[ksskss]

I too received an Exacompta Journal 21 along with a Habana notebook, agreeing to review the product. I additionally received a Habana notebook, which I'll review separately.

There have already been a number of excellent reviews of this Journal 21, so I've struggled as to what to add to what has already been done. There will be some redundancy, just to give some sense of completeness, but I'll try to add some original content. Mine has the Red Soya cover. The cover is well made, impeccably stitched and snugly fits the refill quite precisely. It looks leatherlike at first glance and it looks as if it will hold up quite well, able to provide years of service and be carried about in a bookbag and get more use than just sitting at a desk. The cover is made in Poland. The refill is printed in New York.





The company (Quovadis) has a strong orientation towards environmental concerns, as demonstrated by it's accompanying brochure, emphasizing it's concern with renewable resources and preserving the quality of the stream whose water is used in the production of it's paper. Although there are any number of manufacturers of recycled paper, these are usually of inferior quality, most noticable when using a fountain pen. Here we have paper that uses renewable forests as oppossed to tree farms for their supply of wood based products, including the paper in both this Journal 21 and the Habana. If the paper was not exceptional for fountain pens, honestly this would be of less concern, but the combination of superior paper and concern for both the quality and impact on the environment is certainly worth noting prominently.

Here's the two sides of the inserts included with the product.



More to follow ...


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Ken

[ksskss]

I'm going to include a number of pictures of various pages in the planner then follow it with some writing samples and then some commentary.

Here's the inside back cover, showing where it's printed and the perforated tabs used to mark your place(s) in the journal.




and here's the refil. I'll comment on the cloth strips later.





Here's the semi-annual planner section. Unlike my image the lines are smooth and continuous. It gives you in two pages a siz month overview in six one month strips, giving me enough space for a few comments for any given day. I had no problem writing in these spaces using my Sailor Saibi Togi pen, an extremely fine nib which can be quite sensitive regarding anything short of excellent paper. For me writing with this pen separates 'the men from the boys' in terms of paper quality and here it passes with flying colors. I love having a diary where I can use any of my pens, especially very fine ones! No feathering, crisp lines, no bleedthrough - all I really want.




to be continued ...

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Ken

[ksskss]

There's two pages of holidays, one entirely devoted to international holidays. For me this is quite useful as my wife flies internationally and especially if I'm travelling with her, this can be a big help in terms of me planning my trips.




Similarly, international phone codes are listed but, oddly enough a map of just USA time zones are present. An international map would be far more useful and consistent.





There's also a monthly calendar going from 9/08 to 12/09, preceeding the daily calendar section.



(cont'd)

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Ken

[ksskss]

The daily diary pages are the majority of the planner as is expected. The format is extremely simple, with time slots marked off ever half hour. There's a clear area (unlined) near the top of the page along with a bit more info - a monthly calendar, what week of the year it is (on a given date) and how many days it is until the first and last day of the year. The month is also marked along the side of the page in a pale lavendar background enhanced black print text, done so that you can see these from the side of the page with the planner closed. The Day, Month and Date are at the top of the page.

The layout is simple, but to me this allows flexibility. I can draw a line down the middle of the page and just use the left side for time sensitive information, use the entire page to write a diary type note or use the page for appointments. The clear space above can also be used flexibly. Thus my initial impressions of the diary were written (albiet in my scrawling handwriting) along with Ink samples.

It seems a waste of paper to not use each page, so I would have no problem using 'slow day' pages for more extensive notes. A nice page is a terrible thing to waste ...






Due to image reduction, the lines in the pictures are not crisp, however the printing in the planner is flawless.

The refill is well constructed and plain white paper (cardstock) on the outside. Now individual pages have removable tabs, however, and this is probably my one real complaint, a ribbon used as a marker would have been nice. However with just a bit of ingenuity, it can be easily added. There is a space between the binding and the cover, so I threaded a ribbon through this space, tied a knot at the top and Voilla - TWO bookmarks - one for the daily section, and one for the monthly section! The tabs are nice, but I prefer ribbons. Both would be fine too.












(cont'd)

[ksskss]

OK so how well does the paper 'work' for fountain pens? In a word, excellent. It is perhaps, for me, the single most important criteria in a planner. Afterall, most any planner will let you write in it, but good paper is critical to me as a writing experience for a fountain pen user. I have a low(normal) resolution image of various ink samples along with a small first impression in my usual scrawl at the bottom of a page using Sailor Kiwaguro ink in a Sailor 1911 XF nib. The line immediately preceding it was written using a Saibi Togi nib, which is roughly an XXXXF nib.

The paper is not as white as the Clairfontaine paper used in the notepad (gridded 5mm squares). It is also SLIGHTLY less smooth than this paper, almost imperceptably so, something that only the most fanatic might notice ( e.g., me). While I note this difference, it is truly insignificant. I'm perfectly happy with the paper. I had no instnaces of bleed through, no feathering, no complaints.

The higher resolution picture shows the printing on the page as well as the ink samples more clearly, but is obviously slower to load.

My overall impression is quite favorable and I will use this as my daily planner. The size is just right for me - big enough for writing a substantial amount on a busy day and portable enough to keep with me.

There's also a yearly planner for the upcoming year and an area for addresses (not pictured) at the end of the planner.



and here's the larger version

http://www.kenss.com/pens/j21/j217inklarge.jpg


(finis)

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Ken

[ksskss]

I do want to add a special note of thanks to Karen Doherty, Vice President, Marketing, Exaclair, Inc, who generously provided me with this journal to review. This is obviously a company proud of their products and for good reason.

I hope this review adds to the already great reviews that have been done on this product.

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Ken

[Ghost Plane]

Thank you for your brilliant demo and idea for adding ribbon markers!

I have this, also thanks to Karen, and the paper is awesome even with my Bs and BBs using supersaturated ink.