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.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteGlad 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
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.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tips. I am already LOVING the new 'Fax. I'll post up some pictures soon.
ReplyDeleteOne 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!