I bought one of the "faux Moleskines" from Staples to use for this last refactoring of my GTD system, because I didn't have a blank Moleskine around and the nearest store that carries them is a Borders 60 miles away. The one I have has a sort of brown suede-like cover, which I don't like, but my local Staples doesn't have any of the black ones yet.

Good points:

• The notebook is essentially the same size as my small Moleskine, so the two stack nicely in my purse
• The paper is the same beige (more or less) as the Moleskine, which hurts my eyes less than white paper after a while.
• $5.99 is cheaper than the $8.00 or so I pay for Moleskines at Borders ($10 minus a 20% discount because my business has a Borders corporate account)

Bad points:

• The paper is of somewhat poorer quality than the Moleskine; the Fahrney's Private Reserve ink in my fountain pen bleeds through a lot more in the Markings book than in the Moleskine.
• The notebook I got doesn't have a pocket in the back like a Moleskine. (Does someone who has the black Markings Moleskine clones instead of the suede-ish one comment on this?)
• Overall, the workmanship on the Markings notebook isn't quite as good, in my opinion.

My overall impression: The Markings books are okay in a pinch, but I think I'd rather spend the extra money for real Moleskines next time.

-- Tammy