Moterm Update - Bigger rings in the Versa and additional pen loops

Following on from my recent purchase of a Moterm Versa organiser.  I mentioned in my review that I had ordered some larger 30mm rings to see if they would work in the Moterm Versa, which as default comes with 25 mm rings.

The rings are very easy to install, it was just a case of waiting for them to arrive and making a quick swap.

It is very simple to change them, just get a medium size flat blade screwdriver and undo both slot headed nuts by turning them anti-clockwise. Take out the old rings. Line up the new rings on the bolts and reattach the slot headed nuts and tighten them up by turning clockwise in the conventional way.

This is what the underneath size of the rings look like, no surprises really. They come out as a complete unit, you can't take they apart any further without reverting to bending metal! They aren't the highest quality I've seen, but certainly not the lowest quality by a long way.

With the 30 mm rings installed, I wanted to see if the cover was wide enough to take the bigger rings without any overhang of the tabs on the outer edge of the organiser.

No over hang, with 30 mm rings, this is with my normal Filofax Personal size inserts and dividers with side tabs installed on the rings.

Yes it will be even more 'chunky' than before!! but they work, this adds to the flexibility of this particular organiser, especially as the rings can be quickly swapped out if required back to the smaller size.

See the Moterm AliExpress page for all of their ring mechanisms.

Moterm also recently announced some new accessories.

Some pen loops that slide on to the clasp of an organiser or notebook cover.

The photos below shows the outside in leather and on the inside are the two elasticated loops. The vertical loop being part of the leather outer part that goes on to the clasp. With a horizontal elastic loop to hold the pen.

That sounds complicated I know....

Here is one slid on to the clasp with a pen added.

They come in sets of three, small, medium and large, but when you order you can change your order if you wish.

I picked two large and one medium. The photo below shows the medium and large, they are available in the various Moterm leather colours, in my case black will also work with other brands of organiser with similar size clasps.

With the clasp snapped shut the pen loop sits neatly on the clasp with the pen located just outside the border of the organiser.

Adding two of the large pen loops to my Moterm Versa clasp works! I managed to add the medium one as well, but it is a very tight fit and you have to use the other extended clasp popper with three on the clasp, so I settled for two on the clasp.

With the pen loop on the flyleaf and the pen slot in the outer jacket spine that would give you four places for carrying pens of different sizes, would you need that many? I know I wouldn't need that many!


I think it is a neat way of adding another pen loop without taking up more space on the rings and it would work with other brands of organisers as well.

You will find full details on the Moterm AliExpress page.

Moterm Versa Personal - Review

The Moterm brand is a relatively new name to us in the planner community, but it is a brand that has an ever growing fan base as they continue to bring out new models at affordable prices and at a rate that seems unbelievable as they react positively to customer suggestions/requests.

Given the amount of interest I've seen on You Tube and Facebook, I decided to take a look for myself. At the end of July they announced another new model, the Moterm Versa in personal size, they had previously brought out the Versa in pocket size and it sold out in days!

I ordered a Moterm Versa personal size in black leather via Ali Express. There was a choice of colours available, but I went with the black rather than a pastel colour. Call me traditional if you like!

My order was confirmed within a few hours of me placing it and they estimated that the delivery date would be 13-16th August, it arrived on the 13th August. I was able to track the progress of the order from start to finish. There was no problems with payment, my account was debited on the day of despatch.

The item was very well packaged for shipping with a stout outer carton, inside was a simple presentation box containing the planner inside a cloth dust bag both showing the Moterm brand name.

The Moterm Versa is a two part organiser. There is an outer 'jacket' and the organiser itself, in addition they also include a leather flyleaf and approximately 100 sheets of undated lined journal type pages.

Together the two parts make up quite a substantial planner/organiser.

There are a lot of pockets in different sections, and card slots in different groupings we well. There are two places for pens/pencils. The inside of all of the pockets are lined with a cloth material that will not stick to plastic cards that you store in them.

The outer jacket, it has a full width back pocket that is 320mm in length and 195mm deep, almost big enough to take a full A4 size sheet of paper, but not quite.

On the inside front cover you will find four card slots visible on the pocket flap. Behind the pocket there is a full height slip pocket.

The pocket is held closed by two poppers top and bottom. Open it up and you then find a full height zipper pocket, five more vertical card slots and another full height slip pocket behind the card slots.

In the spine of the outer jacket there is a slot to hold a pen or pencil.

The rear inside area of the outer jacket you will find five more horizontal card slots with an ID pocket at the foot of that section with the Moterm card and tag next to it. Behind this section are three full height slip pockets. The deepest one is used to hold the back cover of the organiser section in place.

On the outside of the cover there are two places for the clasp popper to be closed in to, this gives you the option of additional capacity should you really need it.

The removable organiser can be used on its own, you don't have to use it with the outer jacket. The outside of it is in leather, likewise the inside is in full leather as well.

The front inside cover has four horizontal card slots as well as a deeper business card pocket at the foot of that section. Behind this there is a full height slip pocket for holding additional papers.

The flyleaf which is held on the rings has a leather and elasticated pen loop as well as three horizontal card slots on the reverse side.

The rear inside cover of the organiser section doesn't have any pockets so it slips in to the outer jacket easily.

The rings are attached with a simple bolt arrangement, which makes them easy to change. They are 25mm internal diameter in a silver finish. Moterm have other rings available on their store site in silver, gold, and rose gold finish in 25mm and 30mm size. I've ordered a set of 30mm rings to assess their suitability for the Moterm Versa for width. I think it might be ok, but I will report back when they arrive, hopefully soon.

[See my review of the 30mm rings in my Moterm Versa]

The organiser also came with 100 sheets of undated lined journal type pages.

The outer cover and the organiser both have some form of stiffener present in the covers between the leather and the inside. This is only there to help the organiser keep its shape and it doesn't impact on the ability of the organiser to lay flat when opened.

The leather it self is pleasant to touch. There was a slight chemical smell to the leather, but this has disappeared by leaving the planner out of the dust bag and box for a day or two. I've also given the leather a wipe over with some leather care solution that too improved the smell of it.

The organiser doesn't seem fragile, the rings snap closed in perfect alignment each time. The stitching is very good and also consistent on all edges at quite a high stitches per inch all around.

The edges of the leather are all neatly finished there are no rough edges or stray threads on the stitching.

Dimensions: The Moterm Versa measures as follows:

• Organiser section (Open) 290 x 185mm
• Organiser section (Closed) 138 x 185 x 32mm
• Outer jacket section (Open) 335 x 208 mm
• Outer jacket section with organiser section installed (Closed) 170 x 208 x 45 mm

Please note that the thickness of both when closed will also be dependent on the contents of the pockets and rings. 

Weights:

• Organiser with flyleaf = 240 g
• Outer jacket = 272 g
• Both combined 512 g

Please note that the above weights are with the rings and all pockets empty. 

All of the above I have kept to my usual style of being objective as possible, my usual technical type description, but I'm sure you want to know my own opinion and what it is like etc.

They often say 'You get what you pay for' and that is true of most things.

I bought the Moterm Versa out of my own money. I paid €76.54($90, £69) including shipping. I didn't opt for express delivery, I went with the standard shipping to France. It arrived within the time limits and without any issues.

The buying experience was not a rushed one it all went smoothly and there is plenty of feedback about the status of your order and when it is shipped and the tracking details etc. The tracking number worked with LaPoste my local mail service as well.

I would say that it is certainly worth the money I paid for it and the overall quality is comparable to other organisers I own at the same price point and much higher too. How many other organisers have the grand total of 21 card slots!!??

If you want to see how it compares to other brands, I recommend looking on You Tube there are plenty of comparison videos on there, so you will get the opinions of other people as well as just mine.

Further Information:

Moterm planners are available via their AliExpress page or Amazon USA I am told they are still working on their own website.

There are also groups on Facebook the main one is fully supported by the company.

• Moterm Planner Fan Group
• Gillio VDS and Moterm Planner Community
• Moterm Planners B/S/T
• Moterm Planners BST Europe

Moterm pocket (A7) binder - by Anita

In many ways, I am often a creature of habit, especially if I've found something that works well and is efficient for me. This is definitely the case when it comes to my Filofax set up. I may have bought and sold many binders over the years, but when this happens, it's normally to the same size and the contents are simply moved into the new acquisition.

Maybe it's due to the coronavirus, or that I'm due to leave a job that I've done for 13 years, but I woke up a couple of weeks ago craving a complete change in my organiser (quite unlike me!) At first, I resisted the feeling as I'm not in planner fail and my Kensington is working well (as usual). However, sometimes change can be beneficial, so I decided to go with it! After all these years of using my GTD based set up and then my simplified one, I will instead be trying out a pocket Moterm in a bullet journal layout.

Work has been SO busy since I've been working from home and I think because of that, I feel that I want something with some more daily structure. I will be keeping my Kensington as an A to Z with my notes and reference info, but the Moterm is going to be about daily capture and getting stuff done. As this is a bit of an experiment for me, I decided that I didn't want to spend too much, in case it doesn't suit me. At first, I was hoping to pick up a cheap secondhand ochre pocket Malden, but none were to be found, so I headed over to the Moterm store on AliExpress, after hearing good things about the brand in the community.

I decided to go for the simplest binder with the catchy title of:
Genuine Leather Rings Notebook A7 Size Silver Binder Mini Agenda Organizer Cowhide Diary Journal Planner with Credit Card Slots

This is the Litchi grain leather in purple.

On the inside, you have three credit card slots on the left with a full length slip pocket behind, and then another slip pocket on the right. The binder lies flat out of the box and the pockets are easy to get into, as the leather is quite soft and supple. I love the pebbly texture.

The binder doesn't have a pen loop, but after having a bit of a play I've realised that it doesn't really need one. As I did with my tan Kensington, it's possible to use my Muji metal pen holder, or even just slip the Kaweco Sport pen clip in the same position.,

It's also possible to just add your pen inside the elastic, as I've done here with my TWBI fountain pen.

There is a choice of refills available (blank, ruled, grid, dotted grid or craft paper).

If you don't specify when ordering, they will send you ruled refills, which is what I have.

I had planned to get the dark khaki (grey) colour, but it was out of stock, so I instead went with the purple. It's a difficult colour to photograph as it tends to come out brighter and more pink than in real life. I think that it's more a dark raspberry, instead of a true purple, but I like it.

Here it is in comparison with my purple sweatshirt for comparison.

As I don't know if pocket size will suit me, I've decided that I'm not going to buy anything, but instead re-purpose items that I already own and cut up paper from old notebooks, once I use up the refills included.

For example, I've discovered that this passport Midori zipper pocket is a perfect fit and I've just slipped one side into the back full length slip pocket. I may not need it, but I'm going to keep rummaging in my Filofax and stationery box to see if I have any other goodies like this that might fit.

Rhodia pocket notepad that I've had for years and never used.

Comparison with my personal Kensington.

My Kensington is due a clear out here as it's fatter than normal, due to receipts and notes in the pockets.

Slight difference in size, compared with A4!

Lastly, I've never purchased from AliExpress before, but was very impressed with everything, especially as this binder only cost £16 GBP including postage. Due to the cheaper price, I also didn't need to pay any VAT or import duty on the package. The binder arrived within 10 days from China and the packaging was excellent, a sturdy box within a padded envelope and then a drawstring bag. Also included was a spare elastic and a card with some more details about the Moterm Facebook group. They are also available on Amazon USA.

Guest Post - Review of Moterm Personal Planner - Karen

Moterm is a new brand name that seems to be cropping up more often in Web Finds and Video Web Finds. They are available on Amazon USA and from Ali Express. 

When I was offered this review of one by Karen I was very keen to learn some more about this new brand. 

Moterm is a leather planner-if you know what a “Filofax“ is then you know what a Moterm planner is. It’s an amazingly well made leather planner-with features usually missing from most inexpensive planners.

The rings were 25mm, firm, yet easy to open, closed tightly and can be unscrewed to replace them.

Some of the features include a long full length pocket on the top for your full sized folded paper, or a bunch of bills, and 2 secretarial pockets, one on each side of the interior. The leather pen loop is made from a matching color leather with a back in elastic, and will easily hold a full sized pen. Even a Lamy Safari fountain pen, or a Frixion full sized ball point fits with ease.

The planner was fairly floppy, and stayed fully open on my desk; it had a very minimal stiffener, which felt like a thin sheet of cushiony material.

The planner also includes a leather fly leaf, one with a series of card pockets on the back side. The Moterm planner comes with approximately 100 sheets of undated lined schedule paper. As sometimes is found on less expensive planners-there was NO chemical smell, nor any type of plastic coating.

I purchased the Personal sized Moterm, which is the same size of a medium or personal sized Filofax or other brand of leather binder. They also offer Pocket, A6 and A5 size organisers as well.  

In conclusion, it’s interesting to note that considering the $56 I paid for the Moterm, it would have cost me at least $200+ for a similar sized leather planner with all these features. It’s a great planner-but at the same time it’s important to remember that ultimately it’s all about what you really want-and can afford.

I just wanted an attractive and dependable leather planner, one that would accommodate my basic needs. Spending $200+ was not something I wanted to do.

What it’s NOT: A luxury, handmade, top of the line, leather agenda. It does not show or have ANY logo, nor does it pretend to be anything other than a Moterm.

It came carefully wrapped in a nice box, and arrived in perfect condition. It smells like fine leather, and the stitching is neat and precise. I’m pleased with my purchase and would consider other colours and sizes in the future!

Thank you Karen for taking time to send us the photos and your initial impressions of this new brand of organiser.