Filofax Malden Compact Zipped Organiser

When I heard that there was going to be a Compact Malden released this year I was quite interested....  no make that excited! Initially details of this new model were quite hard to come by. There had been no mention of this particular model to the UK trade, but a sample appeared at a German Trade show and one of our 'fans' sent me some details about it.

At that point I thought may be it will only for sale in France and Germany, but at the time of writing it is still not appeared on either site. The next I heard was that the Compact Maldens in Pocket and Personal size had been spotted in store at City Organiser... winner!

So it will be no surprise that I bought a personal size one... no self control. So before I set it up to my own liking I thought I would write a quick review of this organiser so you can see it for your self and see if you like it or not.

Here it is in Ochre, it is also available in purple... sorry not my colour really. I quite like the colour I have also picked up a used Personal Malden in the same colour!

The leather is the gorgeous soft buttery leather we have become used to with the Malden, and it has that smell that is just so pleasant... well compared to any of the plastic organisers! 

So the front is plain with detail stitching just at the outer edge. The name 'Filofax' is embossed on the edge on the front. The zipper has a nice leather tab.

On the back there is a vertical pocket which you could use for receipts or notes. The pocket is lined with a textile material. 

Opening up the Malden, and removing the contents, it lays flat with the minimum of training. I'm sure it will get better as the leather wears in a bit.  It is equipped with 15mm rings, this compares to 23mm for a normal Personal Malden. My Slimline Personal Finsbury has only 11mm rings, although some Slimlines do have 13mm. So page capacity will be limited slightly.

In the back cover there is cut out pocket and a full elasticated pen loop, which is inside the organiser when zipped up. One word of caution about the pen loop, although it is elasticated, don't use too big a pen because unlike a clasp closure organiser the pen has to sit quite close to the index tabs. I've found my slim Frixion pen works best inside this organiser.

On the left hand cover you have a major set of pockets which are best explained on their own.

So to start with on the left hand side there are a total of 14 card slots... yes that's fourteen! Six on view in two banks of three. 

Then on the reverse side there are another four, and another four in the back most section. There is also a full length pocket in the back section and because this whole section is gusseted in leather you can keep documents between the credit card holders and the zip pocket too. In the middle there is the zipped pocket for coins or documents

The above additional photograph was taken after setting it up. Cards in the front holders, UK bank notes in the divider behind, then coins in the pocket, and passport and paper driving license in the back section, it does close ok, but as pointed out in the comments you have to distribute the coins evenly.  

The organiser came with a fairly typical set of inserts:

• Transparent flyleaf
• 6 month week on two pages diary in multi language for 2012. 
• 12 month one of the same format for 2013
• A-Z two letter per tab index
• To Do sheets
• Address sheets
• Coloured lined note paper. 

There are no section dividers or Today page markers, this seems to be a standard fill for the compact size Filofax.  I will be transferring my Week on One page diary from my current Personal Malden in to this organiser when I set it up. I should also be able to add my address pages as well from the same organiser. I'm not sure yet about adding my wallet contents although I've tried the contents for size, it all fits in, but it becomes quite heavy with coins in it, my Filofax Malden wallet does fit in my pocket quite neatly, if I'm travelling without my shoulder bag.

Now if you would like to buy a compact zipped Malden they come in Personal size in Purple and Ochre and Pocket size. The Pocket size is also in 15mm rings and is also available in Purple and Ochre. They are available at City Organiser and possibly other Filofax stores.

After finishing my photos of the compact Malden I thought I would compare it to other personal size organisers in my collection. Which might prompt the question 'what size is that'?

So in this picture from left to right. Cuban Zip (30 mm rings), Malden Compact Zip (15mm rings), Malden Personal (23mm rings), Finsbury Slimline (11mm rings)  As you can see the Compact Zip is bigger than a clasp Malden, which in turn is bigger than the Slimline. 

 

Looking at them in profile in the photo below the are stacked from thin to thick (Slimline, Compact, Personal, Personal Zip)

Finally, here is my updated Malden family.