(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)
The Endless Explorer Refillable Journal is Endless's take on the classic modular notebook system. It's a minimal design, just a leather cover with a system of elastics to hold up to three notebook inserts. The inserts are Endless's Storyboard notebooks.
The inserts themselves are very nice. They have a sewn binding that holds 64 pages of dot-grid Tomoe River paper. The Explorer pack only comes with one insert, so others would have to be purchased separately to get the full benefit of the system. The set also has the option of adding a pen holder that is also an elastic band that wraps around the cover vertically. It can wrap around the whole cover and serve as a closure strap, or just around the front cover. Either way, I found it mostly got in the way, either acting as an obstacle to getting into the notebook, or as something bulky that made for a lumpy writing surface when using the back side of pages. If you don't write on the back side of pages, it may work well for you.
Tomoe River paper hardly needs further review; it's still the best out there, in my opinion. This is the 68 gsm weight, and it can handle anything, even Sharpie, with just some faint ghosting. Because it's so lightweight, the inserts look slim while still packing a generous number of pages.
The elastics that hold the inserts in place are nicely finished so there are no knots or frayed ends loose in the book, and the elastic has a nice amount of tension so that it holds the notebooks snugly, preventing them from wiggling or sliding out when you don't want them to.
The system comes in a very fancy presentation box with a drawer that pulls out from the side. The box can then be used as an archive for filled inserts, though it's a bit bulky for that purpose. An included paper provides instructions for how to insert multiple notebooks, as well as a way to register your notebook system. It all feels very high-end and snazzy.
The Endless Explorer Notebook system sells for between $40-$50, with inserts that cost around $10, depending on where you get them. That's a very fair price for the quality, and it's in line with similar notebook systems. And there are a lot of similar systems. Where this one differs is in finishing touches--especially those neatly finished elastics. It's also a good size. It's smaller than an A5, but wider than the Traveler's Company notebook, making it a nice middle ground as far as portability and writing comfort. There are a lot of options to choose from in this style these days, but I think this Endless version is a particularly nice one.
(Endless provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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