Transcript for: Overview of Rocketbook Everlast Features
This is the notebook
that I carry with me every single day in my backpack. And in this video, we are
going to answer the question, "Is this the best notebook in the world, or is it something that's
just kind of, a gimmick?" And I guess to answer that question, we first have to ask and
answer a preliminary question, which is, "What exactly is this?" Well, this is called
the Rocketbook Everlast, and ever since I kind of
previewed it back in my "iPad Pro versus Notebook Paper" video, I've been getting a lot
of questions about it. And, as you can see from
the many, many scuffs on the cover, I have had
this thing for a while and I've been able to
put it through its paces. So what I want to do today
is go over the features of this notebook, kind
of give you the specs, and also tell you why I
think it's really cool. And we're gonna end the
video with my verdict on whether or not it's something that you should maybe try out in your own workflow. And to start things off,
we've gotta talk about what is probably the main
feature of this notebook, which is the fact that you can erase it. There are only 32 pages in the notebook, which means it doesn't take
up a whole lot of space in your bag, or add a
whole lot of weight to it, but you an very easily erase the pages that you write on with
pen by using a damp cloth and just wiping it away;
it's really, really easy. Now, I do want to note
that this is not a feature that is unique to this one notebook, and the way that they achieve it is by requiring you to use
a specific type of pen called a Frixion pen, or a "friction" pen, not exactly sure how to
pronounce that brand name. But essentially, these
are pens that allow you to erase their ink, even on normal paper. I'm gonna talk a little
bit more about that later in the video, but first let's talk a little bit about the
specs of the Rocketbook, starting with the fact
that there are three sizes: there's the executive
size, there's the mini size which actually flips upwards, instead of to the side, and then
there's the letter size, which is what I have; It's
your standard 8x11 notebook. And I think that it's
the one that's gonna work best for students, or
people that need a lot of writing area when they're taking notes, or drawing out diagrams, or doing whatever you do with a notebook. Now, there is one other Rocketbook that you can get your hands on, which is called The
Wave, and it's different from all the other models because instead of wiping away the
pages with a damp cloth, you actually put the entire notebook in a microwave, and that
erases the entire notebook all at once, but I wasn't super interested in getting that notebook, because you can only do that about five times before it no longer will fully erase the pages, where as the Everlast
should, theoretically, last you as long as you want it to last. In any case, one of my favorite features of all the Rocketbook models
is the way they've laid out their paper, because it's grid paper. But instead of being a grid of lines, it's a grid of really subtle, faint dots, so they don't really get in your way. And because it's grid paper, it makes it really good for writing, but also for sketching and drawing out things, like UI elements, or website elements. In fact, when I was
doing the initial designs for our latest version
of College Info Geek, I used that paper to sketch
things out, before then diving into Figma and
getting into the details. However, the coolest
feature of the Rocketbook, and by far the biggest reason
that I wanted to get it, far beyond the ability to erase the pages, is the system they've
set up for letting you digitize your notes,
because they have a system of letting you do it a lot faster than you can with normal notebook paper, and that's what I was
really excited about. So, at the bottom of every single page in your Rocketbook, you're
gonna see two things, first you're gonna see a QR code, and then you're gonna see a row
of seven different icons. And when you download their companion app to your iPhone, your
Android, you can actually set up different destinations
for each one of those icons, be it box, be it Dropbox,
Google drive, Evernote, or tons of different other options. And for each destination serviced, you can also pick where exactly you want it to go within that service. So, for example, with Evernote, you can choose which notebook you want your scans to go to, based
on the icon you choose. Now, here is the cool part, after you've finished
writing a page of notes, you can mark off one of the icons at the bottom of the page,
then, using their app, you can scan that page, and depending on which icon you marked,
it will automatically send your scan to the destination that you've set up in advance. And, as you might imagine, this massively cuts down on both the
friction, and the time that it takes to digitize your notes. If you're taking your
notes on regular paper, and you want to digitize them with an app like Evernote, then you
have to open the app, you have to first select the notebook that you want the scan to go into, you have to hit the add button, and then you have to take your scan. But with the Rocketbook system, this entire process is automated. And there are some other
cool features, as well. You can choose whether you want to do a PDF or JPEG, and if
you have multiple scans, say you're sitting in
class and you've taken multiple pages of notes,
you can actually bundle all of the scans for each
page into a combined PDF. And this can be really useful if you want to make sure all the pages
from one note-taking session go into one single document in Evernote or your note-taking system of choice. So, overall, the digitization
features this notebook offers, combined with the ability to erase pages may justify the kind of hefty price tag, and let's talk about price now, because, unless you're getting the mini, which is usually around 15 or 16 dollars, the Rocketbook, both the executive and the letter versions, are right around 30 to 34 dollars depending
on where you get them, and that's pretty steep for a notebook. It might not be a huge step up if you're used to high-quality notebooks like Moleskin, but if you're like me, and you're coming from like
two dollar Walmart notebooks, the sticker shock can be kind of extreme. And especially with a price tag like that, we do have to be pretty discerning when it comes to the writing experience, since writing is where
you're gonna be spending most of your time doing
with this notebook. So, what's it like? Well, in my experience, to put things in a nutshell, it's pretty good. It's much, much better than writing on the iPad screen with my Apple Pencil, which I'm not a big fan of doing, but it's not quite as good as writing on normal notebook paper. I would say it's about 90% as good. There are three main
nitpicks that kinda drag the writing experience down for me. Again, not a ton, just a little bit. It's not quite as good as normal paper. First and foremost, when you're writing with these Frixion pens,
or "friction" pens, I don't know how to pronounce it, you don't always get this
perfect, black streak of ink that you're
gonna get with a normal, high-quality pen, though I did find that after I spent a
little time practicing getting used to using
it, you kinda realize that there is a specific
amount of pressure you have to use, and
once you get used to it, that happens far less often. Secondly, there is the
texture of the paper, which is a double-edged sword. It's glossy, so it makes
it a lot easier to erase with a damp cloth, and this is important because when writing on normal paper with a Frixion pen, you
have to use this little eraser nub on the end, and it's kind of a laborious process to erase your paper, and honestly, it isn't worth it, so that glossy paper
does have a big benefit, because you can erase
paper very, very quickly, but again, it's a double-edged sword, because since it's so glossy, your pen doesn't really have
the same amount of grip and it just doesn't feel quite as precise. I find it harder to write really neatly or really legibly than
I do with normal paper. Finally, the ink does
take about ten seconds to dry, and I think this is again, due to the glossy nature of the pages. And this isn't a huge
problem, but if you do write something down, and then you move your hand up quickly to make an annotation or draw an arrow or something, you can smudge your writing, and it won't make it illegible, 'cause there will be kinda like a ghost of it there, but it will make your page look messy, and personally, I don't like that. All that being said, these
are still minor nitpicks and they haven't stopped me from using the notebook on a daily basis. I just love that ability to scan things so quickly and so automatically. Now, the only other concern that I have about the Rocketbook, and something that you should probably keep in mind is I'm not sure how long the pens last. Again, you have to use Frixion pens with this book, and through some Googling, I found that they probably won't last as long as a normal pen, but at least in my case, mine has not run out yet, and once it does, a 3-pack of these pens is about 5 or 6 bucks at Target, so it's not too big of
a deal, at least for me. So, if you want my verdict
on the Rocketbook Everlast, I really like this notebook. It is my daily driver,
though I do have to admit that it costs quite a bit more than most other notebooks out there. So it's really up to you whether those digitization features
and the erasability of the pages makes up for
that big gap in price. Now, regardless of
whether or not you choose to go with the Rocketbook
Everlast, or even if you decide to hand-write
your notes at all, you should make sure that you are using a well-organized, well-thought-out note-taking system as we go into the year. And honestly, I would extend that to your entire productivity
system in general. Make sure you are using
a good task manager, make sure your file
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