Rocketbook New Core Reusable Spiral Notebook, Letter Size 8.5x11, Black - Lined Pages, App-Connected, Erasable, Durable Cover, Ideal for School, Work, and Creative Projects

I was not expecting much from this purchase but now have to rethink life. I have been looking into an e-ink notebook and my wife bought me the Remarkable 2, but it was a gift and I bought this around the same time, not knowing she had purchased it. Now I am torn on which one to keep and I leaning on sending the Remarkable back.My favorite thing about Rocketbook is the writing feel. It is not just a natural writing experience but my writing comes out beautiful and satisfying. I much prefer the writing experience to anything e-ink.It is also $30 instead of $400. That does not even include the pens and folio you need with the e-ink reader.The Rocketbook has a great app that may take a few extra steps but once set up is pretty simple and has integrations to Google Drive, OneNote, email, Trello, Evernote, todoist, and more. Once set up, you just mark the box you want to integrate the note to. The screen capture works well but not a lot of frills, or none that I have drilled down into yet.The notebook itself is a combination of a dry erase board and notebook but it works well. Sure, I have to get a wet cloth and wipe it down to get all the ink off after a few minutes but its not a huge deal. The handwriting is smooth, clean, feels good, and looks like I am writing with a pilot .7 G-2 pen.If you are a tech lover, then this may not be the purchase for you. If you are looking to do away with the need for a smart device to remove distractions, then this may not be the purchase for you. But if you are looking to simply take beautiful notes that you can digitize easily, then this could be a great product for you.

So, I bought this for myself because I (for some reason) decided to go back to college. Right now, I'm just taking a couple little classes to amuse myself, but I really wish I had this during law school for the exact reason I bought it this time around.I got it because I've always been horrible with notes. I would have different colored notebooks for each subject for my notes. Problem is that I would get lazy and wouldn't take out the appropriate notebook, so I would have a notebook where every 3rd page had a different subject of notes, and it was very unorganized. The Rocketbook allows me to upload my notes (pretty easily, by the way) and have them organized in any manner I choose. Since I use One drive, whatever I upload to my Samsung Galaxy phone also appears on my Galaxy tablet and Samsung laptop.Now, for the experience:I read a decent amount of reviews and found some helpful tips that were actually pretty handy.Yes, it does take a few seconds for the ink to dry. I'm assuming it's because the ink doesn't "soak" in like it does with paper.It does actually feel VERY close to a real paper and pen writing experience.It comes with a pen and cloth to wipe it. Just wet the cloth and wipe.I do think if you pressed too hard (as others complained about) it would leave a dent, so watch out for that.If you close the notebook while the pages are still wet from wiping, they will stick together. It won't ruin it, but just pointing it out.Figure out a way to keep your set together. The pen does not fit in the spiral on the pad.Like some reviews stated, you can swap the pen case for a Pilot G2 and it fits, but the original pen doesn't bother me.Since I already knew about these things from reading reviews, it wasn't a big deal. I considered it a minor inconvenience in trade for being organized.My only complaint is that there's not a thicker pen available for it. I use the thicker writing G2 pens normally. I think they're the 1.0 thickness. Anyways, not available for this. Only the .7 is available. I prefer thicker lines, but whatever. You can get packs with different colors here on Amazon, which I did get. I use the different colors for math (to get track of the steps I do) because I'm in Trig. However, some colors don't show up right when you go to scan it if you have a lot of light (glare) on the pages.All in all, I don't regret buying it and I enjoy using it. It's just one of those things that you need to figure out if it fits your lifestyle.FYI, I have the note cards and all of the above applies. I use the note cards for my son (he's 12 and in junior high). He has asperger's, and has oddly fixated on wiping the cards and making them as pristine as possible. My 4 year old thinks it's magic.Update******After almost 2 months of use, here's my input.As I stated in my original review, the rocketbook was bought (and is) mainly used for college (trig) work. It has been used for random notes that I need to leave for my husband etc.What I said before still stands, plus the following observations:-Get a pen holder. I got a basic one (from amazon) that is a peel and stick (onto the rocketbook). I originally didn't think it was a big deal, but since the rocketbook can ONLY use the frixion pen, get the holder. It will help you to not lose the pen, and it helps you to use the right one so you don't just grab any pen and start writing. I've caught myself grabbing my G2 pens and almost wrote on my rocketbook. If you decide to get the other colors of frixion pens, the pen holders are small enough to where you can easily stack at least 4 to hold different colors.- figure out a way to hold the cleaning cloth with the book. It's a bigger pain than you think (and I thought) to keep track of it than you could imagine. However, the pages will clean with ANY moist ANYTHING. I held the notebook when my hair was still wet, and just my hair dragging on it did some erasing. That's a good thing, if you watch out. I keep my rocketbook in a little canvas tote with my laptop, mouse, calculator, and cleaning rag. That was enough to fix the problem for me, but then again it just goes from my house, car, and office. I don't go into a classroom etc-I use the rocketbook mainly at home where water is not an issue, but I can see that it could be an issue if that's not readily available. If you're unfortunate enough to have to write through all (35, I think) double sided pages in one sitting, have a little spray bottle of water with you. The reason I didn't get the rocketbook that goes in the microwave is because last time I was in college was pre-covid, and I figured I wouldn't have a microwave in my class......but everything (and I mean everything) seems to be proctored on the computer as far as college goes now. Think about if the water or microwave one is best for you. If I would've known I wouldn't have to go in campus, I would've gotten the rocketbook wave. I still love this one, but just saying.-after using the app a bit, I can say it's been awesome for my needs. It's as easy as holding your phone up to the page (it auto scans) and you click which folder it goes into. If you use a cloud like I do, it'll all appear. In a couple of minutes, my notes appear on my Samsung Galaxy S20, Galaxy tablet, and Galaxy laptop in one step. This alone has fixed my unorganized notes issue that I mentioned.-the cleaning cloth needs to be thrown in the wash (I just put it in with my towels) here and there. Residue builds up (duh) and it needs to be cleaned.-the pen does seem to run out of ink faster than the G2 pens I normally use.-the eraser on the pen is like magic. It doesn't decrease with use like a normal eraser. However, I did notice is leaves a residue, and unless you wipe with your finger really quick, it's almost like the ink won't "stick" to the spot that was erased.-I have not used this pen on regular paper, so I can't speak for that-heat DOES make it disappear! I wipe my notes off within a couple of days of use, so I don't usually have to worry about it becoming "permanent" (like the disclaimer states), and the book doesn't make it far with notes since I scan them almost right away. However, we recently had a warm day (yes, in February because I'm in Arizona) and I didn't think it was "warm" enough to worry about anything (it was like 85?) And my notes went away. Thankfully, nothing important that I didn't plan on erasing. I did read that putting your notebook in the freezer brought them back, but I haven't tried it.-make sure any stupid people in your house don't have access to the notebook because they will use a regular pen on it-watch your lighting when scanning. It can mess up how your scans turn out. It only took me a couple of scans to figure out how to avoid issues, but wanted to point it out. The light just makes it to where some writing won't show up on certain areas if you're not careful.-honestly, the multi-colored pack of the frixion pens suck. There's a major QA issue because they run out at different rates (even with equal use) and dry up fast. I have had luck with the 3 pack of black, red, blue. No issues with that pack, but I kind of wanted the rainbow of colors. They just aren't the same as the "basic" colors.I wanted to share my experience after a couple months of use since that can vary from the first impression. I will update again of anything changes, but I think I've run across any quirks I would have by now.

This is the product that I've been waiting for since I heard about the very first Livescribe release 13 years ago. And, I think it's proof that the best solutions are often the simplest and most elegant. I'm an IT professional, a notetaker, and a very fast typist. If I'm in a formal meeting, I have no problems sitting in front of a laptop computer and documenting what is going on almost word-for-word. However, the vast majority of the time, I'm not in that kind of formal meeting setting and don't need that level of detail. Instead, I'm running around from place-to-place or meeting-to-meeting carrying around notebook and pen. Jotting down this and that. Diagrams. To Do Lists items. Contact information. Passwords. Anything and everything. I've tried tablets. I don't like them. I have a personal cellphone, a work cellphone, and a work laptop that I carry around when working with customers. For me, a tablet doesn't bring anything to the table that I can't do better with a smartphone or laptop and becomes just another piece of technology I have to carry around and keep charged. If I'm dealing with a purely technical solution, then I prefer to type on a full-sized keyboard in a laptop. But, ultimately, a notebook and pen are really all I need the vast majority of the time to get the job done. The problem then becomes the ever-increasing stack of used notebooks containing information that I likely only needed for a short period of time ... but also likely containing information I don't just want to toss in the trash. Lots of wasted paper ... and lots of wasted time shredding the most sensitive information. That is why, when I read about the most recent iteration of the Rocketbook, I was ecstatic. This is finally what I'd been waiting for. My 2 biggest complaints about the original Livescribe design was that, first, the special notebooks were far more expensive than ordinary notebooks ... while still being one-time-use notebooks. Second, and more significant, was the reliance on a very expensive hi-tech pen. Pens and keys are two of the things that people misplace the most often. Keys people typically find afterwards because they're necessary. Pens? Not so much. I've had dozens of pens "disappear" only to eventually find them in the same exact toolbox. A recurring and natural progression from desktop to toolbox. I've tried getting nice, refillable pens in the $30 range ... thinking "It costs more. I'll be more careful about where I place it" and finding that didn't make it any better. So, the fact the original Livescribes were dependent upon keeping track of a pen that cost several hundred dollars was a huge concern. With Rocketbook, that's not a concern at all! Pilot Frixion pens are standard, non-technical erasable pens. I got a multi-color 8-pack for just $13, and a 5-pack of the fancier retractible ones for $1 each. The pens are easy to find, cheap, and therefore easily replaced. So, while the Rocketbook does require that specific type of pen to be used, a multipack of pens is all you need to ensure that you have them wherever you might need one without having to worry about it if you misplace one. Very convenient. The other huge improvement is the polyester-based paper and the fact it's highly reusable. I understand that the previous iteration of the Rocketbook required that the notebook be microwaved to erase the sheets and that this process also limited how many times the notebook could be reused and how it could be reused. This new iteration eliminated that and makes it as simple as having a small spray bottle of water and a kleenex (or the microfiber towel the kit includes). Instead of an "all or nothing" erasing approach, you now have the flexibility of choosing exactly which pages and/or which portions of pages you want to erase all by where you spray the water and wipe away the ink. Earlier today, while setting up a new computer for a customer, I had all of the various passwords for the accounts and software they used scattered across over 10 pages of notes. When I was finished, I cleared out just one page, transferred all of those various passwords to that one page, and then erased the rest of the pages. Once consolidated, I could then use the Rocketbook app to capture the information and e-mail it to myself. Had I written it more clearly, I also would have had the option to get the image data transcribed to text. This is where the technical intregration comes into play and is also why a multi-hundred dollar pen is no longer needed. I already have 2 multi-hundred dollar smartphones handy. Especially when the basic NOTE app on an iPhone can take a photo of an ordinary sheet of paper and convert it into a PDF file; or combine multiple sheets into one file. Why pay even more for something I can already do easily? An app for one of those phones is all the extra technology that's really needed to utilize the features of the special pages in the Rocketbook. And, that's what I love about this product. It uses the technology (i.e., the smartphones) I already own, it uses a relatively ordinary and cheap pen, and it has special polyester-based pages that work as well as normal paper ... while being erasable either by the pen's eraser or by water & cloth. A $30 notebook that you only need ONE of and replaces dozens of regular notebooks quickly makes that $30 notebook very cheap by comparison. It takes the model of "a pen and paper" and instead of re-inventing the wheel or overcomplicating it, just tweaks it to make it a more technological and ecological friendly solution. I had the Executive pad just one day before ordering the full-sized notebook, which I will use for sketches and diagrams. And, I liked that I had the lined pages for the Executive pad ... whereas I could get the plain sheets for the drawings. Allowing the two notebooks to serve very specific purposes. I've been extremely pleased with how well the notebooks have to proven to be exactly what I've been waiting for.