Guest Post: Filofax Scanda Brown Personal - by Jürgen Henk

Thank you Jürgen for this guest post about his Filofax Scanda

"For the style-savvy male, Scanda's vintage leather and cool closure make it a must. Subtly distressed cracked leather with a belt-like closure, contrast stitching and luxury cream  stationary.“ (US Filofax catalogue 2011)

If you are a guitar player you might have come across a recent trend of artificially aged and distressed electric guitars. Master builders use their expertise to decorate new guitars with scratches, abrasions, dents, rusty screws, sun-tanned varnish, etc. to make a new guitar appear like an old one.

It seems that Filofax followed this trend, but only for a short period. According to filowiki, the Filofax Scanda was introduced in 2011 in two flavours: black with white contrast stitching and brown with blue contrast stitching, available only in Personal. It was apparently offered for only one year and, thus, seems to be quite rare.

I have owned the brown Scanda for a few weeks, which my wife ebayed me as a birthday gift. It came in the original box with cotton cream inserts and dividers as well as a brown page marker. The price tag on the box is EUR 149 (the US catalogue states 120 US-Dollars), which is expensive for a binder in Personal size — maybe that is one reason why the Scanda was so rapidly removed from sale. My Scanda hibernated for seven years; so I have an unused "new old stock" binder with a subtle beautiful smell of leather.

The Scanda feels soft because of the padded front and back, it is a real pleasure to hold. Its distressed look suggests a heavy and robust binder; however, it is surprisingly lightweight. This maybe attributed to the leather that seems to be quite thin, thinner than that of the heavy-weight champions Hamilton or Kendal. Time will tell how robust the Scanda actually is.

Blue contrast stitching on the spine.

The blue contrast stitching is unique and looks in my opinion "gorgeous" (to quote Jamie Oliver). I like it better than the white stichting of a black Hamilton or the tone on tone of a brown Kendal.

Front with belt-like closure strap. The leather is nicely cracked.

Instead of a popper closure the Scanda comes with a belt-like closure. The useless holes suggest that the strap was actually made from a narrow belt. The strap itself is rather stiff and keeps the binder closed without any problems.

Back

Left interior: pen loop with Derwent Precision 0.7 mm pencil, 3 x 2 credit card pockets plus one full-size pocket, glossy embossing. Note that the leather is not crackled on the inside.

The interior layout is rather conventional. On the left you find 3 x 2 horizontal credit card pockets and one full-size pocket. The pen loop is quite narrow, much narrower than that of a Hamilton, and it is gusseted. My Derwent Precision 0.7 mm pencil fits perfectly.

On the right you’ll find a single gusseted full-size pocket and another pen loop. Front and back pen loops are of identical width, which in my opinion is ill thought through — one wide and one narrow loop would be more practical.

"Flat" Scanda. Ball pen: Tornado "Albert" by Retro 1951, with equations from Einstein’s theory of special relativity, the perfect pen for the theoretical physicist.

The back and front of the binder are rather stiff, no comparison with the floppiness of a Malden. It lays almost flat out of the box, so no need for 'training'.

Inner layout. The ring mechanism is covered with leather. Gusseted full-size pocket on the right.

The rings are 23 mm wide and riveted, as usual for newer binders (e.g. Maldens, in contrast to older Hamiltons or Kendals). Another unique feature of the Scanda is that the ring mechanism is covered with leather.

Quite a number of Filofax binders got their names from places in the UK, Balmoral or Kendal to name at least two. But Scanda? Does anyone know the origin of this name?

In sum, the Scanda is both conventional (layout) and unconventional (distressed leather, strap closure, high price). I like it very, very much and it is now my constant companion. I am fond of used things. Thus, I never protect my binders. Scratches, dents, and bleachings tell a story, exhibit transience and imperfection (confer the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi).

Brown Scanda, a revelation of beauty.

Guest Post - John Rocha A5 size Binder in Black - Anthony

Thank you to Anthony for sending in this short guest post on an organiser I'd not come across before, they have appeared in Debenhams in UK. 

Recently I was visited our local branch of Debenhams Store and to my surprise there was a display of John Rocha Binders in real leather.

There was a choice of black or brown. I inspected all of them paying close attention to the alignment of the rings, 30mm, most were good. The ring mechanism on most of the binders when using the tabs to open required a huge effort to open.

I finally settled on one in black. Inside there is a 2017 diary a week on two pages, followed by tabs: Yearly Planner, Notes, Reminders, Meetings an A to Z index pages at the rear.

The quality of the paper is very close to the Cotton Cream, the paper weight around 90gsm. At the front there are eight horizontal cards slots, a zipped vertical pocket with leather pull tab and beneath that a full size inner pocket.

There is no pen loop or Today Page Marker. There is a substantial 12mm wide elastic loop which keeps the binder in a closed position.

I have to admit after only a very short time I’d decided to buy and wondered why the binders were here in the store. There is of course a section of John Rocha fashion clothes the display was in this area.

The full price was £42.00 the sale price £12.00 needless to say I am delighted with my purchase.

Thank  you Anthony, these look very good value for money, especially being leather. 

Guest Post - Getting Things Done by David Allen – a review of the second edition - David Popely

Thank you to David for this review, I've only just started reading this myself. I never got to read the original!

This a review I really didn’t expect to be writing, not because of the subject matter but because of my experience of GTD as ‘boiled down’ and encapsulated by the revised edition of the book, which as many of you will know, was published last month.

If you wanted to read a 100% and unreservedly positive review of the book, you can find one at
http://alifeofproductivity.com/david-allens-revised-getting-things-done-book-comes-out-today/
…and there are many others. This is both a review of the new (second) edition of the book, and also a review of GTD as well, written by someone who has used it for 2-3 years.

First, a word about the book itself. I downloaded a copy to my Kindle on the morning of publication (the paper copy not being available until some days later, for unknown reasons), immediately prior to departure for London by train, and looking forward to making a start on reading it during the 5 hours of train time these return trips give me.

Unfortunately, publishers Piatkus have done a really bad job on the book. The dreadful inset text boxes, which exist only to break up the flow of the main text and add nothing to the main message, are still in place from the first edition, but because the book has basically been ‘dumped’ into ebook format, they often extend off the bottom of the Kindle screen, while the main text continues to do so as well, making comprehension difficult at best, and mostly just impossible. I gave up on the Kindle edition after about half an hour and decided to go looking for the (at that stage non-existent) paper edition.

Secondly, a well-known publisher like Piatkus really ought to have had the book properly proof-read before publication. There are important changes to the GTD process stage names in the second edition which just aren’t reflected in the accompanying diagrams and graphics, which are retained in their first edition form.

So far, so bad. 2/10 and ‘must try harder’ for the publishers.

Eventually I managed to get hold of a hard copy of the book via Amazon, all attempts to get one from a bookshop, local or otherwise, having failed.

Turning to the text of the book itself, it has billed as a complete rewrite of the original, yet it’s more of a re-type than a rewrite, which is how David Allen describes the process he used to produce the second edition. Yes, there are changes to the core process terms used (although the core process remains unchanged), and the book has if anything, been revised to make it even more what David Allen refers to as ‘platform agnostic’, reinforcing the central idea that GTD is more a set of organising processes than advocating a specific set of software, apps or organising equipment. This is probably a very canny idea as technology continues to drive change in practice, but Filofax fans will take heart from this, as did I.

Yes, you can run GTD using anything from a tablet/phone/laptop or any combination of the three, down to a notepad and pen. Allen is very generous towards paper system users, and freely admits (in the book and elsewhere) that many of the most committed GTD users are also paper users – this despite the fact that GTD forums everywhere have been almost entirely commandeered and taken over by the ‘which app is best?’ brigade.

There are two brand new chapters at the end of the book, one on GTD and neuroscience, which I found fascinating (although it rather reads as a justification for using any system of planning rather than none, as opposed to a compliment to GTD itself), and another pointing towards potential ‘higher levels’ of expertise in the GTD methodology….pointer to a new book to come, maybe?

So why, having been a GTD user for a few years, am I left feeling that I now want to move away, back towards other ‘organisational methods’?

From the very beginning of my GTD experience I’ve been convinced that GTD is a great system – possibly the best ever system yet, for capturing and dealing with ‘stuff’ as it comes towards us in our daily lives. However, I’ve always been dissatisfied with the lack of emphasis on proactive planning as opposed to reactive coping. I have always suspected that Allen’s later book, Making it All Work, is on some ways a tacit attempt to address this, and there is far more in the later book about what Allen refers to as ‘Horizons of Focus’. Personally I find the whole ‘Horizons of Focus’ concept too ethereal and ‘hard to pin done’ to be of much use.

Also, the GTD ‘method’ of keeping tasks off daily plans is something which just doesn’t work for me. Like many people I have spoken to, I found that I have to be able ‘see’ my whole day at a view (appointments, calls, tasks, ticklers), otherwise things don’t get done. If tasks are hidden on lists at the ‘back’ of the system, they don’t come to mind.

GTD presents itself as a deliberately ‘bottom’ up’ system, and the rationale Allen presents for that is that it’s impossible to focus on our own agendas when we are still being chaotically bombarded by ‘stuff’ coming from outside. However, as someone who has always thought that planning is the art and science of capturing time, in advance, for our own goals and priorities, I don’t find the approach of deciding what to do ‘in the moment’ very helpful….it leads to my time being away by others, in the direction of *their* agendas, rather than being used first for my priorities and secondly for those of people around me. I’m all for having a list of ‘small tasks’ which can be done in odd moments of time (the sort of odd moments I often find myself with between meetings when I’m travelling), but most of my tasks need to be allocated to specific days, some (following James Noon’s excellent system) to specific time slots, way in advance of their due date, if last minute panic is going to be avoided. To me, GTD is a great way of organising, but as a method of planning it doesn’t work.
I was really hoping this would be addressed in the second edition of the book, but not only is any balance lacking, there is yet more justification for the ‘bottom up’ approach.

Many people find GTD a very helpful approach, and I think they will enjoy this updated, modernised re-issue greatly. However, GTD isn’t for everyone, and on further reflection I feel that it probably isn’t for me – at least not in its unmodified, ‘out of the box’ state. Despite the obvious neglect shown by the publishers in the actual publishing process, I don’t think this is a bad book. Rather, I think it’s a good book about a world-renowned system of organisation (I now hesitate to use the word ‘planning’), which many will find helpful. If you enjoyed the first edition of the book, the second edition is well worth reading to update yourself. If you didn’t read the first edition, the second edition is still worth reading, but please – read the book, not just the reviews! If, like me, you had reservations about the system expounded in the first edition, I’m afraid the second edition isn’t going to offer you any encouragement that they have been, or even are likely to be, addressed any time soon.

Reader Review - The Purse - Jane McCourt

It was literally with stomach churning excitement that I read here on Philofaxy, the press release from Filofax about their newest product: The Purse and I feel highly honoured to have been asked by Steve Morton of Philofaxy fame, in conjunction with Filofax and The Ideas Network, to write a product review.

So, the hugest thanks to all for this golden opportunity to handle and examine first hand, one of Filofax’s newest and most innovative designs. Here, I thought, and I’ve not been proved wrong, was the perfect purchase for us females, looking to combine Filofax functions; a Filofax as a money, coin and credit/business card purse, a Filofax personal compact binder and a Filofax which could double up as a clutch bag. In short, a design flexible enough to be used in any or all three of these combinations. I felt a surge of mounting anticipation as I awaited the arrival of the package, coupled with heartfelt gratitude that I would be able to undertake its first review and I could barely wait to start.

I reached the decision early on, that my local park, with its white stone pillars, trees in full leaf, and a sunny day, was the ideal setting. Cameras seem to take a truer colour in the sunshine and against a white backdrop I reasoned.

Then of course, what happened? You guessed it…. on the very day chosen, and not mentioned in the weather forecast, it rained! The next sunny day took a few days to materialise, and I almost skipped to the park, feeling the joy and lightness of being similar to that of an excited child, one named Pollyanna I expect, but unfortunately for me, my camera decided to have a camera fail and break down,  on that very day, and at that very hour.

I mumbled and muttered under my breath about technological malfunctions, and blooming machines, in the finest traditions of a Tony Hancock sketch or a Dastardly and Mutley cartoon and beat a hasty retreat; and so it was that I had to wait once more, this time for camera repairs. Luckily it was resolved within an afternoon and so, the very next day, at long last, a sumptuous picnic packed, camera bag and Filofaxes to the ready, the grand unpacking, unwrapping and review was wagons roll. So without further ado…. *insert drum roll,* here follows my post.

Put the kettle on, grab a biccy and enjoy reading.  Just to clarify though, and to avoid confusion, I shall be using the UK meaning for the word purse, (ie money and card wallet, as opposed to handbag,) throughout and placing in italics all Filofax related product names.

An overview
The Purse by Filofax, is currently  available in three colours: scarlet red, black, and white, each with their own unique design features and patterning. It retails for £75, and is marketed as a multi- functional product, to be used both as a Filofax, a purse and as a small clutch bag, in any or all three combinations.

The interior binder comes in a personal compact size, with 15mm rings, and is easily removable, thus changing The Purse from a Filofax/purse combination into a small clutch bag. It is feminine in appeal and design, and as yet, there are no man bag or trouser pocket multi-functional wallets specifically designed for the male user.

There have been plenty of posts on the plus points and drawbacks of using a whole range and plethora of Filofaxes for a dual function of Filofax and money/card holder, but The Purse is the first specifically targeted design by the Filofax team to genuinely address the combination.

As a first foray into new territory, it is very exciting stuff. It seems to me here, as if Filofax as a company are looking at the wider perspective and questioning just how is a Filofax used? So, let’s look at the product in more detail, in this case, the scarlet red version, from packaging to design, to function.

The packaging
The Purse arrived well sealed in a standard white padded envelope, clearly addressed and securely packaged. Inside, was a tissue wrapped box, with a grey sticker to hold the wrapping in place, and a handwritten note from Jess, from The Ideas Network, (the personal touch always means a lot, so thank you Jess!)

This is a personal opinion, but tissue paper always adds an air of decadence and luxury, so I appreciated this touch, but also mused that tissue printed with the Filofax logo, maybe in a luxurious cream and gold colour and a sticker with the Filofax logo imprinted would have really SCREAMED luxurious delectable product at me, before unpacking anything further. Underneath the blue tissue wrapping was a plain white cardboard box, inside which The Purse lay.

I found this to be a tad disappointing, a feeling of ‘Is that it?’ nothing special or unique in a white box, especially given the retail price and when thinking back to the embossed black Filofax boxes of yesteryear.  The final layer to be unpacked was a covering of thin white wadding wrapped around The Purse itself.

I was very happy with the thickness of the packaging as a whole, as this kept it all safe in transit. Yet, I am of the old school, you know, the sort of Filofax user who watches the film Titanic and becomes absorbed totally by the luxury and stylishness of it all, and longs to be part of that long lost era of sophistication. We all aspire to a little bit of luxury in our lives and it would not cost much to produce classically stylish packaging, that embossed box and slightly more luxurious tissue paper and a protective purse drawstring storage bag, again embossed to go with all Filofax products, not just The Purse. That extra all important attention to detail and final touches matter and were I felt sadly lacking. That however is a personal perspective, and I don’t expect everyone to agree with me on that point.

The Exterior

The Purse is certainly one of those tactile products, which is difficult to put down, lovely to the touch and which sits comfortably in the hand. The leather is buttery soft and gloriously lovely, in a rich scarlet shade, and certainly oozed the smell of good quality leather. It is only a little larger than my existing standard large money purse, (see photo for comparison,) and comes with a sturdy silver large toothed zipper to hold the contents securely within.

At the end of the zipper pull is a beautifully shaped leather tag, in matching leather, rather like a little leaf, to hold onto whilst zipping and unzipping, exactly in proportion.  I appreciated the delicate touch here and evident attention to detailing, both on the zipper pull and on the spine which incorporated an embossed Filofax logo. The sharp eyed amongst you may have noticed a paper card tag hanging from the left hand side. This is printed with the name of the product, The Purse on one side and a map of the interior layout on the other.  As I live near the sea, of course there just has to be the token seagull in the picture background.

The stitching on The Purse is small gauge and exactly matches the leather, being beautifully finished, unobtrusive and I must say, faultless. On the front, in the scarlet version is a red origami leather flower, rather like a water lily, which I found to be terribly attractive, lending an air of femininity and stylishness to the whole. I giggled out loud, when I discovered that this actually unfolded to reveal an open and larger water lily shape, and so could be used rather like a little secret compartment. It reminded me so much of the origami fortune cookies which I loved making so very much as a child. Happy days!

The outside back of the purse has a full length leather pocket which is roomy enough to hold a mobile phone, in fact any one of the phones in my local phone retailer, including the newest ones on the market, Blackberries, iPhones etc, and yes I tested every phone in the shop as well as my old dinosaur of a clam ‘phone.  All fitted comfortably.  This is a useful section within the design, making a ringing ‘phone easy and quick to access whilst on the move and for me, a huge plus and a positive selling point.

The leather as a whole had a slight whitish undertone to it, difficult to describe, but this seemed to me to be a natural part of the leather type. This disappeared when polished with neutral dubbin polish. The leather is so buttery soft, similar to that of the Malden Filofaxes, and it will lay as flat as a zipped binder can when opened, but with such an easily removable binder insert, flatness is hardly an issue. The leather is quite floppy and mobile, slightly rougher grained to the touch than my Maldens on direct comparison, but not in the slightest unpleasantly so.

The Purse will probably need careful care to avoid scratches on day to day use if stored in a larger handbag, as the leather is so soft and supple and thinner than any Filofax binder leather. Mine scratched within the first few hours of use, removed again with neutral dubbin polish, but still I would have expected slightly more durability. I personally would store and shall be storing my Purse  in a section of its own, or in a small drawstring bag for added protection. I am sure that as with the Maldens, leather treatment cream to keep it in tip top order would be an essential purchase, especially as a money purse is an item used every single day, day in, day out. But hey, well worth that!

The Interior

The Purse is rather deceptive. It looks fairly small on the outside and yet can hold much more than first impressions would suggest. Filofax have really managed to maximise the space here, and I am quietly in awe of their design team . The interior focuses upon function and practicality and is made from a durable hard wearing fabric, with an additional leather trim at the bottom of the front facing credit card slots. There are additional credit card slots directly behind.

In all there are twelve card slots, six facing, on the outer edge of the coin purse section and another six on the back edge of those, i.e. internally. There are two full width long slots underneath the elasticated pen loop, for holding paper money. Handily, there are two, so it is possible to separate out larger and smaller denominations of notes. There is plenty of room either side of the coin purse to hold additional money notes, and I found a flatish credit card wallet, (actually in my case two,) would easily fit in there too, with plenty of room for The Purse’s outer zipper to close easily.

I particularly liked the additional roominess, as I use a small plastic card holder for coffee shop and restaurant loyalty cards and another for shopping loyalty cards, of which I have plenty. The plastic card holders shown are not a part of the product, or sold by Filofax, but are used here to show exactly how much more can actually fit into The Purse if required. The all essential eye shadow, lippy and mascara wands and feminine hygiene products also fit easily here, both into the inner sections and inner zip of The Purse when used as a clutch bag.

My first thoughts were, why on earth is the interior of The Purse not completely leather too? But on reflection, the fabric choice (with the added detailing of a leather strip across the facing credit card slots,) means that the product should not only last, and be hard wearing, but the interior will be easy to clean and wipe down. The left hand side of the purse has a full width zipped purse for coinage, deep, yawningly wide and easy to reach into, so no issue of fumbling for coins at the checkout here. Excellent! There is also an elasticated pen loop on the left hand side. It easily held a Frixion or a mechanical pencil and standard biros, including the Bic multi biros and 4 barrelled Coletto pens.

Anything larger ie a 5 barrelled pen, would not fit the elasticated loop and would have to fit with the pen clip attached to the loop, rather than the pen through the loop, but given the interior space, I would say that this too is possible, depending of course on the pen type. The right hand side of The Purse holds the ring mechanism, which is riveted securely to a hard plastic backing. It slots into a left sided long slot and therefore can be removed, enabling The Purse to have more room and to be used as a small clutch bag. There is also a long slot on the right hand edge, which lends the appearance of The Purse being like The Apex, with multi functional slots. Unfortunately, the ring mechanism will fit into this slot, but will not allow The Purse to zip shut. So evidently the rings only fit within the one allocated space as shown.

Therefore, the additional long slot to the very right hand edge of The Purse may be used again for money notes, passport, tickets, travellers cheques and so on, but not for the ring mechanism . The rings by the way, were perfectly aligned, with no gaps and the sprung openers at the top and bottom also in perfect working order. The binder came filled with narrow ruled cream notepaper and so any other insert additions in Personal compatible size, such as today page markers, to do lists, diaries etc, would have to be purchased separately. I used one of my own Today page markers from another binder to double check, and the ring size is indeed that of the compact size, being 15mm across, (for those not in the know, ring sizes are always measured internally.)

Suggested design modifications
Although many people drive everywhere, some of us, myself included, still use public transport, bus passes, etc. A clear ID window on the back long slot of The Purse, securely framed in leather, and large enough for bus and travel cards of any size would be an ideal addition. The Filofax pages could then be flipped to the left and the ID scanned against a machine as required. The note pages, when flipped back would cover and hide any ID for additional security.  I was really longing for The purse to have an attachment for holding car keys flat and a couple of house keys, if it is genuinely to be used as a clutch bag. Most items from a woman’s handbag can be left out, and the minimum of basics carried, but not the keys. An elasticated removable key lanyard or a large popper attachment with a key ring on the facing left hand credit card slots may be a solution. Some ladies like the added security of a wrist strap when carrying a money purse, and a removable wrist strap could easily be added to the design.

Some final thoughts

It has been an utter thrill and joy to review The Purse by Filofax. I must say a huge thank you to Steve Morton, Filofax and The Ideas Network for asking me to write this review and without sounding too like Charlotte Bronte, thank you ‘dear reader’ for bearing with me. I have tried to keep the review factual and to state where I have used personal opinions and impressions, but of course we all differ in what appeals to our tastes and requirements.

My final opinion is that this is primarily a Filofax item which for us females, totally, utterly and completely solves the Filofax dilemma of choosing a dual purpose Filofax and money wallet combination, and I almost want to shout three hearty “Hurrahs” to the Filofax design team for coming up with such an innovative product and for considering the manifold ways in which we use our Filofaxes.  Just brilliant! The leather is soft and thus feels luxurious, but will certainly need caring for to avoid scratches. As a clutch bag, it is a little on the small side, elegant enough to use for a wedding, special occasion or an evening out say, with a bare minimum  of contents, but  evidently limited in the colour choices, to scarlet red, black and white. In my opinion The Purse is elegantly utilitarian in style than overtly dressy, and at £75, it is a little on the expensive side for a money purse or a clutch bag; but remember this, that you are purchasing a Filofax and a purse, and a clutch bag here, so in effect three items rolled into one. So, taken within that context,  not an expensive item. Would I buy it for myself or as a gift for a Filofax user? Absolutely.

Now for those of you who are fans of the colour red, and to give you some idea of colour comparisons, here is The Purse alongside some other well known Filofax binders.

Clockwise from L to R: Slimline Red Personal Amazona,
Slimline Personal Scarlet The Purse,
Pocket Sized Red Adelphi, Pocket Sized Crimson Malden.

Thank you Jane for a detailed review of this new model. The Purse is currently available in red and black, with white being available very soon. 

Oh Wait Here's Another One.... Nurse!!!

First of all, thanks to Filofax and Jess from The Ideas Network for sending me this scrumptious organizer to review!

With vibrant colors inspired by Latin America brought to life in soft deluxe leather, the new Filofax Calipso veritably screams summer. Featuring a fashionable contrasting croco-embossed closure, this binder is as eye catching as it is easy to use….like a bright, cheery sundress that looks great on a blazing summer day, but is secretly cool and comfortable all the while.

In my enthusiasm to move into the Calipso, it appears I tossed the inserts that came with it into the Never Never. As you know, I typically use alternative inserts in all of my planners but I had meant to hang onto the stock inserts this time, knowing I would be doing this review, so that I could provide you with an “Unboxing” section to start things off. Rarely one to do things the easy way, I hunted high and low and have absolutely no idea where they have gotten to, so you’ll have to rely on the Twin review to this one to provide you with the details on how Calipso comes to you from Filofax.

Typical right - one sister is responsible and the other…well, not so much ; )

For this review’s purposes, the Filofax website lists the inserts that come with the Calipso as follows:

• Transparent flyleaf
• 2 color front sheet to co-ordinate with organizer range
• Week on 2 pages diary, 5 language
• 1-6 colored index
• To do
• White ruled notepaper
• White quadrille notepaper
• White plain notepaper
• Contacts
• Blue ruled notepaper
• Green ruled notepaper
• Pink ruled notepaper
• Frosted ruler/page marker

Now let’s get to the fun part…the Calipso in use!

The inside front of the Calipso features four vertical card slots with one full-depth pocket at the bottom, as well as a vertical slash pocket behind the card pockets. A fully elastic pen loop also graces the front cover. Materials used on the inside of Calipso are a combination of the external leather and color matched, lightly corded polyester lining.

As you can see, the pen loop can easily handle my fat Coleto Lumio multi pen. I’m very pleased to see a movement toward either partially or fully elasticized pen loops making their way into the leather binders, since so many of us prefer to use multi pens, fountain pens or the like in our planners. Nicely done Filofax!

While the elastic pen loop has quickly become a favorite feature of mine, even more of a deal-breaker (for me) is the fact that the Calipso Compact will lay flat.

Initially, straight out of the box, it did not. It was pretty close to flat but not all the way there.  However, within a couple days of normal use, it relaxed and now lays flat nicely (no “training” required).

The leather for the body of the planner is described on the Filofax website as “soft full grain leather with a small grain texture”. And it is very soft indeed! The leather is padded a bit (unlike the thick, one-piece leather body of the Original) and very cushy to the touch, but without feeling delicate; I have no qualms about tossing Calipso into my bag with my keys and other items.

The color saturation is AH. MAY. ZING! The Deep Pink of the model I was given to review is a nice balance between a bright, blue-based pink and fuchsia. Eye-catching without being blinding or out of place in a professional environment.

The main design element of Calipso is the concealed popper. A lovely, croco-embossed leather, the closure is much firmer than the body leather, and its thickness and width suggest it will provide security for all your valuable planning pages within.

To compliment the juicy, summery color of the Deep Pink Calipso, I trimmed down some Franklin Covey Her Point of View monthly tabs for use with my Filofax Week on Two Pages inserts. You know I love me some tabbed months!! Not only are they necessary to my planning system, in this case I also thought they looked bright and cheery with the binder.

The 2/3” rings provide ample room for a full set of the aforementioned monthly tabs interspersed with a full year of Week on Two Pages…with room to spare for some notepaper, if so desired. Even with a Filofax Plastic Envelope as the final entry in the rings (to hold my stickers), the pages turn smoothly.

As you can see, Calipso accommodates everything I need quite nicely. The slight bulge you see is from use of the vertical card slots inside the front. The vertical layout of the slots means that most of the bulk is at the top. This is not a big deal for my use, but those who prefer a sleeker Compact planner may want to invest in a pack of Filofax Business/Visiting Card Holder inserts and keep what goes into the card slots to a minimum. As you can see, I have the slots pretty full.

Even with the Coleto Lumio in the pen loop, the Calipso snaps shut securely.

The interior back of Calipso features a vertical zipped pocket. Unlike most Filofax with zipped pockets in the back cover, this one faces inward.

As such, it is a bit difficult to get in and out of quickly or on the go, and I have yet to find any real use for the zipped pocket after a few weeks of use because of that fact. I do have some smaller paper items tucked inside that I won’t need access to very often, but other than that I would have preferred to see the zip pocket facing outward, as we are accustomed to in the Filofax line, or an additional vertical slip pocket to mirror the front.

The attachment point of the croco closure to the back of the binder is well done and unobtrusive, despite it being quite a heft of leather.

For those of you who enjoy the slim profile of the Filofax Compact, but crave some color and excitement in your daily planning, I highly recommend Calipso. Between the luxurious leather body, the tropical inspired snap closure and the bevy of fun, vivacious colors to choose from, there is a lot to love about this beautiful binder.

Calipso is available in Bright Blue, Deep Pink, Teal, Burnt Orange and Solar Yellow for $79 on the FilofaxUSA website.

Thank you to Zoe and Susan for the reviews of their 'Twins' I'm sure they will up date us with news as the 'Twins' grow up.

The Twins Have Been Born!

If you saw this post, you may have known a review was coming.  Sorry if I misled anyone, but Zoe and I aren’t expecting actual twins, but rather twin binders.

First, I’d like to thank Jessica Proudfoot at Ideas Network for sending me the Compact Calipso to review.  I am very excited to participate in a review for Filofax.

With that said, on with the show!

Coming to the US from the UK, I thought it would take a long time for the Calipso to arrive and settled myself for an impatient two-week (or longer) wait.  So I was very excited to find this lovely note on my door only a week and a half later:

This is my first “official” package from London.  I didn’t think I would have to sign for it, but it makes sense, seeing as it came from Ideas Network.  Of course, I was working and not at home. It was a Thursday when it arrived, and I knew I would not be able to pick it up until Saturday.  So you can imagine my angst at having to wait (so much so, I almost had my mother pick it up on Friday) knowing it was waiting for me just down the road from my house.  But wait I did, no thanks to the hours held by the United States Post Office.

After picking it up, here’s what I had:

It says Royal Mail and everything—yay!

Inside I got a lovely note from Jess.  What lovely handwriting!

I added her note to my personal Guildford, where I keep all of my Filofax-related notes.

Upon opening the package…

Ahh, see her in all of her teal beauty.  (Pardon the photo colors—my camera doesn’t like to take true-color photos.)

I chose the teal color because I wanted something summery, yet not something that I would easily tire of.  And since I prefer more subdued colors in my planners, the teal fit all of my criteria.  For those seeking more vivid colors, the Calipso also comes in bright blue, deep pink, burnt orange, and solar yellow and is also available in the A5 size.

Here’s a close-up of the snap closure, which is much different from other binders:

The leather on the Calipso is soft and pebbly, much like that of the Finchley, though the “pebbles” are smaller on the Calipso than they are on the Finchley.

Here’s the Filofax “F” on the side:

Now for the insides…

The left interior:

You can see that the card slots are vertical in this binder, as opposed to horizontal, as is the case with most other binders.  I have gotten used to the card slots being the other way, but I love me some vertical slots, so I’m not at all upset about this layout.  You can also see that the pen loop is on the left side, whereas many binders (and all of the ones I own) have it on the right side.

There is a full-length pocket behind the card slots.

Upon first opening, the binder did not lay flat.

The binder comes with a week on one page diary layout.

Being a compact, the rings are 15 mm.

It also has the black Today ruler and A – Z tabs.

There is white notepaper too.

The right interior has a zippered pocket.

The back of the binder:

Those are the features of the binder.  As you can see, it’s pretty similar to most binders.

How did she do in the real world?

First, I love the teal color!  It lives up to my criteria of offering a summery hue without being too loud or too boring.  (The next photo is pretty true to the actual color.)

Although the pen loop is elastic, I found that it still didn’t fit my Uniball Jetstream pen.

If I forced it enough and often, I could probably get the loop to stretch out and get the pen in there easily.  But since I am used to having to put the pen clasp in the loop rather than the pen (I have to do this with my other compact binders), I figured I would go that route with the Calipso as well.

The pen does stick out from the binder a bit.

And at first, the clasp would not snap with the pen inside.

But once I forced it, it was fine, and it now closes without any effort.

I have to say that I don’t love the pen loop being on the left side.  All of my binders have the loop on the right, and since I’m right-handed, it just feels natural to put the pen on that side when I’m finished with it.  However, this is not a deal-breaker for me, and as I’ve been using it, I’ve gotten used to it.  I’d still prefer it on the right, but the left is okay too.

Upon opening the package, and after taking the initial photos, I moved right into the Calipso.  I put all of my items into it to see how it would hold up to everyday use.

Here I have my cards in the slots, some Martha Stewart stickers and some sheets of Russell + Hazel’s sticky to do sheets.

I have to say that although I love the idea of the vertical card slots, they’re not as great in practice, at least with this binder.  Since it’s thicker leather, and since one pocket is stacked on top of another, it creates a bit of bulk in the front.  That makes for skewed left-sided writing.  Again, this isn’t a deal breaker, but something that did annoy me at first.

I was very sad when the binder didn’t lay flat.

This is a must for me.  I can’t stand to use binders that don’t lay flat—when I have to fight with them to write in them, it’s a lost cause and only creates aggravation on my part.

I find that binders with a spine bubble tend to not lay flat.  Sadly, this is one of those binders.  However, seeing as the leather is soft and supple, I very gently bent the binder back on itself just a little.  To my happiness, it now lays flat.

I added my sheets of lists of projects, a year’s worth of monthly inserts, three months of daily pages, and a top-opening envelope at the back.

I don’t typically like zipped pockets since I find them tight and not easy to get into.  And I sorely miss the open full-length pocket in the back where I typically keep a small stack of papers.  However, I came up with a solution.

I simply unzipped the pocket and stuck the papers inside.  Since the pocket is tight to begin with, there isn’t any issue with the papers falling out.

Overall, I am delighted with this binder.  There are a few things I would change, but in the end, they are minor, and so it doesn’t change my opinion of the Calipso.  I mentioned that I moved into it right away—I have not moved out of it since.  It’s a great binder, and the last piece of my seasonal collection (more to come on that).  With her great color and free spirit, I have named her Gypsy.  May she always live carefree.

If you’re thinking of getting a binder from the range, I highly recommend it!  If you have further questions about the binder, please ask away.

Thanks again to Jess at Ideas Network for sending me the Compact Teal Calipso to review and to Steve for hosting my post here on Philofaxy.