FWIW, I am a fierce fountain pen and ink nerd. I love the normal Rhodia! But I don't really care for these premium pads. It's a very deep ivory color that I find, as a matter of personal preference, to be a bit too dark for my tastes. More importantly, I have had a lot of problems with hard starts. It seems the treatment on the paper is too glassy smooth for some nib and ink combos to be able to manage. But that said, it's still very nice product.
frogamicI know this is probably dumb to say, because I know they're both very smooth, similar weight (90GSM) papers made by the same company, but I swear the Clairefontaine takes ink better. I've got full-size notebooks of both and going side by side just now with a TWSBI 580, I get hard starts on the R by Rhodia, no problems on the Clairefontaine.
IdleExpatterThey use different processes staying a little true to the original companies and this is the more "vellum" paper even they are both considered smooth.