Exacompta Gulliver Journal/notebook Review & Mod

[farseer911]

I have used one of these in my briefcase for the past several months and it is really a nice addition. It is a quick little upgraded notebook, that enables me to jot down my daily notes and ideas in a hurry when I need to refer back to them later. I can take this out in a meeting and take notes, I can tear out a page and had it to someone with out fear of it falling apart. It is an all around sturdy professional looking refillable notebook and cover.

 

 

Over all it is about 5^1/2 x 3^1/2 refillable cover. This cover has a nice texture, that is not highly visible, but does offer a very nice tactile feel. and nice visual look. Digital photos always enhance that. It is very durably made, and stitched well.

 

 

As you can see the pen loop is large enough to accommodate a noodlers fountain pen. but not any larger pens... you may be able to stretch it but I would not push it beyond that. I have also put a Pilot Cavalier fountain pen in this as well as just laid in a Pilot Ecrino/Lucina and snapped the snap closed and it was held in quite nicely.

 

 

Both the inside front and back flap you are able to use to store small objects, however the rear flap may interfere with daily use or writing pending on what you place back there. I keep several business cards and other items stuffed in the front.

 

 

The paper itself it a robust 55g... hold on 55g? yes 55g paper. That does surprisingly well in daily use next to its failed 65g cousin we have come to dislike. I use mine with several fountain pens and gel writers. Lets face it we can not carry a fountain pen all the time. And yes I write in pencil from time tot time to, and the paper hold up to mechanical pencil use except from the hardest of leads, but most of us write with the darker leads anyway for daily use.

 

The paper help up to most of my inks but what I had loaded was mostly fines and a few stubs and medium italics. there was no feathering to speak of

 

 

As you can see the paper held up quite well from bleed and only some ghosting (you must allow some give for digital enhancement on this photo it is less than the photo shows) Since I do not use the back of every sheet, some ghosting and bleed would not bother me, but on most pens this would not prevent me from using the rear of the page. My daily pen is a Pilot fine and I have no problems using front and back on a daily basis....

 

After several months the snap remains fresh and working and shows no real signs of wear or failure. For the price on these I can not really go wrong, so I keep a few in reserve for down the line.

 

I think if you are looking for a pocket notebook with cover you would be hard pressed to find a better value for your dollar than the Gulliver or Madeira covers with notebooks.

 

 

 

 

MODS

This mod is pretty simple I did it in about a minute with some Gorilla wood glue and a pair of scissors.

1- Gulliver cover

1- Pocket sized Clairefontaine Life Unplugged Duo

1- Fieldnotes Pocketsized

 

Thas it...

 

Line up the two covers and glue them together with the wood glue....

 

Snip the covers about 1/16 of an inch from the top and bottom about 2 inches in from the opening edge. I guess when I cut so my end cuts do not line up, my OCD does not run that deep....

 

Insert into Cover linerLiner

 

LOOK Lined on one half... graph in the other... like magic... or two notebooks in one... an unholy matrimony of brands.

And Yes I was testing Bay State Blue!!!! I love BSB...

 

 

 

You can do this with Two Duos, But it does not work with two field notes, three there is enough but it still feels a little flimsy. If you want you can still sandwich another Duo on the backside and there would be room, but closure is a bit tight then and you limit your pen size. As it stands with either two duos or a duo and a field note, it is a very comfortable and workable size.

 

 

Any questions just ask---

 

I have received two question asking where these can be purchased. I will tell you they can be had quiet reasonably, along with many other fine items, from many many fine sellers in the classified section right here on the FPN as well as from selected fine Retailers and Webtailers.

Edited August 25, 2011 by farseer911

[KrazyIvan]

You have a lot of nice noteboks in the classifieds. This is one of them.

[farseer911]

You have a lot of nice noteboks in the classifieds. This is one of them.

 

There are quite a lot of nice items listed over there, other than pens... but pen related. Some at a really really good price from a number of great sellers.

[Ghost Plane]

And wait until you see how well wrapped they come I could have one of farseer's parcels air dropped during a hurricane and they'd stay dry.

[Jomammie]

Haha! That is true about the wrapping... notebooks and pads arrive in perfect shape.

[USMCMom]

They do ... every time!

[KrazyIvan]

Just sent ypu a PM on this one. On another note, since the mod witll work with Field Notes Notebooks, it means that the doane paper grid+lines utility notebooks will also work. Doane paper stands up better to fountain pen ink than the Field Notes.

 

http://cache1.bigcartel.com/product_images/2346654/newdpnu1.jpg

[Alliwantis]

Just got mine a while back from Farseer, and just tried this mod with the Duos, they fit really nice and allows me room for other daily items I carry to be placed in there.

 

I couldn't even buy the refill for the cost of the Cover and the refill, possibly the cheapest and the best purchase I ever made on the FPN!!! I got the Red and Black one! This just slips right into my purse... Love it!