Since I started trying to incorporate GTD into my life and get more organized, I resurrected my Franklin Covey binder and bought some refills for it. Soon after I started receiving the Franklin Covey catalog in the mail. I picked up this notebook from them. It’s the Large Croc Journal here. The site doesn’t give you a very detailed description of it. It just states that it’s embossed with an “attractive” croc pattern, has 160 ruled white pages, and has a ribbon marker. Oh, and it gives you the dimensions. (5.75″ W x 8.25″ H x 0.625″ D) I don’t normally get notebooks that have designs or embossed patterns on them but for the price I thought I might as well give this a try.

It’s actually a very nice journal. I personally prefer off-white/cream colored paper but this bright white is nice, kind of like the Quo Vadis Habana. I did some pen/pencil/ink tests on it and it performed very well. There was no bleed through with gel ink pens or fountain pens. As you can see from my pics, only the markers actually bled through to the other side and even they didn’t make a mark on the next page at all. I even held a Pilot Varsity medium nib fountain pen on the page for 5 seconds and it hardly sucked any ink out. In fact, since my birthday I have been using it as my daily journal and I can write with a fine nib fountain pen on both sides of the pages and it’s great. Like I stated, the site doesn’t give you very much info so I don’t know what the weight of the paper is but it does feel pretty thick. Also, I measured out the line spacing at 6mm.

Nice hair in the pic.

Another plus is that it lays flat when you open it up. That’s nice for those of us that like to use as much of the page as possible.

Nice and flat

A couple of things that I don’t like are that it doesn’t have an elastic closure and it seems like you lose the first and last pages due to the glue. But, there is another version of this journal on Amazon and it not only has an elastic closure, it has a pocket in the back. The cover is the weakest link in my opinion. But, it will take a beating and protect the paper well. If the cover matters not to you, the paper sure is worth it. This is a review of the larger of the two sizes. They also offer a pocket sized version on the Franklin Covey website and on Amazon.

UPDATE: FYI, this review is for the Faux Croc Leather Notebook. There are other “Markings” notebooks that are sold at Target and Amazon that are not the same. I just saw one this weekend and the paper is much thinner and off-white like a Moleskine. The paper in these Faux Croc cover ones is thicker and white.

The glue affects the first and last page.