When you need to get your tactical or high adventure write on, look no further than Rite in the Rain products. Featuring paper with an acrylic-based coating, this allows the pages to perform in all weather conditions. Water drops such as due to rain will just glide right off and even if fully submerged, the paper will stay intact rather than turning into mush.
The coating also adds that little bit more durability to easily cope with a sweaty palm or other forms of rough treatment. It isn't magical, but the pages are noticeably more crease and tear resistant than seen on traditional notebook paper. On my testing I was able to get good writing results with a classic ball point pen, a pencil, and a permanent marker. Some ball point pens will have some trouble getting started if slightly dried up, but run good once flowing. After 5 seconds or-so to allow drying, I had no issues with smearing using any of the writing media types. Offhand the books themselves recommend using a pencil or all-weather pen. Pencil wise I found the performance to be solid giving good contrast without having to press very hard. I'd say the only catch is erasing isn't quite as good as first it will smear, then if determined something can be erased, however a noticeable rubbed away area will be left on the paper, likely reducing durability in that spot. As a part of the tactical line, paper is offered in a light green or tan color to stay away from extra hi-viz white, while still giving good writing contrast.
Many notebook types and sizes are offered along with specialty sheets such as the 25 meter M16 Zeroing Target page. Some of the field books even include mission planning reference cards, but most of the notebooks have at least common distance conversion reference pages with rulers incorporated on the covers. They definitely offer something for everyone, but I'd say I prefer spiral style. The bound books require constant force or a vicious fold to keep open yet don't save a whole lot on space by not having a spiral. For a personal preference I'd like to see the covers slightly more rigid. Currently they are optimized for comfort in pockets so are fairly flexible which makes them only so-so at making good writing platforms. Rite in the Rain goods are going to be more expensive than random school notebooks, yet totally worth it for the durability and all weather performance. Sometimes a mere letter can be a key piece of intel, so would be a shame to lose it over a little water or rough use on a ghetto pad. For extra brownie points, Rite in the Rain goods are made in the USA and are very environmentally friendly being recyclable and made in a zero negative environmental process.
