Filofax A5 Chameleon - Review

The Filofax Chameleon came out in 2010 but only appears to have been in the range for a couple of years. By the 2012/13 catalogue it was no longer shown. 

It was available in A5, Personal, Pocket and Mini. I bought a black Filofax Chameleon Pocket at one of the first meet ups in late 2010, I still have that pocket. It was used for many years as my log book in the car for recording fuel fill ups etc. 

I really like that pocket the leather is very supple and it has worn well. One oddity with the pocket is that the pen loop is attached to the front cover not the usual back cover placement. 

I did a review soon after getting the pocket which you will find here: Filofax Pocket Chameleon

A few years later I had a hankering to get the A5 Chameleon but of course it was few years out of production and I thought it would be very difficult to find one in good condition. My black pocket was holding up well. Some of the lighter coloured Chameleons show wear quite badly. 

A reader contacted me after seeing my Wanted advert on the Adspot page about an A5 Chameleon in Black on Ebay. At first there were some issues about shipping it outside of UK, but after exchanging a few emails with the seller they agreed to ship it to me. I won the auction for just under £40 and with the postage add it was still a bargain. 

It arrived in the original box and with all the original inserts and it was obvious it had never been used. That was in the middle of 2019! 

I realised the other week that I've never reviewed the A5, or used it that much.... time to change both of those things. 

The Chameleon has a 'scale' like pattern pressed in to the leather. Some people like this, some people hate  this, I quite like it as it gives the organiser character I guess. 

It uses a design of tapered clasp that was common to other organiser models in the Filofax range at the time.

The front inside cover includes 8 horizontal card slots, a business card slot, a vertical slip pocket and a vertical zip pocket and finally an elasticated pen loop. 

The Filofax Chameleon A5 is fitted with 25mm rings, which are big enough for my needs. They also make the overall size (width and thickness) of the organiser quite compact too. 

The scale pattered leather is also used on the interior as well. 

In the rear inside cover is a notepad slot and another elasticated pen loop. 

Unlike the pocket Chameleon the A5 version does appear to have some form of stiffener between the inner and outer layers of leather. It however does lay flat straight out of the box. 

Overall I'm very pleased to have used this organiser for a few weeks and I will be coming back to it in the future. 

Have you ever owned a Chameleon?

Filofax Pocket Chameleon

During my visit to the Filofax Neal Street store last weekend, I had the chance to compare the Malden and the Chameleon in my hands and not just on a website as I did in a previous post.

Both of them were available in my preferred colour of black and in pocket size.

I wanted something to replace my Finsbury Pocket in blue, which I use as my daily carry around Filofax/Wallet that you will have heard so much about earlier this year! This size has been working well for me... hard working in fact.

The only downfall I've found with the Finsbury in this mode is that is only has two card pockets and with the pen loop on the right next to the zip pocket it tends to get in the way when I'm trying to retrieve coins from the pocket.  The Chameleon solves both of these issues, minor though they might be.

The left inside cover has 5 card slots, which is about the number of cards I have to carry here in France. Like the Finsbury there is a vertical pocket as well behind the card pockets, which will be able to take my UK passport and UK driving licence.

The pen loop is also on this side, which frees up the zip pocket on the back cover for my Euro coins. The pen loop is a nice tight snug fit for my Filofax mini barley pen with no chance at the moment of it slipping out, which has happened a couple of times with the Finsbury. The pen loop is leather, but it has an elasticated part to it as well. 

Additionally there is a full width back pocket, which I use for Euro notes, not that I carry much cash!

The Chameleon like the Malden is a full leather organiser, interior and exterior, so it should stand up to the day to day use it will get better than the Finsbury.  The leather is lovely and soft and not stiff at all. As you can see in the pictures above it lays fairly flat from new. By choosing the black there isn't the 'two-tone' effect that there is with the other colours in this model.

Personally I like the way that the leather edging has been finished off on the Chameleon better than the Malden. The additional card slots also swayed me towards the Chameleon as well. 

As you can see I've not moved over to the Chameleon as yet, I will start the 'move' this weekend, I want to also go through the current contents of my Finsbury and have a bit of a tidy up at the same time! The ring size on the Chameleon is slightly smaller than the Finsbury and Malden (15mm compared to 19mm) so I need to slim the contents down a little.

As usual click on any of the photos to see them full size.

Carribbean Princess's detailed review of her personal size Filofax Chameleon in pink is also worth a read if you haven't read it already.