PlannerCon Europe - Packing

So it is the usual dilemma I'm facing today... which organisers to take with me to PlannerCon!! I would love to take quite a few, but the main issue is carrying them all!

So I have to make up my mind today.

So far the pile is looking like this:

And in-case you don't recognise them they are top left my Van der Spek Custom A5 which is the equivalent of my 'daily-driver' these days, next to it another Van der Spek Custom A5 which partners with the other one to hold the other half of my pages, information pages, reference information etc.

Then in the bottom row we have a new purchase a Filofax Fusion A5 organiser/iPad case and next to that my Gillio/Van der Spek hybrid, with a Gillio A5 Mia Cara outer-jacket and a Van der Spek Custom A5 organiser section!

The Fusion might look out of its league in such expensive company, but I actually quite like the practical design a lot and it lets me mix analogue and digital quite well. It has a 20mm organiser section which can be removed and the iPad holder I adapted to take my iPad Pro and Bluetooth keyboard so I can remain productive and keep things organised in one neat rugged package.

The Fusion ready for action!

Filofax Malden iPad case

I reviewed the Pennybridge iPad case earlier this year. The Malden I'm reviewing today is very similar in design except it is made from the lovely soft buffalo leather which the Malden range is renowned for.

The iPad case offers a place to hold your iPad with access to all of the controls and the camera, whilst on the opposite side there are a range of card slots and a pocket to hold a notepad if you wish.

There is also an A5 organiser which slots in to an outer edge pocket. This organiser is fitted with 20 mm rings, smaller than an normal A5.

The rings themselves fit on to a black plastic stiff card and then there is a leather cover that wraps around the rings to form the spine and front cover.

The cover is very soft and pliable, the inside is lined with a contrasting textile lining.  The organiser cover has a padded section that cushions the rings against the iPad screen.

A fixed elasticated pen loop is located on the inside edge of the card slots and will take a wide range of pen sizes.

The frame around the iPad is quite think leather but if doesn't intrude in to your use of the iPad at all.

On the outside of the case on the rear there is a  slot pocket which could be used for loose papers etc.

Conventionally the iPad is on the right and the organiser and/or note pad is on the left. But I discovered that you can invert the case and without removing the iPad, just have the home button at the top, the screen auto rotates around and then if you prefer you can use the case with the notepad on the right and the iPad on the left.

The notepad slot is open top and bottom so that will work either way up.

With the organiser rings only being 20 mm and I'm used to using a 25 or 30mm A5 I thought it might be a bit of a challenge to fit everything I normally need in to the organiser.

The iPad case comes with a Filofax week per page diary insert and a set of dividers, a paper flysheet and an A5 notepad. So I removed the contents and set about putting my own set up on to the rings.

My full A-Z contact list and website information sheets went in as they are now. I added some to-do sheets and some lined note paper.

I then looked at the diary. My current Week per View diary which is the Enhanced TM Week View insert, for a full 12 months is a bit bulky as it is printed on 80gsm paper. So as a compromise I printed off a Week per Page, insert, the one I had devised with appointments and task columns. Going back through my last few months as I don't have many appointments and rarely do they take up a full line of text, I could live with this reduction of space easily.  Note, I'm still using paper for my calendar and contacts! This particular insert I designed for use with my A4 Classic, but it works fine with my A5 as well.

So I settled on the Week per Page insert and printed it off and punched it to suit and that went in to the A5 organiser as well. I was quite surprised there was still space to spare. I looked at what other pages I regularly look at in my desk A5, and moved the blog month per page diary insert across as well, putting that in to another section. And adding another ruler so I can can flick between inserts easily.

I then zipped up the case and felt the weight of it with the iPad and pages in there. Quite a heft, and it tips the scales at just under 1.5 kilogrames about three pounds in old money!  But the case easily fits in my messenger bag and that would be my usual method of carrying it.

I've found having both the iPad and the organiser together in one place quite convenient, during this last week or so. I've found that if the organiser is needed separately it is very easy to pull out of the slot and use it on it's own or to leave it on the desk and just grab the case and use the iPad on it's own with the notepad.

Thank you to Ideas Network for supplying this review sample.

The Malden A5 iPad case is available from Filofax UK and other retailers. Apple iPad not included!

Filofax Malden iPad Sleeve

I'm finding more and more often these days that I need to use my Filofax personal organiser at the same time I'm using my iPad.

If it's not to look up user names, it is to jot some thing down or to record something in a place I can find it. Yes having multiple computers and devices that can access the internet is ok, but if you can't remember which one it was you were using to view a site, then putting it in my Filofax organiser is the one solid central point to store things... and it won't get wiped out by some sort of data corruption...

So as you know I'm a big Malden fan... cough yes that is like an admission of guilt I know! But a matching iPad sleeve... well why not..

Thank you to Ideas Network for supplying iPad sleeve review sample.

So here it is in Ochre, it is also available in Aqua. The styling is instantly recognisable as Filofax Malden. Made in vintage-look buffalo leather.

On the reverse side there is a slide in pocket which is textile lined.

The interior is lined with a suede type of material, so as to not scratch the screen or the back of your iPad or similar size tablet device.

It also comes with a dust bag

As you can see it's a perfect match for my Filofax Ochre Personal size Malden

The closure tab isn't attached to the back of the sleeve, instead it attaches to an elasticated web which when pulled eases the iPad out of the sleeve enough to be able to pull it out. It's a tight snug fit.

The pocket on the reverse side will take a standard size note book or similar size papers.

The Filofax Malden iPad sleeve is available in Ochre and Aqua for £50. If you visit the Filofax UK website they are also offering it with the Stylus Pen as a gift set. This is an excellent deal at £55. I bought the Stylus ballpoint pen recently and it's excellent for use with my iPad or iPhone.

You can also buy iPhone holders too, I bought this black one. Again the tab helps you extract the phone from the holder. Available for both the iPhone 4/4S and earlier models,  as well as the iPhone 5/5S/5C in the Sale at £24 each. These holders also take the iPod Touch as well.

Ideal presents for someone who admires your Filofax Malden... but may be can't be persuaded to use one?

Filofax Pennybridge A5 Organiser iPad Case

Are Filofax trying to tempt us out of using pen and paper? Hmmm good question I thought... I'm a keen user of technology, I'm using my 27" quad core Apple iMac to write this post.

I own an iPad, an iPod Touch, all very useful gadgets for keeping in touch with people, reading blog comments, sending messages on Twitter and checking Facebook. But I stay locked to my Filofax for planning my daily life and keeping myself on track... yes all these gadgets are beautifully synced effortlessly together via iCloud. Add an appointment on one of them and as if by magic it appears on any of the others in the click of a finger..... so why is it I don't use them.

Too slow for me... whilst they might sync in the click of a finger, I don't find making entries for appointments as quick and simple as picking up a pen, glancing at my open Malden, which remains my faithful companion by my side on the desk next to my iMac shiny slim keyboard.

Neither is checking to see if I'm free for a conference call this week or next week. I can glance down whilst touch typing my email or tweet and spot the gap, look back up and continue to type with hardly a pause in my click click click rattling typing.

No, I can't do that if I have to open another app dive in to a day, then go back to the app I was communicating with. I just doesn't work for me..... 

So why would I want a Filofax that can hold an iPad? Another good question....   Well after many Wednesdays of 'throwing my hat in to the ring' for the Filofax 'Win Wednesday' competition, I got lucky and won this Pennybridge A5 Organiser iPad Case, to give it its full title.

The Pennybridge organiser came with a standard fill of:

• Transparent flyleaf
• Week on one page multil-anguage diary
• Ruler/page marker
• Six blank tab index - plain cream
• White ruled notepad

Please note that the iPad is not included! Please also note that this case is for the regular size iPad not the iPad Mini.

Remembering that the organiser section only has 20mm rings you can see why they have opted for a week on one page diary. The note pad fits in to a slot on the left hand side of the case but it then covers up the card slots.

I think I would be tempted to remove the notepad and just carry a few sheets of ruled or blank paper in the organiser, because then you wouldn't be writing on a 'bumpy' surface of the cards.

If I was using this organiser/case to attend meetings or a conference I could easily adapt my set up from my desk A5 Malden with 30mm rings to fit in to the smaller 20 mm rings of the Pennybridge organiser. You would have to be regimented, but it would be possible I'm sure.  

The rings are fitted on the back cover of the organiser which is made of a stiff plastic.

At first I wasn't convinced about the layout with the iPad on the right and the organiser on the left. But the organiser is very easy to remove so you can use it out of the case and slot it back in again so it's not really an issue.

The case has all the cut outs for the iPad, for the docking connector, speaker, microphone, camera lens, on-off button and volume control. Although I do find accessing the power button and the volume control slightly difficult because of the stiffness of the case.  Using the iPad in landscape mode in this case isn't so easy as it is with my normal iPad case.

Volume control and lock switch

Docking connector and speaker

Camera cutout

To put the iPad in to the case was simple enough, you just slide out a foam packing card and slide in the iPad.

With the standard fill as supplied and the iPad installed the total weight of the case is 1.44 kg, yes quite heavy, but my A5 Malden that sits on my desk is 1.07 kg, but that does have a lot more pages in it.

Adding in some more diary pages to take it up to more or less the capacity of the rings took the weight up over 1.5 kg.

Whilst the case looks quite bulky,  in fact it tapers from the outer edge to the spine which is factionally thinner, so it is very easy to carry. Being zipped, all the contents are kept secure and away from the elements.

The Pennybridge has a slightly bigger foot print compared to an A5 Malden

On the back of the Pennybridge there is a useful slot pocket, no zip on this so you can easily slide in a brochure or a few sheets of A5 paper or folder A4 paper. If you were at a conference or an exhibition this set up would work very well, for looking things up on websites and jotting down notes or appointments in the organiser.

Naturally I would have loved to have won the Malden version of this case/organiser.. not that I consider the Pennybridge that much the 'poor cousin' of the Malden. The Pennybridge didn't have any horrible plastic smell when I opened it, it is soft to touch, practical in terms of care and durability. Oh and if you are paying real money the Pennybridge is considerably cheaper!

Filofax UK have done a simple video for both the Pennybridge and the Malden iPad cases, they are the same design, but the Malden is in leather instead of a simulated leather. It also comes with a 20mm ring size organiser.



I have to declare that I didn't buy this particular Filofax, it was a prize and therefore a free gift from Filofax.

Mixing Paper and Digital Devices

I can hear the cries of Nooooo as soon as you have read the title... but if the thought doesn't scare you too much do read on....

I am putting my A5 Malden on a diet for my trip back to UK, the aim to reduce its overall weight as I have a limited carry on baggage allowance only for the trip.

Whilst removing spare pages, I also removed the pad at the back.

As you can see I'm not regularly using the pad anyway as the page corners get a little bent.

Once removed it gives you a useful pocket. I want to take my Kindle, but not in it's own case, another weight and bulk saving. It fits neatly in to the pocket.

 

And it pushes down in neatly

The Kindle is about the same thickness as the writing pad so it doesn't add any bulk to the A5. 

I already knew the iPod Touch fitted in my Pocket Chameleon zip pocket, but I hadn't tried the same trick in the Malden notepad pocket. 

It fits too and I can also slot the note pad back in again as well. But in this size of Filofax the iPod does add quite a bit of weight to the Filofax.

Then I had to try the iPad. It obviously doesn't fit in the A5... too big. But it will fit in the note pad slot of my A4 Classic... ! But I have a very good slim leather case for the iPad already so I doubt if I will be bringing the A4 out of retirement just yet!

Let's just say I had to try these ideas out... something else to tick off on the list of ideas! Photos apart from the last two taken with my iPad!