Rocketbook Smart Reusable Notebook - Dot-Grid Eco-Friendly Notebook with 1 Pilot Frixion Pen & 1 Microfiber Cloth Included
[{'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2017', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "This product amazed me and exceeded my expectations. It works exceptionally and as described. The Rocketbook app is so simple and easy to use. The scanning is perfect, it captures the colors, exposes the page with the right lighting, and crops and adjusts the page properly. Each scan takes less than a second, and you can combine multiple pages into one scan and upload them as one document.\nThis is brilliant and I am so glad I purchased this product because it is perfect for school. I have seven classes and so I assigned each symbol in the notebook to my respective Google Drive folders. Some people say that the symbols aren't relatable and its difficult to relate the symbols in the notebook to a class or something. What i did is just assigned my first period class with the first symbol, second period with the second symbol, and so on. The Frixion highlighters and pens erase easily with the included erasers on the pens and effortlessly with a damp microfiber cloth (I provided the link to a very compact microfiber cloth that I use, I'd highly recommend it). Anyways, the product is great, and definitely worth the $35.\n\nPro tip: use clear tape on the inside cover page where the symbols are. This way if you change a class or something you can just remove the tape, put new tape on and write a new label for the symbol\n\nI recommend several other products to use with this notebook. These are the best deals I could find. I have purchased these and have tried them with the Rocketbook Everlast.\nFrixion highlighters : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J50MSTM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1\nFrixion clicker pens 0.7 mm : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J50MSTM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1\nFrixion four color pen 0.5 mm (great for taking notes) : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OPODGHQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1\nFrixion eraser : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IPP9FW6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&p\nCompact microfiber cloth: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001A0C7E6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1"}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2017', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-4 review-rating', 'review_body': "Rocketbook vs. Elfinbook: I use both and here is my opinion.\n\nEach of these books has their pros and cons. Hopefully I can outline both for you from my perspective so you can see what you prefer.\n\nPaper: Rocketbook uses a paper that feels more plastic and thin. Elfinbook paper feels more substantial and the ink takes to it much faster. Rocketbook uses a square dot grid pattern, while Elfinbook has lines, much like a normal notebook. So when you scan from Rocketbook, it comes across looking like you just wrote on copy paper (no lines) while Elfinbook comes across with lines for more of that notebook look. For my preference, and others that I've let test, Elfinbook was the clear winner here.\n\nSize: Somewhat arbitrary as I'm guessing both have different sizes. Rocketbook is more of a personal notebook size...think DayTimer size. Elfinbook was larger and a little less convenient to carry around. The drawback with Rocketbook is the size does prohibit the amount of info you can put on a single page. More pages mean more scanning and organizing. Elfinbook held more notes obviously and it is nicer to have more space for sketches, thoughts etc. I call this one a draw, as it is a personal preference. I personally prefer the smaller size.\n\nPage Turning: Odd category I know, but that is why I included it here as I never thought it was a big deal...until now. Hands down, Rockebook wins here with being able to turn the pages just like a spiral bound notebook. Elfinbook, with its thicker pages required me to open the book and fidget with the pages and spine to complete a page turn...without being concerned of ripping near the spine. Rocketbook you can treat like the old school notebooks: flip pages behind current page and keep going. Elfinbook required a lot of effort for me to even want to try and do that.\n\nApp Integration: Rocketbook gives you multiple options to instantly send your notes just by simply making the symbol on the page. You've previously told the app where each symbol will send the note. Rocketbook seamlessly reads that and bingo, your document shows up where you told it. Elfinbook is more of a manga process. You have to pick where you want it each time. That becomes a hassle if you use the book for multiple entries (work, personal, diary etc) and have to continually switch where you want it to go. With Rocketbook, I could use 10 pages, each with a different place to go to the cloud just by marking the symbol, take the scan and you are good to go...no delays, no switching after each scan. Rocketbook takes this category.\n\nApp: Hands down, Rocketbook's app is more polished. Elfinbook has a ways to go and could be superior with a few updates. Their OCR is horrible (Rocketbook doesn't offer that). Elfinbook has a burst type mode and does seem to capture pages faster with its dark border recognition feature. I give this to Rocketbook again, it is just a more polished app.\n\nAll in all, I would take elements of each book to create a better one. I continue to use both, but want my Rocketbook to have lines on the paper, and have the thicker paper from Elfinbook."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2017', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-4 review-rating', 'review_body': "If I could give it 4.5 stars I would be happy. Love the idea and the actual functioning of it. It'll be easier to just have my things on my phone, tablet, and computer. I send them to my Google Drive and it works like a charm. This book is literal magic. It's easy to write on: doesn't necessarily FEEL like paper (but then again it isn't, so why feel that way?) but the Frixion pens write really well on it regardless. Be careful and allow a few extra seconds for the ink to dry so that it won't smudge. I set it up so that immediately after I scan it, it will show up into my drive.\nThe reason for 4/4.5 stars instead of 5 is that many colors of Frixion brand pens do not show up well or at all. If you typically write your notes in black, blue, or red ink this is not a problem. I fell in love with the Frixion pens a few years ago and since then have exclusively bought Frixion brand. They are trusty; they write smoothly and erase well every time as long as the eraser is clean. I have the gel pens, the click pens, the markers, the pastel highlighters, and one regular yellow highlighter in this brand (i have a problem lmao) but I am a student and I use my pens all day long. They don't bleed through regular paper or anything. When a friend showed me this book I had to have it (what can I say, I am an office supply slut) and bought it immediately.\nI'm going to attach my test pictures so that you can know which things work best with the Everlast Rocketbook.\nI've included a color key at the bottom and highlighted which colors show up mostly true to color so that you can buy ones that are more likely to look nice once scanned. The pens stay put really well, the black marker fades easily, but overall the colors will show up.\nPens: All of the pens showed up once scanned. Some looked more like black than their actual color (1, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25)\nMarkers: All of the markers showed up once scanned. Some looked discolored (35, 36, 37)\nPastel Highlighters: So disappointed! They are beautiful colors but the only one that showed up was the yellow (41).\n\nI uploaded the scan and also took a picture of the page itself to show the difference in colors. Hope this was helpful!!\n\nOverall, I love love love this product and will keep using it and recommending it to others (along with the Frixion pens!!)"}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2017', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'I have tested this note with some of different Frixion pens.\nThese are:\n• Frixion 0.7mm Black ink (One came with this note)\n• Frixion 0.5mm Blue ink\n• Frixion 0.4mm Blue ink\n• Frixion 0.38mm Black ink\n• Frixion 0.38mm Blue ink\n• Frixion 0.38mm Orange ink\n\nI also compared the scan quality of Rocketbook app and iPhone 5S default camera.\n\nHope this helps.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-3 review-rating', 'review_body': "I loved the idea of this notebook, but I had a few major issues with it. Would have tried to keep using it but the cons we're just too much:\n\nPros:\n- scanning/app we're great, a good way to stay organized\n- light dot pattern is really nice for bullet journaling\n- not a huge heavy notebook to carry around\n- fits into most of my bags easily\n- can fix mistakes with a wet tissue\n\nCons:\n- it's really the pens that make this work, not the book\n- writing takes forever to dry, the highlighters we're even worse on this, not drying even overnight (worked fine on regular paper)\n- smudge smudge smudge!!\n- after wiping away, there is still a ghost of all of my writing\n- washing the whole notebook is a pain and you have to open it to dry each page individually\n- if you wipe too hard, you destroy the surface of the pages and it doesn't work afterwards"}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2017', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-3 review-rating', 'review_body': "Before I go any further, please let me advise you all to ignore some advice included in one of the other reviews for this notebook. It is not recommended to use clear tape over the Table of Contents on the inside of the front cover. This damages the paint on the inside cover and renders the Table of Contents completely unusable. Please see the attached pic to see what sort of damage this can cause. Don't make the same mistake I did.\n\nMy intentions for this journal was to provide me a more private way to journal while also not wasting paper. It was meant to replace a diary, planner, and a school notebook. In most respects, it has achieved that.\n\n[Pros]\n\n- Method of erasing pages is efficient\n- Scanning papers into the app is easy\n- Scans are clean and easy to read\n\n[Cons]\n\n- Odd sizing for the smaller version of this notebook makes it difficult to find a cover for it, and the cover it ships with is of very poor quality.\n- Paint on the cover is very easily removed\n- The cover is warping out of shape, and I have only had this book for a month.\n- You're limited in pen size and pen color.\n\nFor day to day use, this reusable notebook is a head above the competition, and I'm completely pleased with both the quality of the scans and the ease with which the scans are completed. I believe that with a better cover, this notebook would easily become a 5/5 product. I'm considering rebinding it, and will update this review if I do choose to do so."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2017', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-3 review-rating', 'review_body': 'It\'s a great idea, but has a few shortcomings. For what it\'s worth, I ordered a four pack bundle from the Indiegogo campaign. We got two executive size notebooks (for my wife and myself), and two letter size (for our kids). Long before we received our notebooks, I installed the app and tried it out with the downloadable pages you can get from their website; I also ordered a pack of Frixion pens to try out.\n\nMake no mistake: the magic here is really in the pens (without which this product simply wouldn\'t work) and the app. I won\'t review the pens here, but since the app is integral to the use of the notebook\'s reusability, I will mention a few things about it, but first the notebook.\n\nIt\'s an extremely nice notebook; the covers are very durable, the back is quite firm which allows you to write most anywhere without needing a firm surface to put the notebook on. I like the look of the pages; it\'s a grid of dots that helps you keep your writing and pictures from being crooked. In the bottom corner (left or right depends on whether you are on the "top" or "back" of the page) is a QR code, and along the bottom are a number of icons. These are used together by the app.\n\nThe concept is that you can write in your notebook, scan the pages, wipe the pages clean, and reuse it "infinitely." It\'s a wonderful concept - I can\'t imagine how much paper would be saved if all students used something like this instead of paper. My work involves a variety of technical things that I\'m constantly taking notes for. I go through a couple of 150 page notebooks a year. With the Rocketbook, I can scan my notes at the end of the week and wipe the pages clean.\n\nHowever, all is not as wonderful as I\'d like it to be. I know they did a lot of work trying to get the pages as paper-like as possible without sacrificing reusability, but it falls short. The pages seem somewhat glossy, and the Frixion pen (the "clicker" style - I think .5mm) struggles to work as well on the Rocketbook pages as it does on paper. It works, but it\'s not that great. The .7mm capped style Frixion pens I bought seem to work a bit better, but they still don\'t come close to writing as well as they do on paper. The pages also do not absorb the ink (I suppose that\'s part of the point). While Frixion pens are pretty smudge free after just a few seconds, the ink stays wet for much longer on Rockebook pages.\n\nThe inside cover of the book has an index of the icons that are shown on each page, with space for you to write what each icon represents (again, more about the app below), but the cover is very glossy, and the Frixion pens don\'t write well on it at all. I suppose it\'s not something they thought you\'d be erasing - perhaps they thought you\'d use a fine marker, or at least a different style pen... but I like to keep my options open, especially having had it such a short time, and may want to change around how I do things, so I\'d rather keep it erasable.\n\nNow about the app; firstly, this app is free. That\'s great - I think it should be after buying a $30 18 page notebook (for the executive style, counting pages like any normal notebook would count pages). So you need to sign up for an account, which I didn\'t have a problem with; I\'ve been signed up for months and have not received any spam from them or their partners (I use the gmail "+rocketbook" trick, so I\'d know if they were selling my email address). The app has two basic functions: scan and send. This is where, for each icon on the bottom of the pages, you can select where you want your document to go. For example, the first icon is their little Rockebook insignia; in the app I configured that icon to save a PDF to a particular folder in my Google Drive account. A number of different services are supported, including DropBox, or you can configure it to send email to a particular account. On each page in your notebook, you check or "X" the icon representing what it is you\'re taking notes about, and when you scan in your notes, that\'s where they go.\n\nScanning takes a little getting accustomed to. Definitely prefer a lot of light; the app guides you on centering up the page you want to scan; it lets you know when it\'s scanning, and if it\'s good. You then immediately move on to the next page - you do not have to press a button to scan, you just position over the page, when it\'s good it scans, then you move onto the next page, and repeat until you\'re done. If you\'ve configured to auto-send, it will do just that; otherwise, if you\'re happy with the scans, you tap the green check icon and it uploads to your accounts (or email, or whatever you configured).\n\nThere\'s some magic in the scans - even if you were off angle or not centered up perfectly, the app uses the guides on the page to automatically correct for distortions and center up just your page. For whatever reason, when I scanned in the first six pages of notes I took this week, only on the last page did it seem to struggle... it couldn\'t seem to find the top corners, the "correction" actually made the scan worse than if it had just taken it verbatim without editing. I was fairly straight on. Luckily, you can tap on the scanned images and delete them and try again. All but the last page scanned perfectly, and only when I moved to where lighting was slightly different (it was all fairly bright, though), was I able to capture the full page correctly.\n\nA few moments later, and I can look up the PDF in my Google drive account. Excellent.... just need to make sure you have really good lighting and a good angle on the notebook.\n\nThe bottom line is it\'s a great idea; I like the styling and concept of the notebook. The pens are great whether you use them with Rocketbook or not; the app is excellent. The problem is in the paper. You could conceivably just print a bunch of their test pages (downloadable from their website); maybe even take the PDF to a printer and have them make a notebook for you. No idea how much that would cost. Alternative, Rocketbook DOES sell a regular paper "single use" notebook with 140 pages. I do not have one. Given the way they count pages, it might only be 70, which makes sense when compared to other "standard" spiral bound notebooks. Still, even at 140, the price they are asking puts the cost at over 10 cents a page. That doesn\'t seem very cost effective. In any event, either of these options defeats the ideal of saving paper.\n\nI will continue to use my Rocketbook. I like the results, I like having my variety of notes stored in their own folders, in chronological order (the app will include the date in the filename if you don\'t change it). I will continue trying both the .5mm and .7mm pens, and I may just use a sticky note inside the front cover to remind me of what my icons are linked to. I don\'t know if there\'s a great solution. Perhaps a decent tablet computer (something that needs a quality active pen). Simply typing notes doesn\'t work for me - too many diagrams and arrows pointing all over the place in my notes; extra notes scribbled in margins, etc. There\'s also the fact you can use Frixion highlighters, too, which is something the kids need.\n\nIf you feel the need to organize your notes "in the cloud," or really want to save paper, this might be a great choice for you if you\'re willing to put up with something other than "real" paper. I\'ve been using regular paper for decades, I\'ve gotten accustomed to it; perhaps given time I can get accustomed to this.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'The ink reacts poorly with heat. If you leave this notebook anywhere outdoors, in a hot car, storage unit, suitcase, etc, the ink will disappear. I left this notebook in my car, and all of my notes were unreadable the next day. Please be careful buying this if you live in a warm climate.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': " I actually bought this one for my husband who got jealous when he saw my Rocketbook. He has many projects at work going on at once and this version had all the features he needs to keep organized, update easily on his phone and share with those on the projects quickly. So far he says it's been great. I love that it's portable and reusable. The fact that I can set up multiple destinations makes it perfect for me to use for both work and home. As a teacher I was already in love with frixion pens so the fact that Rocketbook uses them meant I already had multiple color options besides the black pen that came with it. (you can see the quick video I made demoing what I've done so far with it.) My daughter also likes to use it to draw pictures which I can save digitally."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2017', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-3 review-rating', 'review_body': 'I\'ve had my "Rocketbook Everlast" for about two months now. I take tons of notes for work, and I figured this would be cheaper than going through a traditional notebook every month or two. And those notebooks take up quite a bit of space after a while. I work in a financial office, so having good-looking tools for my work is important to me.\n---------\nThis product has two main physical components: interior pages, and a cover. Made of different materials. At first glance this might seem beyond silly to point out, but the difference is what brought my review down to only three stars.\n\nThe interior pages are wonderful, sturdy and durable. I give them a solid five stars for quality, and three for quantity. They\'re tough, tear-resistant, and easily erased with a damp cloth or paper towel as advertised. I use my Rocketbook five days a week, erase it around once a week, and when wiped clean the pages look good as new. Scanning them into my phone is pretty simple, and very quick once you get the hang of it. When it takes multiple tries to scan, it\'s because of user error or bad lighting, not the app\'s fault. Setup for how and where to send the image files is a breeze.\nI\'d love to have more of them so I wouldn\'t have to erase as often... but since I\'ve never run out in a single day, this isn\'t THAT much of an issue for me personally.\n\nThe front cover, however, I have a problem with. It seems to be made of a heavier version of the inside paper, and is starting to show signs of wear far faster than the rest of the book. The matte black finish is scraped through in a couple spots and showing its white core, and there are a few other scuff marks. Most of these appeared in the first couple weeks, before I started storing it between two other books in my bag to protect it. The back cover is a sturdy, rigid, lightly textured plastic sheet that also still looks good as new. Could the front cover someday be made of something similar, with the "table of contents" page being the next page in?\n\nIf you don\'t care how your notebook looks, this won\'t be an issue for you. School notes or personal use, I wouldn\'t care if it got visibly beat up as long as my work inside was kept intact. However for my purposes I want my work tools to look fresh and professional, so seeing the cover become superficially worn much faster than the rest of the book is a huge disappointment.\n\nThis is the only thing stopping me from giving Rocketbook Everlast an enthusiastic five stars. With a name like "Everlast" I expected more.'}]