Quo Vadis Minister review

February 25, 2009

Well, this review has been rather a long time in coming, but here it is nonetheless. Around the end of last year I signed up to review Quo Vadis's planners, and opted to receive the Minister, which is a large-by-my-standards (16x24cm) planner - much too large to pocket, but it fits pretty well in my laptop bag, which is where it's been living. I haven't used it quite as much as I'd like, but I think this is largely due to my having gotten used to writing little notes to myself and leaving them all over my desk - writing them in the planner would probably be a lot more helpful.

http://www.gdmitchell.com/pens/qvm-closed.jpg

For scale - the Minister with my pocket-sized Habana notebook and my VP:

http://www.gdmitchell.com/pens/qvm-scale.jpg

First impressions are pretty good, though I wouldn't mind a slightly-thicker cover (the Minister has the same cover as my pocket Habana, in the same thickness, though it's not quite as sturdy due to having a much-larger surface area). The planner has an elastic to hold it closed, which I always appreciate, as well as an expandable pocket at the back. In lieu of the ribbon you might expect as a place-marker under these circumstances, though, the Minister's pages have perforated lower-right corners, a system that works well enough, though I usually seem to forget to tear the corners off.

http://www.gdmitchell.com/pens/qvm-front-page.jpg

The front section has an "Anno-Planning" year-at-a-glance section for scheduling holidays, etc.

http://www.gdmitchell.com/pens/qvm-year-view.jpg

Probably of the most interest to me and to most others here: how does the paper take fountain pen ink? Well, it's Clairfontaine paper and takes it quite well, though I've been on the verge of bleed-through in a few places; admittedly, I was also using a very wet-writing 0.6mm VP stub in it for a while. In my experience, fountain pen ink also takes a while to dry on this paper, which is a little bit inconvenient when trying to jot down a quick note. It's similar paper to that in my Habana, though with the Habana I don't write on both sides of the same page so bleed isn't so much of an issue.

http://www.gdmitchell.com/pens/qvm-week-view.jpg

The layout of the week spread is convenient enough, though I find I tend to use the weekly "See - Do" and "Notes" sections a lot and the others not quite so much. Sunday being at the bottom and oriented left-to-right, unlike the other days, throws me off a bit too. The daily "priority" box is a nice touch.

In any case, I think it's a pretty good planner and will be continuing to use it and hopefully wean myself off the scattered-notes method of organization. I wouldn't mind something a bit smaller on the whole, and I think that's another factor that keeps me from using it more - the size doesn't really lend itself that well to whipping it out and jotting something down quickly. I use my little pocketable Habana all the time, so maybe I'll replace it in my pocket with one of Exaclair's smaller planners for 2010.

I'd like to thank Karen Doherty from Exaclair for giving me the opportunity to review this planner. Thanks, Karen!

Edited February 25, 2009 by Silvermink