Really great review! Great demonstration of the pen. Have you tried the Sailor Fude de Mannen pen?

I keep a nightly journal, so this, in a larger format, is up my alley. I found a Canadian company making a daily journal, so I might stick with them for a bit. Daily journals are super hard to find these days. Chapters used to have loads of them, but the past few years it has been a real struggle to find something.

This might be a good idea. But maybe only if you always buy the same style notebook. You could get a leather book cover with the loops sewn on the front, slim, medium, large. Two loops for each pen. One for the top, and one for the middle so the pens don't flop around. When the notebook is done then take it off and put it on a different one. Or make the book cover adjustable to accommodate any size, or most notebooks. I guess if I was as serious about the subject as you are, that's the route I would go. If you know that keeping a notebook will be a lifelong endeavor you would have to know that the weakest link of any device such as this will be the loops. The loops will suffer the brunt of the wear and tear. The first device the leather is thinner. It will fray the quickest. The second device will also break down, but not as quickly. Also I don't know how the leather is attached to the metal if it's glued the glue will fail at some point. Or whatever is holding the leather to the metal will fail. The goal is to eliminate the failure points as much as possible. The leather that the pen hangs onto should be sturdier and thicker than the 2 loop device, but thin enough to accommodate the pen. I'm sure there already are leather book covers you can get. It would be an extra step to accommodate the pens.

I love that you make the time for this. Those drawings will bring the memories back for you, in later years, better than notes will, in my experience. Doing them helps you be present more too.

It always kills me. Most people don't realize the bungee holding the cardboard containing the kit is also a spare!

Someone wake me up please

Hi there! Since you said you love the Tomoe River Paper and you like the "weeks" style layout but you miss the monthly layouts, I would suggest you try an N1 or N2 horizontal from Sterling Ink! The compact version because it sounds like you don't need a ton of notes pages or dailies. It might solve your "planner problems". :)

Lovely, thanks for this! I'm in my Olive one pretty much all the time now as my daily driver. My Camel and Brown ones I'm about to set up for other purposes. Just love TNs :)

Thanks for being so honest and undramatic in outlining the reasons for stepping away after trying out the A6. The influencer communities love the Hobonichi and it is often touted as the perfect planner/journal combo. That may be true for some, but not all. I'm learning more and more that I enjoy the concept of Hobonichi (and myriad accessories) more than the product itself. I do appreciate that it is a great product for some, but none of the configurations quite fit what I personally need. Some are too simple, and some are too complex. Additionally, the page a day format intimidates me, and the end result is typically more pages left empty than filled. After using the Cousin for three years, the Weeks off and on for approx. 3.5 years, and the A6 off and on for a year or two, plus the Day Free A5 & A6 and two nonstarts of the A5 and A6 ... I'm out as well, and I plan to use a standard TN in its place.

I also feel like the covers they sell are childish.

I agree about the quotes.

Thanks for sharing your experience! Watching your flip-through made me realize that not being able to use all the spaces and pages would bug me the most about it, especially considering the paper they use. I don't think the hobonichi or other similar planners would be right for me. Enjoy your videos!

Try the hobonichi weeks, they have regular and mega (more blank pages), and different cover styles (soft vs hard) and color/patterns. It is smaller than the TN but I love the weeks! Most importantly it is the same vertival style as the TN

I’m confused as to why anyone would recommend the Hobonichi A6 original to you, when the Hobonichi Weeks would literally be the perfect planner to try out as an introduction to Hobonichi, given as it’s exactly the same week to a page layout as the TN weekly that you currently use and enjoy, haha! Personally, I’ve tried the a6 original, weeks and a5 Cousin from Hobonichi and failed to stick with any of them for a full year. A small inexpensive notebook for tasks, and the stock calendar on my phone/other devices is the “system” I always fall back into, despite me so desperately wanting to be the fancy planner user my FantasySelf tells me I am 💀

Hobonichi do have a Weeks book which is smaller and would seemingly be a better fit for you

What an ugly and overpriced garbage! I would never spend my $ on it, not even $5. Hate it! Softcover is not protective, but flimsy сrар. Pages have terrible look and quality too. Boring АF and belongs in a dollar store.

I got one last October for "Black Friday" on Amazon for $10. I figured that I would give the brand a try as I do have their notebooks, and am familiar with the 52 gsm paper (I prefer the 68 gsm of my Take a Note), but I was wondering if I could grow to love the A6 size. As always with Hobonichis, it's the quotes and the slicker paper. Now, I just used it as a wonderful little notebook for capturing thoughts. Next year will be my second year with the Take a Note planner and I plan on getting a few alongside their notebooks. My heart though, belongs to Rhodia. If they only made a planner whose format worked for me, it would be the best of all worlds.

I found the Aura Estelle Catch All planner to be my perfect fit. It also uses Tomoe paper. I highly recommend it to everyone who will listen. 😅

I'm [somewhat] comfortably in a ringbound for 2024 but sometimes I want that book bound feel that I love for journaling, as a planner. Ive been eyeing the A6 techo over on JetPens for the last month, wondering if I should get one. I'm totally new to Hobonichi. Glad to hear some criticisms of it, which gives me a bit of pause. There is also an A6 Kinbor that's almost identical to the techo, except no quotes on the page. It also comes with trackers and everything - including the 12 monthly calendars - is undated so you can start when you want and how you want. I accidentally bought one thinking it was. a plain notebook but it is legit a beautiful A6 undated planner.

I tried this planner in 2022. I didn't care that all the months are all together. I like month & weeks together. Other than that, it's a pretty cool planner. I've found planner peace with the Wonderland 222 B6. Love your channel here in Los Angeles -Anita

I enjoy hobonichi for the thinness of the paper and how,it showcases fountain pen ink. But due to finances I currently cannot justify spending this kind of money on a notebook. I’m using Stalogy now which is a bit better than the hobo in my opinion.

Oh my goodness. Resonated with everything you said. Just bought my first a6 Avec and started July 1. Am already freaking out without a weekly to-do list. But love the hobo cover i got with it & feel so bummed that I'm not loving it as much as I hoped. Will get the weekly supplement so hopefully I can make this work. Then use the dailies for journaling instead. the flipping back & forth to find my weekly tasks, driving me nuts!!! BTW, so cool to see some of my fave YTubers commenting here. I love the planner community. 😊

I've tried all sizes of the hobonichi the weeks, the a6, and the a5. I have never spent more than half a year in any of them. I love the idea of having most everything in one book, but I've been in travelers notebooks for so long I can't seem to stay away for to long.

I like the idea of the Hobo but feel id be in the exact same possition with empty space

In past years, I’ve used this as my bedtime journaling each day and the monthlies I use for reading (a book’s start date/ end date). I’ve never used it as a “planner” - definitely wouldn’t work for me for planning. But even as a bedtime journal (I do like it being dated) there are times when I would want to write more, so then I’d have to write more on a separate page and then tip it in.

If that's the problem why not try the hobonichi weeks instead ? It's exactly what you'd seem to be more comfortable with (weekly memo)

I ordered a brass rollerball by Kaweco. Fountain pen is nice too, but rollerballl, I feel, can take a beating better without leaking.

Thanks for the great review! I really WANT to be able to use and love the Hobonichi planners - any of them, since I love that paper - but for all the reasons you mentioned, they just don't work for me. Like you, I like the weekly layout with a facing note page. It's great to experiment with different layouts, etc though - I usually end up with a little tweak or two to my preferred system after trying out something new.

I love seeing how other people use their techos, but, like you, it’s never worked out for me. I think the lack of a weekly is a big deterrent. I also find that when you account for the quotes and calendars and lines, I get about the same amount of writing space in a TN passport page with the flexibility of using the pages exactly how I want to use them. I do love my 5-year techo, however, and I’ve enjoyed my experiments with Hobonichi.

Don’t worry I made the same mistake on my BENU review too. I couldn’t see the nib size and one of my subscribers point it out😂 Even as fountain pen enthusiasts we can get things wrong at times. Don’t be so hard on yourself, it just shows you’re human and we enjoy your authentic self!

I came here because of your thumbnail alone 😭😅

You could have both if you tried the Sterling Ink weekly + memo format. She has recreated and improved ( by cutting out the quotes and other superfluous stuff to give more space) the most popular planner formats and makes them with TR-S paper. And I just saw that Faded Chronicle, which is Canadian, may be doing something similar next year. I also need a weekly format and might try the Sterling Ink planner for next year depending on price.

16:03 I agree with you, it's good to try something new that is out of your comfort zone. Which inks do you prefer to use on your TN paper? Also, do you notice feathering? When I used to have a TN most of my inks would feather on the paper.

Is that a kaweko brass sport ?! I bought the Travelers co pen holder and it doesn’t work with it 😭 which pen holder are you using ?

Thanks for the helpful review, I've been equivocating on getting one of these for a couple weeks. I did just order a Sailor Fude de Mannen 50 degree which gets good reviews and am looking forward to using it. I see that a lot of reviewers and artists who use the Mannen Fude nib will roll the pen 180 degrees to get very fine lines. Have you tried that with the Hocoro? Wondering if the ink in that position would flood from the reservoir. Thanks again for the very thorough review!

Nope mine pen holder worked the same way;)

Sorry Frank but I had to chuckle about the nib mix up. Could happen to anyone. If you haven't deleted your Benu video maybe you could just record and insert a "future Frank" comment that it is a broad nib? I've been writing with a medium on both my Benus and am going to get a Fine because the M feels a little thick for me even though I like to write with mediums. Happy Canada Day to you!

Cool that you were able to hook up with a stationery/FP group. I don't think there are any in my area so I may need to start one if I can get motivated. The closest TC caravans that have come through in my state were two hours away in the biggest city in NC-Charlotte. I'm a wimp about five lane highway city driving!

Oh dear, is it wrong that I got a bit of a chuckle out of that? I arranged with a pen friend to try his Benu Euphoria with a M nib so I didn’t accidentally get a pen with too Broad a nib, but his pen is now damaged. Glad I don’t have to worry quite as much now!

Try this: if you get inky fingers use a moisturiser on your hands. Moisturiser is an emollient & helps in removing ink from fingers. My Mother used that to remove makeup from her face. Hope this is helpful.

🤣We all make mistakes, glad you got the right nib in the end. I’ve got same pen with M nib and while I like it, F is definitely my preference for Benu.

Nice video, especially the scenery, what music is that when you were sample writing the BENU please? I just read the reviews on that book, sounds like worth a read.

Writer's Blood is a really wet ink, it a Benu broad it would be really really really wet.

Happy Canada Day 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦. From a fellow Canadian in Germany

loved your share. subbed

That is a really nice setup, Frank! I love the combo with the orange ribbon band. I have the olive one, too, and use it as a mental health journal. 🖋️ However, I don't like the fact so much that the regular TN is quite narrow. Since I write quite large, I have to jump quickly to the next line, which hinders the flow of writing somewhat. That’s why I prefer to write in my Hobonichis. The length-to-width ratio actually works better for me in the TN Passport size, which I use as a travel journal. But that's just a matter of taste and I still like using both of them.😊 By the way, I love the idea of the patches! I hope I can find some nice ones here. Could I ask you what glue you used to attach them? I would also be very interested to know where you got your pen holder for your TN? I find most of them too narrow for my pens and am therefore very interested in them. Thanks for your videos - I always look forward to watching a new one.😍

I have a Faber Castell Ambition OpArt Flamingo F and couldn't agree more: the nib is drier than a mummy spit. Plus, the section is awfull. It slices your finger tips. It's a beautiful pen, but unusable. I hate it. The cap is sealed, though. On the other hand, I regret so much haven't bought the blue Opus 88 Fantasia... it still haunts me because I really loved it.

May I ask where again did you acquire the pen holders?

Stiloul acesta merita fiecare bănuț investit in el. Eu i-am montat un convertor pentru ca am cernelurile mele preferate. Este un stilou "pe viață" eate robust,echilibrat,reziatent si scrie fantastic. Nu am ce sa-i reproșez! Zi de zi il am in buzunar Este stiloul perfect.

Enjoyable video-I often watch videos like this out of the corner of my eye while doing other things, but had to keep pausing the video so I could finish a chore and actually watch bits of it more closely, ha ha!! 😅 Gorgeous TNs. I appreciate how you speak so warmly of your fam, too. ☺️ You have a calming voice and manner.