Renaissance Art Moleskine Daily Planner Cover (pocket)

[Chiro75]

This is my first review on FPN, so I hope you enjoy it! For the past 13 years or so, I've "used" a FranklinCovey planner (classic size, full zip binder, approx 2" rings) and while I like the system, I've been wasting money on refills every year because I simply don't carry the thing around with me. My job has me out of my office 95% of the time, at two locations every week, and I do a lot of work while at home and I also travel a fair amount. As such, carrying the Franklin planner has been impossible, so really I barely use it. I've gotten accustomed to using Google Calendar online, but that's only good for when I'm near a computer and my phone doesn't sync up with it. Also, I need to write some basic patient notes for x-ray referrals, etc, throughout the week when I'm at my satellite clinic, so I prefer pen and paper anyway. At the end of the week I have 10+ scraps of paper I've jotted notes down on and it just doesn't work.

 

SOooo, for 2011 I decided to switch gears and go with a much smaller diary/planner, but with the benefit that compact size means I'll take it more places and it SHOULD get used a lot more. So, I settled on the Moleskine pocket-size Daily Diary/Planner (400 pages, the thick one). This one has some reference pages in the front, one page for each month, then the planner itself has one page per day (so, when it's open, you're seeing 2 days displayed in front of you). It seems like the right size for me to carry around almost everywhere. It also has a small address book that tucks into the fold-out pocket in back.

 

Having some experience with Moleskine products, I figured the paper cover would get beaten up pretty badly with carrying everywhere for a year, opening many times per day, traveling, etc. I am sure the cover will split where it opens and closes as that has happened on other notebooks. So, I thought, "Why not get a nice leather cover for it?" I've been aware of Gfeller's covers for some time, and I know what work goes into them, but the price is off-putting to me. I came across Renaissance Art's website a couple years ago and I noticed they make a simple cover for the Daily Planner that's only $20. I've seen good things about their products, so I thought it was a no-brainer. One thing I didn't like was the fact that the simple cover doesn't utilize the notebook's elastic band or have any other way of closing. Renaissance Art makes every product to order, so for an extra $9, I added a flap with a snap to it that I saw on another of their covers, and it came with a pen loop. I ordered the small pen loop which is fine for something like a Pilot G-2 pen, but they can do the loop in any diameter you want. I paid a total of $39 and change for the planner with the flap upgrade and shipping included.

 

They made the cover and shipped it quickly. I ordered it on Tuesday, I think, of Thanksgiving week and it arrived on Friday.

 

Size Comparison

According to my metal ruler measurements, the Moleskine Daily Diary comes in at 3 5/8" wide, 5 1/2" tall and a touch under 1" thick with the address booklet included in the back of the notebook. In the RenArt cover, the measurements were approximately 4 3/4" wide, 6 1/4" tall and 1 1/2" thick. If my math is correct (that's a big "if"), the RenArt cover adds 24% to the width, 12% to the height and 33% to the thickness. These are significant changes to the very compact original notebook, although still manageable. Comparisons below:

 

http://img.skitch.com/20101128-jfefdfgqgcch4frqnfjs1tm74n.jpg

 

http://img.skitch.com/20101128-gjnk5ybpkcq6yd5atxant85x3i.jpg

 

http://img.skitch.com/20101128-ps61ba133ssy7r9phci666hmtg.jpg

 

http://img.skitch.com/20101128-8iebe377pydjkruu99xmwcgiir.jpg

 

 

Quality & Craftsmanship

The RenArt cover is nicely made of very soft, pliable leather. The leather has a nice texture to it, which I like rather than super smooth leather. The pebbly grain adds character and depth. My cover has their standard rustic brown color, which is a "medium" brown/caramel color with nice color variations. I think this will look better and better as it ages. The leather is relatively thick, but really pliable and soft.

http://img.skitch.com/20101128-jp4gsrqce86emykw6ufh1esa44.jpg

 

The snap flap is a little loose and could've pulled about one snap's width tighter. I'm afraid with the softness of the leather that as it relaxes it might get even floppier feeling, but only time will tell. I suppose they had to engineer a little looseness into the cover for the pen, but even so I wish the cover was tighter. As far as the fit on the notebook cover itself, it was a tad tight going on, but after a couple days with the Moleskine inside, the RenArt cover has relaxed and the notebook can easily slip out for removal.

http://img.skitch.com/20101128-f4dx7tbwcwtepe5n8k9714b4a5.jpg

 

As you can see in the image above, the inside of the leather is "shaggy" and the edges are left unfinished. I prefer a slight rounding of the edge and a little burnishing on them, but leather like this doesn't burnish well. As you can see below, the "unfinished" edges match the character of the cover and in my opinion, they don' detract from the look, feel or usability of the cover. The edges may take a beating with use, but we'll see.

http://img.skitch.com/20101128-gc81mc5b8pjtwrd8r5a5i197gk.jpg

 

Edge detail seen below, as well as the relatively rustic stitching used.

http://img.skitch.com/20101128-8rxajf1mkktbm93c1pfkmwtwnt.jpg

 

The cover allows the notebook to open fully as seen below (although the notebook needs some breaking in... it's still 2010! The front slipcover is wide enough to allow sticking some notes, etc into it like a slip pocket. The back cover slips over most of the notebook's back cover, making the Moleskine's integrated fold-out pocket unusable, although, again, you can stick notes, stray papers, etc into the rear slipcover, too, which makes up for a little of the loss of functionality.

http://img.skitch.com/20101128-xuxmnx4f8ij9agc7f4en8kicy1.jpg

 

The pen loop is a nice addition, although it's probably the reason the cover doesn't close as tight as I'd prefer. I wish now that I'd asked for no pen loop and requested a tight fit, but live & learn. It will be nice to always have a pen or pencil with the notebook, so it's not a wasted feature, that's for sure.

http://img.skitch.com/20101128-m3a3ribj9nsh8r681megtc14gd.jpg

 

Overall Impressions

I think this is a well-made cover and I'm excited to use it in the coming year, and hopefully for many years after that. I knew the leather cover would add to the notebook's dimensions. I think the thickness and height are both tolerable, but the added width is the tough one for me. No longer will this fit in a rear pocket in a pair of jeans, for example, and while I could slip this planner into most of the notebook sized pockets on my briefcase, travel laptop bag, etc, the added width means having to put it in the main compartment of a case or bag now. Of all the change in dimensions, it's the width that bugs me the most, but only some use will see what I think of it in practice. It's still TREMENDOUSLY smaller than my FranklinCovey! If I feel like it's too much, I might order the plain $20 cover and try that out, but I don't like the idea of not having some kind of closure.

 

The craftsmanship on the Renaissance Art cover is evident, and I love the leather, although the softness may be a problem when I really start to use it a lot. I will do my best to update this post in a few months after some real carrying and use and give you a sense of what I think after putting it through the paces and carrying it everyday.

[electricpowerman]

Very thorough review! All you need now is a suitable fountain pen to put in that pen loop! ;-)

[Chiro75]

Very thorough review! All you need now is a suitable fountain pen to put in that pen loop! ;-)

 

LOL, i wondered how long it would take for someone to catch me on that! :-) I have a few... a couple of those little Pentel ones from Jetpens that are more cute than anything, and a more serious Pilot fountain pen that I use occasionally. I should've chosen a nicer pen to show in the photos, but that pencil will probably be carried more than anything... :-)

[shane27]

I have been using the plain cover for a year...its great!

 

I always wondered what the snap close would be like. The only thing I wish my cover had is a pen loop!

[Chiro75]

Shane, based on this one, I'm sure all they'd need to do to add a pen loop is sew in a leather loop just like mine. I'd call them or email and see if you can send it back to have them add on. Should be pretty easy, I'd think.

 

Would you mind taking and posting some photos of your plain cover so I can compare? Maybe the measurements, too? Thanks! I'm thinking about the possibility of selling this one and "downgrading" to the smaller one.

[shane27]

Shane, based on this one, I'm sure all they'd need to do to add a pen loop is sew in a leather loop just like mine. I'd call them or email and see if you can send it back to have them add on. Should be pretty easy, I'd think.

 

Would you mind taking and posting some photos of your plain cover so I can compare? Maybe the measurements, too? Thanks! I'm thinking about the possibility of selling this one and "downgrading" to the smaller one.

 

Best I can do with my weak Iphone camera...measurements with the calendar in it are approximately 4.25 x 6.25 x 1.25 inches. Hope that helps!

 

http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/l607/shane272/newopenerview.jpg?t=1291174780

 

http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/l607/shane272/newopenview.jpg?t=1291174780

 

http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/l607/shane272/sideview.jpg?t=1291175566

[nicholasyeo]

Classy!

[Chiro75]

Thanks for the pics. Somehow, the basic one only cuts about 1/2" off the width, so I guess the flap and pen loop didn't add as much as I thought it did. I'd prefer something that has tighter dimensions, but I guess with the stitching you can only do so much.

[jniforat]

i just bought the weekly 12 month planner with the hard cover from moleskine...it's less than 200 pages....do you think it will fit in this???

[Chiro75]

They make covers for the daily, like the one I have and have shown above, or the weekly one like you have. They're on the website...

[inkypete]

Very thorough review! All you need now is a suitable fountain pen to put in that pen loop! ;-)

 

LOL, i wondered how long it would take for someone to catch me on that! :-) I have a few... a couple of those little Pentel ones from Jetpens that are more cute than anything, and a more serious Pilot fountain pen that I use occasionally. I should've chosen a nicer pen to show in the photos, but that pencil will probably be carried more than anything... :-)

 

Appropriate choice. The best fountain pen for Moleskin is a pencil!

[Joe in Seattle]

I have a R.A. Cover that's a couple years old. Ithas aged wonderfully, just a bit softer.