Rocketbook Wave Review
Last year I stumbled across an interesting product on Indiegogo that I was excited to try with my team. Rocketbook is a reusable notebook that has an app that allows you to take a photo of each page and have it automatically forwarded to a cloud location that you set including Dropbox, Evernote, Google docs or your email. The original plan was to have branded Rocketbooks with the Hawkins & Co. logo on the front but unfortunately Rocketbook haven’t yet been able to sort out the paper for the custom colours branding requires.
You’re probably wondering about the reusable part. This is the part that is really exciting & unique. Once you’ve filled your notebook and need a new one instead of heading to Staples you just pop your Rocketbook in the microwave with a mug of water and a couple of minutes later Voila! Brand new blank notebook. For our team and anyone to whom I have given a Rocketbook, this is the part they can’t wrap their head around –how can you remove writing from a notebook by microwaving it?! The key lies in the heat sensitive ink you use while writing in Rocketbook.
To make all of this possible you need to use Pilot Frixion pens when writing in Rocketbook. Not only are the Frixion pens heat sensitive but they are also erasable. The pens are readily available at Staples and other office supply stores and come in many different colours and thicknesses. I love writing with the Frixion pen. We have the 0.5 fine line and they feel similar to other Pilot pens of similar type.
Setting up Rocketbook is easy –just download the Rocketbook App on your phone and set the destinations you want available. You can set up to 7 destinations in the app. Currently Rocketbook links to Dropbox, Evernote, Google Docs, e-mail, Onedrive and iCloud with Slack and Box coming soon.
At the bottom of each page in Rocketbook you’ll see a set of 7 symbols. When you are done writing on a page and want to send your page to gmail for example just put an “X” in the symbol that links to your gmail, take a photo in the app and a few seconds later you will receive an email with a .pdf of your notes. The QR code tells Rocketbook what order the pages are in.
In the inside back cover of your book you’ll find a legend that you can fill out in case you forget which destination each symbol links to at the bottom of your page.
The team have had their Rocketbooks for a few months now and we all like the thick pages. We purchased the larger “Standard size” Rocketbooks and they provide plenty of room for notes on each page. Perfect for your computer bag but too large to put in a pocket or a purse. There is also a smaller “Executive size” available. The cover is made of a thick cardboard. After a few months my cover is showing some wear on the edges. To put it in perspective though I use it every day for a lot of the day and it is in and out of my computer bag frequently. The spiral binding allows the book to lay completely flat as well as allowing you to flip the book back on itself if you don’t have as much room to spread out.
I waited until I completely filled my Rocketbook before sticking it in the microwave to clear it. Rocketbook has a detailed instruction sheet that comes inside each notebook for how to microwave your book. It’s pretty straightforward. When mine first came out of the microwave it looked clear but after it cooled I could see a few small marks on some pages and also extremely faint writing in the background on many pages. Other team members have had similar results. Maybe if I’d microwaved a bit longer it would have been removed the writing completely but it’s so faint that I don’t really notice it.
I’ve found Rocketbook to be extremely useful and it’s also forced me to keep all my notes in one place so that I can easily get them in the cloud. When I’ve finished a page and uploaded it to my preferred destination I either put a checkmark in the bottom corner or put a big line across the page. This makes it a lot easier to know when I’ve got everything uploaded and can microwave my book.
If you want to learn more about Rocketbook or to buy one visit: http://getrocketbook.com/
~Allison