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.

Perfect for my engineering classes in college!! I used it everyday for my homework. Good quality and lightweight.

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.

Needed this for a class, this is the cheapest price I have seen. Everyone I talked to was shocked at how much I spent on this.

This is your standard 5x5 engineering pad. Paper is good, but the markings are a bit light.I use it for room layout and construction diagrams.

Bought it for my husband who’s an engineering major in college. He loves it and uses it all the time!

This is the best quadrille pad I've gotten yet from Amazon. What I especially like is that I am most of the way through it and the cardboard has not separated from the pad, which has been a problem in the past with others.

Used this for my design work. This is a re-order.