Guest Post: Songbird Review

Shan has kindly reviewed the new Filofax Songbird organiser, there has been a lot of interest in this new design and therefore we are very grateful for this detailed review so soon after the launch.

Songbird Filo Review

Much ado has been made over the new Songbird Filo. It's even currently featured as the Profile Picture of Filofax's official Facebook page! I finally received my Pocket Songbird Filo last Sunday, after placing an online order for it on the Filofax UK website (it was out-of-stock for awhile), having it sent to my sister's UK address and having my sister bring it over while she visits. Between emailing the Filofax UK website to find out when it'll be available and coordinating its delivery to my sister's house and sending multiple reminders to my sister not to forget to pack my Filofax, I was very excited when I finally got to hold it in my hands!

Current Set-Up

I currently use a Pocket Brown Finchley for my personal appointments, notes and information which I carry around with me in my bag. I also use a blue Personal Domino for work which hardly travels and is laid out flat on my work desk all-day. As much as I love my Finchley (It looks gorgeous, sophisticated, holds up very well even though I often just dump it into my bag and still smells of nice leather a year and a half later), I was itching to get a "fun" pocket Filofax for portable use which I can interchange with my Finchley whenever I feel like something a little more feminine and young.

Filofax Songbird or Heart Organizer?

The new release of the Filoxfax Heart and Songbird was exactly what I was looking for! I was initially deciding between the Yellow Filofax Heart and the Songbird. I even clicked on the Filofax Heart a few times and had it in my shopping basket before finally deciding on the Songbird when I found out that it was available and would be delivered in time for my sister to bring it to me.

Why the Songbird?  I will be honest - The Yellow Heart Filo spoke more to my desire for a fun-looking Filofax. It made me cheer up every time I looked at it on the Filofax website! However, being a practical person, I also thought of longevity. Would I still love my Yellow Heart Filo as much a year, two years from now? Would it start to look a little childish to me after while? Although my pocket Filofax is for personal use, I often have it sitting out on my work desk and I work in a very corporate environment. Would the Heart Filo look a little garish sitting on my desk at work? After spending a few days considering these factors, I finally settled for a Songbird!

Songbird Pocket Review

The Songbird is gorgeous. It's a very soothing mint green in color, covered in cotton canvas inside and out, with an elastic strap closing. The popper button contains the most adorable graphic of a music note, though you'll have to look closely at the product shot on the Filofax UK site to notice this. The picture of a bird perched on a branch on the inside left cover makes a nice touch. I'm sure the design will appeal most to women, nature lovers and lovers of all things pretty and feminine!

The exact specifications of the Songbird are available on the Filofax UK website and I will not cover all of them. However, a few things worth pointing out -

§  Notepad Pocket on the right cover: Since my Finchley doesn't have one, I was very impressed with this feature. I can imagine it coming it very handy as I like jotting down random bits of information and book, music and restaurant recommendations from friends. It will be nice to open my Songbird Filo and have the notepad right there, instead of doing what I do now which is to flip through my Finchley to get to my note pages section.

§  Two types of tabs - The Filofax Songbird comes with BOTH 1-6 AND A-Z tabs!

§  Multi-colored tabs - The tabs are multi-colored, in baby pink, blue and green. The colored tabs go beautifully with the mint green interior of the Songbird. This is a very detailed and thoughtful touch. It is one of my favorite features of the Songbird and makes the interior of the organizer even more calming to look at, I actually smiled when I saw this!

I have had a look at the Filofax UK and US website and these beautiful colored tabs do not seem to be on sale separately.

§  Would go well with pink diary inserts/colored notepaper - While the Songbird Filo is supplied with a white diary insert, I can imagine the pink diary inserts being very compatible with the Songbird. Colored notepaper will look gorgeous with the Songbird as well.

§  Choose Pocket-size for maximum prettiness/cuteness factor - For those who love their stationary cute and pretty, I think that the Songbird, with its dainty design, may look prettier in Pocket-size than in Personal-Size. While this is generally the case with most designs, I think it's more so with the Songbird.

§  Doesn't come in a box - When my sister took the Songbird Filo out of her suitcase, it was just wrapped in paper, Despite not having seen her in more than half-a-year, I rudely exclaimed "Why did you throw the box away?!". As it turned out, the Songbird Filofax didn't come with a box. My Personal Domino didn't either, although my Finchley did. I wonder if all lower-priced Filos do not come packaged in a box? I find the boxes very useful for storing an un-used Filofax.

§  Doesn't lay flat - The Songbird Filofax doesn't lay flat at all. This will be a big change for me as my current Finchley does and I like to leave it open on my desk to the current week's calendar. Will have to do more research on Philofaxy on how to train my Filofax to lay flat.

Too Pretty to Use?

While I'd expected to spend Sunday evening preoccupied with transferring stuff from my Finchley to my Songbird, the truth is, the Songbird Filo is still sitting wrapped up on my desk.

When I first unwrapped the Filofax to examine it, there was a brown speck of dirt on the cover of the Songbird and when I tried to flick it off, I actually ended up smudging the dirt into the cover of the Filofax. Since the cover is cotton, it left a very faint brown mark! While this nearly gave me a heart attack at that point, I'm glad it happened sooner rather than later as it made me realize that the Songbird Filofax is as fragile as it is pretty. Unlike my trusty leather Finchley, there is no way I could just dump it into one of my bags as dirt marks show very easily on the light mint green cover. Also, I feel like I'll have to be very careful with the popper button and elastic closure strap as it might come off if I pull too hard! I'm also afraid to stuff it with too many inserts in case the elastic breaks. I'll have to be extremely cautious when inserting my pen into the pen holder and while using the notepad in case an open pen accidentally comes into contact with the Filofax interior. Can't have a Songbird organizer with pen marks now, can you?

Do note that that many of the above concerns on dirt/pen marks apply to any light-colored Filofax in general.

Verdict

I am still thrilled about the new Songbird. It's very pretty and just looking at it soothes me and makes me happy!

I think I'll buy a nice pouch to put it in to carry in my bag for daily use for awhile, and then just keep it as a collectible or use it as a notebook which will just stay in one place. I'm not very careful with my things and I think having to treat the Songbird carefully all the time would stress me out in the long-run. It wasn't that pricey as far as Filofaxes go and I'm quite happy to use the Songbird only occasionally.

I'm still on a quest for a fun looking Filofax which I can use on-the-go though, and the Filofax Heart and Domino Snake come to mind. Maybe at the end of the year when my sister visits again..

Thank you Shan, if you would like to submit your own guest post, please contact us, our email address is on the 'About Us' page

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