21 March 2006

The Eagle Has Landed. Repeat. The Eagle Has Landed.

Breaking news: I have received my spanking new chocolate brown, Cross-pattern, A5-size Filofax. A full report will follow, but here are some preliminary impressions:

The Good:

* The week-per-two-pages calendar is vertically oriented. I greatly prefer this to the modified horizontal format of the personal size. It also has time designations, missing in the personal size calendar.

* TWO PEN LOOPS. Let me make this clear: TWO PEN LOOPS. This is a real boon. I can carry pen and pencil now.

* Blank, not pre-labeled, tabs. I'll have to give them some serious thought.

* Pad of pre-punched paper included. Huzzah! It slides into a slot inside the back cover and will really make freeform paper insertion easier.

The Bad:

* The blank tabs are coated in a slick plasticine substance that makes ink bead up. Each tab helpfully states, "Label the tabs with a permanent marker." But now I have to find a "permanent marker" with a tip small enough for legible tab-making.

* It does not include the really useful URL/e-mail pages that came with my personal size planner. I keep (kept) all my passwords on them (using an inscrutable code no thief could figure out). I'll have to buy some, methinks.

* The rings are the same size as the personal planner. In stock form, the planner bursts at the rings' seams. I would have liked to see another 1/4 inch or so of diameter. Edit: The rings are, in fact, slightly larger. Still wouldn't mind a little more slack though.

The Ugly:

* My bank account statement, after paying for this oversized hunk of leather.

3 comments:

  1. Hi,
    Glad to see you're back posting.

    I've also settled on the A5 format, after a couple of years bouncing through the B5 Deskfax and Personal sizes (the former a shoulder-straining briefcase-hog, and the latter ultimately too narrow for any sort of fluent note-taking).

    The A5 column-format diary does not suit me - I'd rather have the full page width available for note-taking on those days when I don't have fixed appointments.

    For some great A5 page inserts - you can never have too many! - I highly recommend www.succes.com

    They may not be able to spell succes (note last S missing, in the Dutch manner), but they make superb quality gear.

    Hope to hear more from you soon.

    G

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  2. I have the A5 City with a page-a-day diary section. If you feel yours will be overcrowded, try carrying less of the diary section - I have 6 months in mine at present but it would work with just three. I also have minimal addresses - 1 page for 'personal', 1 for work, 1 for friends/family, so I don't need to use the A-Z index tabs. For the tabs I use a CD marker pen - fine nib, permanent, doesn't blob.

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  3. Thanks for the tips. I am already LOVING the new 'Fax. I'll post up some pictures soon.

    One great thing I've discovered is that, if you snip off the lower-left corner of personal-size pages, they fit nicely on the A5 rings. Makes the transition much easier!

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