Exaclair Madness Reviews

UPDATE: GIVEAWAY CLOSED!!!

Exaclair Madness!



Soo... recently I received quite a few goodies from Karen at Exaclair: a 2010 Quo Vadis Equology Sapa X planner, a Clairefontaine Basic, and a large Quo Vadis Habana. Instead of doing three individual reviews, I thought "why not do one BIG review?", complete with all the wonderful products Exaclair sent me (which I appropriately drafted on my Rhodia A4 pad, with a pen filled with J. Herbin Éclat de Saphir ink :o))

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="Quo Vadis Equology Sapa X"][/caption]

Our first test subject is the Equology Sapa X planner. The eco Sapa X is made from 85% recycled materials, and is refillable. It has a cool cover that's sort of rubbery with a bumby-ish texture, but not sticky (upon inquiry, I found it's made from latex).

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Logo and cover detail"][/caption]

The planner is in a one-week-per-two-pages format (weekly), which I like.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="weekly spread"][/caption]

Sadly it also has the little time stamps (which thankfully are easy to blot out), though it makes it all up with the plain (un-ruled) pages... Doodlers rejoice!

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="plain pages :)"][/caption]

Another handy little feature they added was the little section for notes at the bottom left side of the notebook, for every week,

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Notes detail"][/caption]

and two blank pages at the beginning of each month, again, for notes.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Notes spread"][/caption]

My only true gripe about this planner, is the paper. I know they tried hard, but the grey-ish 64g paper is definitely not fountain pen friendly.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Ink tests"][/caption]

Heavy show-through,  and feathering make this planner suitable for ballpoints, pencils (<3), and fine (0.5) point roller/gel pens.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="show-through :("][/caption]

Aside from the paper though, I would recommend this planner to anyone who wants a good, refillable , pocket-sized planer, that's eco-friendly. Any FP users though, from what I've read the Quo Vadis Scholar Planner has thicker paper, and will stand up to bleed though, THIS IS WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR!

The Clairefontaine Basic, is what you would expect it to be: a very basic notebook. The cover is a somewhat laminated cardboard, and the notebook is cloth bound (great, since I despise spirals). The notebook measures 20.5 cm x 15 cm (about 6 x 8 ?), and comes in a variety of colors. The one Karen sent me is a pleasant green color,

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Clairefontaine Basic"][/caption]

with the spine being a darker shade (it might look a little worn since I'm using this for NaNoWriMo :) great notebook!!!).

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="spine detail (it's not as light as it appears in the picture!)."][/caption]

One slight thing that I noticed, (which personally, I don't mind... but you know how people are), was that the cover was slightly mis-aligned on the front (with the binding). The back cover was fine.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="the front cover is uneven. no biggie though!"][/caption]

What really makes this notebook special though, is the premium, smooth, extra-white 90 g/sm Clairefontaine paper "The best paper in the World for writing", a statement they have truly sold me on.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="Ink test "][/caption]

The colors show nicely. Blacks are black, blues are blue etc. Drying times were a bit slower, but it is to be expected with smoother, thicker papers.
Anyways, if you don't mind (or prefer) the very basic design (lack of strap and back pocket), but (and) still want the excellent paper (and considerably cheaper price tag, this notebook will be perfect for you. You can purchase them here (chill, I'm not affiliated with them in any way).

The last notebook I'm going to review here is the Quo Vadis Habana.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Quo Vadis Habana"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="without the... whatchamacallit "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="details details details..."][/caption]

This large, 15 cm x 25 cm (6" x 9") notebook is bound in black leather. There are 80 sheets (160 pages) of the premium Clairefontaine paper (same as in the Basic, except the lines in this notebook are grey, vs the Basic's purple). The notebook has a great feel to it, though I wish it had more pages since these will go by quickly considering the wide-ish rule.
The notebook has a black elastic strap, and a polyester bookmark that looks as though it might fray :( (would recommend heat sealing it),

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="looks like it might fray... :("][/caption]

and a pocket in the back.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Back pocket "][/caption]

Also, incase you didn't get it already, this is not a pocket sized notebook, they do make an A6 version, though the paper is different (64g). Another thing that would get on my nerves about this notebook is that the corners overlap, a lot. And for some reason the front cover doesn't overlap as much as the back cover.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="uneven covers :("][/caption]

Just beware that the corners might crush if you have it in your bag a lot. More features: covers bend back all the way around,

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="flexy :)"][/caption]

it spreads flat,

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="spreads flat (sorry for the bad quality pic...)"][/caption]

and it's pretty thin (good and bad thing, as mentioned above).
Anyways, I would definitely recommend this notebook to anyone that writes. Really. It's just that great. I really love the extra-white paper, some people might not, I do. Just a personal preference (though if you prefer ivory paper, check out the Rhodia Webnotebook). You can purchase these notebooks here

Now here comes the cool part... I'm going to be giving away a Quo Vadis Habana... to 1 lucky winner. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post saying whatever you want (entries are limited to 1 per person), and I'll come around on the November 18th (next Wednesday) and pick a winner (using a random number generator). The winner will be posted on the 18th.

UPDATE: GIVEAWAY CLOSED :(

Good Luck,

SirCram