper with sub-college-ruled lines, and you have the vertical lines for if you need to draw diagrams or draw boxes around titles or diagram labels. For mechanical engineering it is great when drawing free body diagrams, sketching designs and diagrams, sketching out fluid systems, thermodynamic systems, graphs -- the list goes on. 2) When done writing on the sheet and you pick it up by itself (recall in #1 we were writing on a two-page stack) the lines no longer show through as well (they nearly go away) so your notes or diagrams written using the lines as guides just appears as a neatly organized horizontal writing and diagrams or graphs with nice straight lines on yellowish paper. Nothing is flawless, however, and there is one con to speak of with this paper. The grid lines on the opposite side is dark enough to pretty useless unless you're writing in thick black ink. Some may disagree, but its brightness is near enough to that of a 0.5mm HB mechanical pencil that doing anything on the grid side just looks cluttered. BUT--This is a problem with all engineering pads I've used. Over the years I have (and you will) develop/ed two habits: 1. whenever I go to write, I tear two sheets off my engineering notepad so I can stack them and use the grid lines as writing guides, and 2. I only write on a single side of paper (note: your two stacked sheets are technically two sides). If you're on-the-fence about which pad to buy, I recommend trying this one.

For me, this is THE paper to use. I do not use college-rule or wide-rule paper anymore. In my line of work, I do a lot of data analysis (things like physics, calculus, rudimentary chemistry, and IT work, including light programming). My handwriting is also notoriously lacking in readability. This paper allows me to get all of my formulas and pertinent information on the page in a beautiful, easy to read and easy to follow way. I don't know any engineers or programmers who do not use this as their main source of paper. If you do anything where you need to have well laid-out processes or if you do a lot of math and calculations, this paper is for you. As an added bonus, it will probably make your handwriting look better. I prefer TOPS brand to others (National, I'm looking at you). I go through about 600 sheets of this every 3 months or so. I purchase them in 100-sheet pads, and I recommend that you do the same. I've tried 200-page pads from TOPS and other brands, and I've never really been impressed, because there always seems to be something a little lacking with them compared to their 100-page counterparts. From what I've seen of the TOPS paper, it has better line visibility and for whatever reason, makes for a better writing surface than competitors. You should know that this stuff is thin. In comparison to some standard printer paper, the engineering paper feels like it's only half as thick. This is not a problem for me, but just be aware. I've never had this paper tear or rip on me, though I can sometimes see the pressure marks from the previous page from where I pressed the pen in pretty hard. This does not in any way impact my writing or the appearance of the page when I'm done. Some reviewers have mentioned page-quality issues, like weird green-print defects, and problems with the sticky binding, but I have never had an issue with those things. Maybe I've just been lucky. Lastly, $6 may seem expensive for 100 sheets. Probably because $6 is expensive for 100 sheets. However, once you've used this paper you probably won't ever go back to the old stuff. In my opinion, we should just replace the line paper in college-ruled and wide-ruled notebooks with this stuff.

My profesor loved to use it so I had to order 2 of them. I don’t have a lot to say about paper only that it was good quality and lasted a bunch considering that I used a LOT of it. Easy to write, easy to erase. Doesn’t break.

Engineering student here. I just received the pad and although I had some reservation, I am here to write a good review of this product. I have been buying Soaring Springs engineering papers and decided to switch for the first time. Soaring Springs papers were good but I switched because the lines weren't showing through very well. The materials were softer so if you write with a 0.7mm pencil like me, it is hard to erase. Before buying TOPS, I was hesitant about the less than 5-star review from other users. I was concerned about the random dots showing up on unused papers and the paper quality. After receiving and writing on them for a few hours, I can testify the following: -Paper quality is significantly thicker and smoother than Soaring Springs. I could erase easily. -Papers came with a backpad, unlike Soaring Springs which came in as filler papers only with no pad. You can take TOPS entire pad with you to a meeting and never worry about them coming loose or you running out of paper. -Grid lines appear clearly, a huge plus compared to Soaring Springs. -Add-ons price on Amazon is unbeatable. So there you have it. TOPS has earned a new customer. I highly recommend you giving TOPS at add-on price a try next time you buy $25 worth of stuff on Amazon.

Over time, I've become particular on the kind of paper i like to use. As an engineering student, I do lots of math calculations and drawing for different classes. Because of this, i primarily use quad ruled paper (grid paper). One of my main problems with this though is how it's so hard to find a paper where the grids aren't printed so dark that they make your notations hard to read. With all the dark grid lines and your writing , everything looks so busy and it's not easy to interpret right away. This paper was where that turned around for me though! Whats smart about it is how the grids are printed heavy on the back of each page so that you can see them through the front! They are visible enough to easily use as a guide for what you're doing, but light enough to not distract your eyes from what you're looking at when you're reading over. My only problem is that it's in the form of a tear off note pad, which is perfect if that's all you want. My holy grail of the stationary world would be to find this in a bound engineering computation book for writing my class notes in. I get a book from Staples that's as close to what i want that i can find, but i have yet to find this exact print in a bound notebook. It's for this selfish reason that i can only give 4 stars.

Great pad of paper. Kind of expensive but we needed it quick for college!

I had used this paper in Engineering University years ago. Trying to teach my daughter neatness as math gets tougher in elementary school and this is the perfect paper to let her line up the harder division and multiplication and she can turn it over as she starts graphing in 2 dimensions. The paper does feel thinner than way back when, but it is the sign of the times. Have this on subscribe and save...

Just like I used in the undergrad days. Top quality and the cardboard back is strong enough to integrate into a standard padfolio.

Buen papel para calculos o anotaciones rapidas. Solo contiene la cuadricula impresa en el reverso y el papel es muy ligero lo que hace que la cuadricula se note por el frente. Se desprende facilmente del bloc para almacenamiento. No apto para tintas muy concentradas ya que la tinta puede traspasar el papel con facilidad.

It was useful for my classes. Definitely recommend for students.

Es lo que necesitaba y todo muy bien. Recomendado

I first ran across this paper when I was an undergrad in electrical engineering and computer science. It's still my favorite, as the grid that shows through (but doesn't scan or copy) helps keep my drawings, equations, and text looking tidy...and it's a nice dense paper that takes mechanical pencil, technical pen, and even fountain pen without bleeding or tearing. Too expensive normally, as an 'add on' it's a very good deal. If Amazon continues to stock, I'll be happy, as it has been hard to find a reliable source for this over the years.

I love how my free body diagrams on engineering mechanics looks good on this paper. Really recommend it for engineering students like me