We live in a throwaway culture where it is easier to throw away items rather than reuse, repurpose or repair. I try to recycle things at home, whether that is rubbish for the bins or household items given away to others that can reuse them. When I came across the Rocketbook reusable notebook I was intrigued as I do use lots of notepads. You could argue that all notebooks can be reusable if you write in them lightly with pencil and use an eraser to clear the page when no longer needed. In a world of technology, the Rocketbook Pro is much more hi-tech than pencil and paper!
The Rocketbook Pro is a reusable smart notebook that has no paper pages (which means no trees are having to be cut down). But like its paper counterparts, you can still write in it. But with the Rocketbook you can scan any pages you want to save using the app and store your notes digitally in your favourite cloud destination, and then wipe the pages clean and reuse it again! A great way to take notes using a pen on a page in a book with no typing involved whilst having the luxury of having access to those important notes on your phone – you never need to lose any important notes again! And better still, although the Rocketbook Pro is hi-tech device, it requires no power – no need to charge/re-charge, no batteries to replace and no running out of power at inopportune moments.
ROCKETBOOK – WRITE, SCAN, ERASE AND RE-USE
The New Rocketbook Pro is an ultramodern, tech-savvy reusable notebook built for the professional who likes to stay organised and on-trend. Not only is its hardcover vegan leather cover scratch resistant, an embedded NFC hotspot can be customized with most phone apps. Plus, Pro Pages are erasable with a touch of water and Page Packs can be swapped in-and-out to make your Pro a notebook, planner, and beyond.
I always have a notebook handy and am always writing notes about something or other, whether for reviews like this, shopping lists, to do lists or just general reminders. It’s easier to grab a pen and write something down rather than switching on my laptop or tablet and typing notes. With the Rocketbook reusable notebook I can still have the pen and paper experience but with the added bonus of digitally storing my notes in a cloud storage service or sending the notes to my email. And then when I no longer need the notes that I have written, rather than tearing out the page and putting it in the recycle bin, I can just wipe the page clean with a damp cloth and start again – safe in the knowledge that I still have access to the digital handwritten notes in the future. With the Rocketbook Pro I no longer have a need for various notebooks filled with handwritten notes, my notes are digitally stored and can be organised much better, and there are no trees that need to be cut down to keep me supplied in paper.
In the pack:
- Vegan Leather Notebook Hardcover
- Removeable/Swappable Page Pack
- Microfibre Cleaning Towel
- Pilot FriXion Erasable Pen
- User Guide
The Rocketbook Pro reusable notebook is available in two sizes: Executive A5 and Letter A4. There is a choice of three colour options; Black, Coast Blue or Sage Green. It is supplied with a hardcover vegan leather cover, which is scratch resistant, and has an embedded NFC spot on the inside cover (opens the Rocketbook app when you touch your phone to it). It has a 40 page removable reusable page pack of lined paper (you can purchase other page packs from £22 to £25; Monthly/Weekly Planner (Letter A4 only), Daily/To-do, Dot Grid, Meeting Notes and Lined). The Rocketbook is useless without something to write in it with so it is also supplied with a Pilot FriXion erasable pen (you can’t use just any pen with the Rocketbook). It also comes with a microfibre towel to clean the pages.
Whilst you can start writing in the notebook straight out of the packet, to make use of its full capabilities you will need to download the free Rocketbook app for iOS or Android. Once you have downloaded the app you are able to scan your pages and store the data with your favourite cloud storage provider.
- iOS supports: Google Drive, Evernote, Slack, Dropbox, Box, OneNote, OneDrive, iMessage, iCloud, Trello and email.
- Android supports: Google Drive, Evernote, Slack, Dropbox, Box, OneNote, OneDrive, Google Photos, Trello and email.
Overall, I think that the Rocketbook Pro reusable notebook is fantastic. An easy to use notebook with digital file storage options and helps to cut down on paper use. Unlike pen and paper notebooks, mistakes can be easily erased, edited and changed without leaving an unsightly mess and I love that you can save the handwritten notes, doodles and drawings as PDF files for digital storage, easy retrieval, printing or emailing.
The notebook doesn’t have quite the same feel as good old-fashioned paper, the pages are very smooth, but it is just as easy to write on, although you need to give it a few seconds to dry for the ink to be smudge free (and to be fair, depending on what kind of ink pen that you like to use with a paper notebook, you generally need to do the same thing). The supplied Pilot FriXion pen is comfortable to hold and glides across the pages smoothly. The only real downside is that you can’t just use any pen but as long as you use the correct pen it is a joy to use.
When you use a pen and paper notebook, you can store the notebooks for future reference. But this could mean that you end of with a mountain of used notebooks to store and can make it difficult to find the information that you want. With the Rocketbook, as you can’t store notes permanently on the pages and store them digitally, you can organise the pages, notes, doodles and files much better for easy retrieval, making it extremely easy to go back and find something. Plus with digital files stored in the Cloud, you can access them from anywhere, allowing you to effectively have access to your notes and notebooks (as long as you have remembered to scan them with your phone) anywhere. Plus, it also has the massive advantage of no waste paper being produced.
The Rocketbook does have some disadvantages. It doesn’t like excess heat (direct sunlight or placing next to a radiator that is in use for example) as it can cause the ink to fade or disappear, leaving you with a blank page – although if you are unfortunate enough for this to happen, there is a magical cure – you can recover your notes by putting the Rocketbook in a freezer for 20 minutes and the ink will magically reappear. Plus it is recommended that you clean the pages at least once a month as ink left on a page for longer than this could leave a residue and make it look grubby. But these are rather small disadvantages over paper notes, and paper notes have their own unique disadvantages too (water damage, torn pages, spillages etc.)
The Rocketbook is a reusable notebook. Once you written down your thoughts, notes, appointments, shopping lists etc. you can use the phone app to scan the page(s) and save them to your favourite Cloud storage or send them to your email address. With the notes digitally stored, cleaning the pages is very easy so that you can reuse the page(s). Just add a drop of water to a cloth and wipe the pages clean to remove all the ink and then wipe over with the supplied microfibre cloth. You will be left with nice clean, blank pages again and ready to start writing more. The pen itself also has an eraser on it for erasing simple mistakes whilst you are writing before they dry on the page.
I love the using the Rocketbook Pro reusable notebook, especially with the extremely easy to remove or replace page packs which make the Rocketbook more versatile. It is an excellent notebook that helps to reduce paper waste and is so easy to create digital copies of notes to store or share (scanned notes/pages can even be bundled together). It is so easy to use and has the advantages of handwritten notes with the durability and longevity of digital storage and the ability to share notes easily.
The quality is excellent and the cover is scratch-resistant vegan leather. The pages of the notebook feel very durable, and I really like that the pages don’t get scrunched up, torn or damaged when I throw the notebook in my backpack.
I think that the Rocketbook is fantastic, but there is one thing that really bugs with it, it doesn’t have somewhere to store the pen – although you can purchase a Pen Station Pen Holder separately. For a £60 notebook I would have preferred a pen holder to already be part of the cover.
Apart from my issue with the lack of a pen holder, I love the Rocketbook Pro. The reusable pages help to reduce wastage and I love that I can always have access to my notes anywhere I am from my phone, tablet or laptop. The pages are easily erasable, and the data is so simple to save and store digitally. If looked after properly (pages regularly cleaned) it should give years of use. Being able to easily digitally store any notes or information that you have written in the Rocketbook means that you should never lose your important notes (well, as long as you remember to scan and save them with the app of course).
The versatility of the removeable page packs is fantastic, making it a very modular system enabling it for different usage. The page packs are a lot cheaper than buying several Rocketbooks for various occasions and tasks. The page packs are so simple to add or remove and seem very secure – to be honest, when I first opened the package, I couldn’t see how the page pack would firmly stay in, but it does (even after trying to shake it out).
The RocketBook Pro is like have a digital dry erase board in your bag, and it is just as simple to use. As it reusable time and time again, the amount of paper it saves going into my recycling bin is excellent. Obviously it is more expensive than a standard paper notebook, but the quality is excellent, and being reusable, over the long run it should pay for itself in the amount of paper notebooks you won’t need to purchase, plus it saves on wastage.
I think the Rocketbook Pro is nearly perfect. It offers nearly the same convenience as writing on paper (with paper you can use any pen or pencil, the Rocketbook needs its own specific pen), but you can easily digitally store your handwritten pages for future use and there is no waste paper generated so is better for the environment (even if you do recycle your paper). As much as I love it, unfortunately I can’t give it 5 stars as not being equipped with a pen holder I feel it makes it incomplete, especially as you can’t use any old pen with it.
Rating: 4.5/5
RRP: £60 (Executive A5) / £70 (Letter A4)
For more information or buy, visit getrocketbook.co.uk.