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Notes on Ambition Edition Field Notes

by Andrew

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Though special edition Field Notes seem to pop up quite frequently these days, I recently decided to go back in time to the Winter of 2014 when Field Notes released one of their more interesting notebook sets, the Ambition edition. Produced as part of Field Notes’ quarterly subscription service, the Ambition edition comes as a standard 3-book pack, except that each book within the pack contains different innards, which correspond to different colored covers. The “wine” book is a graph-ruled memo book , the “olive” book serves as a ledger,  and the “chocolate” book is a 52-week planner.

Right out of the package, the books look beautiful. With their gold, embossed logos and gilded pages, Ambition is probably the “fanciest” notebook set that Field Notes has ever made. In fact, it took me longer than usual to throw one of these notebooks in my back pocket, knowing that it would eventually get beaten up.

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I picked up the graph-ruled notebook first, because that’s the style I prefer. But it also wasn’t immediately clear how I’d use the other two books in this set. While the idea of a pocket datebook is interesting, I simply don’t use a datebook in this manner. Similarly, there’s no tallies or logs I need to keep track of that would necessitate a ledger-style notebook.

Eventually, I decided to use the datebook as a dream journal (though, it hasn’t really helped me remember any of those dreams), and I found that the ledger-style ruling was great for making lists. And after permanently losing the graph notebook at the Charlotte International Airport, the ledger book became my standard catch-all notebook, which ended up working great for that purpose.

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Ambition was definitely one of the most interesting Field Notes editions that I’ve used, but since it’s an older edition, it is sold out in retail locations. However, I’ve seen prices fluctuate anywhere from $25 to $45 per pack on the secondary market, which is a bit too pricey, in my opinion. Although, it may be worth the money if you find yourself loving those pocket-sized planners and ledger books.

Additional Notes:

  • Of the 30 “Practical Applications” listed in the notebooks’ inside-back cover, my favorites are the following: “#5. Bridges Burned”; “#10. Fax Machine: Pros and Cons”; and “#21. Crowds to Source.”
  • The original subscriber package came with a cloth bookmark, which you can see at the Three Staples review (along with a ton of other info).
  • A review at The Well-Appointed Desk reveals I’m not the only one who likes the ledger notebook. I was weary of the ledger at first, but it really grew on me.

Retro Talk: The Terabyte Tornado

by Andrew

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From time to time, Retro 51 announces new editions to its popular line of Tornado pens. They are always fun to see, but I’m not usually excited enough to drop the $20 to $40 they typically cost.  That was not the case, however, when I saw the Terabyte Tornado announced last year, which I pre-ordered without hesitation. It arrived last December, and it’s been a regular in my pen rotation since.

Limited to 500 pieces and sold only through Anderson Pens, the Terabyte Tornado is wrapped with a circuit-board design, and its metallic bits – the tip, clip, and twist – are given a dark, matted finish that is reminiscent of solder alloy. There’s also a dark green disk inset into the top of the twist, which adds a nice accent. Careful, though – after accidentally dropping the pen, the disk popped right out (but a little Krazy glue quickly fixed it).

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I really like the design, but I think an actual circuit-board pattern (or perhaps texture) would have really knocked this one out of the park. For example, I really love what Retro 51 did with the Albert, which is wrapped in a design that’s an accurate proof for Einstein’s famous E=MC² equation. Instead, the Terabyte’s design is an artistic rendering of a circuit board. It looks cool to me, but a hardcore computer enthusiast might disagree.

Other than that, the Terabyte Tornado is your standard Retro 51 fare. If the design appeals to you, you might want to pick it up soon. These things tend to sell out. Otherwise, there will be plenty more designs to come in the future, and I’m sure I’ll be adding at least a few of them to my Retro 51 collection.

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Notes on XOXO 2015 Field Notes

by Andrew


The people at Field Notes, the producers of the popular pocket-sized notebooks, seem to enjoy making limited-run editions. They’ve made so many, in fact, that anyone trying to collect them all is likely to wind up both crazy and broke. Getting your hands on the rarer books can often just be a matter of right place, right time.

Case in point, for the past few years Field Notes has been creating custom notebooks for the XOXO Festival, an art and technology conference in Portland, Oregon. While these special notebooks can be easily obtained at the conference, it’s a mad rush when they are sold online afterwords. And for the 2015 XOXO edition, it only took about 45-minutes before they became out of stock on the Field Notes website. So, if you weren’t online during this 45-minute window or couldn’t make it to the festival, you are pretty much out of luck. Unless, of course, you’re willing to pay a premium.

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Originally sold for $10, a sealed 3-pack will currently fetch 40 to 50 dollars on eBay. Setting aside the artwork for a moment, there’s not anything particularly special about these books that make it worth that price. They contain 60# white paper with a light gray grid, they’re the standard 3.5 inch x 5.5 inch size, and they even use the usual “practical application” list on the inside back cover. Aside from hardcore Field Notes collectors who covet the notebook’s scarcity, there’s really nothing here to warrant a 400% price increase.

I will admit, however, that it’s hard to ignore those awesome cover designs, created by artist Brendan Monroe. If you’re so inclined, check out Monroe’s Instagram feed. He creates a lot of these black-and-white topographical paintings, and it’s easy to lose a chunk of time scrolling through his artwork. In fact, one big upside to carrying these designs in my pocket was that I got to color them in!

Overall, it’s a good special edition, if only for the artwork, and I hope to see Field Notes using other painters (or even more of Monroe’s designs) in the future. It really is a good way to discover artists, as I never would have otherwise heard of Brendan Monroe. Let’s just hope that next time they print a larger run.

Additional Notes:

 

Retro Talk: Crosswords and Space Pens

by Andrew

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Crossword puzzle enthusiasts can be divided into two categories: those who use pens and those who use pencils. In my everyday experience, the pencil seems to be the more popular choice. Flip through a disheveled Sunday paper left behind at a coffee shop, and, nine times out of ten, the crossword puzzle was solved in pencil. The reason is obvious; pencils have erasers, so mistakes are more easily fixed. Perhaps that’s why Retro 51 no longer makes the (above pictured) Crossword Tornado pen, yet the company still produces the Tornado Crossword pencil.

Discontinued after 2008, the Crossword Tornado pen is similar to the standard Retro 51 Tornado but with a crossword-themed wrap. They’re quite difficult to find. I saw this one listed eBay about six months ago, so I quickly snapped it up. However, I haven’t seen one listed since, and no other online seller seems to have any in stock. Whether this is due to their rarity or the general lack of interest in a crossword pen, I couldn’t say. Regardless, the advantage of using a pen for solving crossword puzzles should not be overlooked, as it so often is.

Jim Horne, a former writer for the New York Times and a crossword puzzle enthusiast, writes that “counter intuitively the best way to ‘pencil in’ answers is to use a pen. You can write guesses very lightly, scribble in better ideas a little darker, and then press down when you’re sure of the letters.” But with pencils, “once you start trying to use the eraser the page quickly becomes a mess.”

To use a pen in the way that Horne describes – jotting down guesses very lightly and writing darker for more certain answers – you need a ballpoint pen, which uses oil-based inks. The standard Retro 51 Tornado refill, on the other hand, uses a (water-based) rollerball ink. Rollerballs are great for producing pronounced, dark lines, but they’re terrible for doing shading the way that Horne describes. So, the Retro 51’s rollerball will have to be replaced.

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After a little thought, I decided that the best option for a crossword puzzle pen has to be the Fisher Space Pen refill. Not only is it a ballpoint, perfect for shading, but it also uses a pressurized ink cartridge. It lets you write at any angle and on dirty/wet surfaces – great for travel, whether you’re killing time on a commuter bus or at an airport terminal. The problem is that the Space Pen Refill doesn’t properly fit into the Retro 51 Tornado barrel. The refill is a little too short. To solve this, I added a little plastic spacer that I pulled from an SKB Click Ball, and, after cutting it down a little, it seemed to work.

Personally, I’m not very good at solving crossword puzzles. My mom, on the other hand, flies through crossword magazines at an impressive pace. And being newly retired (since the beginning of January), she’ll also be flying through those BICs pretty fast. So, I hope she likes this Retro 51 Crossword pen as a little retirement gift. And that Space Pen refill should keep her going, even if she accidentally drops her crossword magazine into a sandy puddle on the beaches of Key West.

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Looking Ahead to 2016

by Andrew

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When I started this blog four and a half months ago, it was because I got annoyed trying to post pen reviews elsewhere. Making my own space seemed to be a good solution, and so far, it’s been a fun little hobby; one which I plan on continuing into the new year.

After all, I still have a box of unused pens sitting next to my desk, and I plan on reviewing all of them… eventually.

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Over the course of 2015, I managed to publish 61 total posts – 44 of which were pen reviews, 12 were “colors” reviews, and the rest were miscellaneous blog-type posts. In total for the year, this blog received almost 7,000 page views – not a lot for some, but exciting for me. And the most popular post, by far, was the one on Field Notes, which had over one-thousand page views alone. The most popular pen review was for the Pentel Energel Deluxe RTX, which had 350 page views.

My personal favorite pen, however, has to be the Retro 51 Albert Tornado. It’s got a lot of personality, and it’s the pen I’ve used more than any other this year. If it doesn’t sound too cheesy, I suppose you can call it the first Pens And Junk Pen of the Year.

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I’m looking forward to seeing what the new year has to bring and sharing a bit of that with you on this blog. After all, the world of stationery has some interesting things lined up for 2016. Here are a few you can look forward to:

1. Kickstarter stuff. The Squire and the Grafton, two pens from the crowdfunding website Kickstarter, are expected to ship out in March and April, respectively (though delays are inevitable with Kickstarter). I also have a pen cup and a notebook from Kickstarter projects coming eventually, and I plan on reviewing those when they show up at my door.

2. New Field Notes. We’ll see at least four new designs from the Field Notes Colors (quarterly) subscription, and if the past is any indicator, they’ll definitely be worth discussing. We’ll also probably see a handful of other special editions pop up, as we did in 2015. I’ll have to make some extra room on my notebook shelf to fit everything.

3. The Pen Addict Podcast. Episode #200 will air this year. Congrats! If you’re unfamiliar, it’s worth checking out.

There’s also a lot of non-pen related stuff coming up in 2016 that I’m very excited about – the new season of Game of Thrones, the final season of Mythbusters, and even another Star Wars movie. If I missed anything, let me know. And have a healthy, safe, and happy 2016!