REVIEW: Personal Guildford Filofax

When I was first discovering Filofax, I came across the Guildford and have always been intrigued about it. In particular, the zipped one as I liked the idea of a zipped planner and the 30mm ring size also seemed like a great thing to have. A couple of weeks ago I came across someone selling their Guildford Filofax (snap version) at a very good price. I was going back and forth on whether to get my father a senior size or a standard size planner, but when I saw the price on this, I jumped to get it! I had always been curious about the Guildford planners and was happy that I would be able to test drive the Guildford before handing it over to my dad.

As this is a discontinued planner and not very popular, I’ve had to do a little digging to gather some information to share with you. This is what I have found:

Dimensions: 15 x 12.6 x 4.2 cm

First available date: July 2007 according to Amazon

Leather: Deluxe cow nappa leather

The personal zipped version has 2 pen loops and 30mm rings, but this one has the regular 23mm rings and one pen loop on the right hand side of the planner. Also on the right is a meshed zipped pocket. On the left hand side are 6 credit card slots, a deeper horizontal pocket, and a secretarial flap.

   
        Pros:

• The leather is so soft and smooth!!!! Love it! 😀 It reminds me of the Holborn which I also love. But if you’re into pebbled and textured leather, then this is not the planner for you.
• I like the detailed stitching around the popper. It makes the planner interesting and keeps it from being another boring/ plain black planner.
• It lays flat! Yes, mine is second hand, but I believe it would do this even if I bought it brand new as it has some ridges inside near the rings (see pics) which, I think, helps the binder to bend and lay flat.
• Although it lays flat, it has enough structure (like the Holborn) to be able to write in your planner without having to put it on a table. There is some cardboard backing inside the covers, but it’s not to rigid.
• The zipper pocket is easy to get things in and out of. This is because the planner is not too stiff so there is enough give to get into the pocket.
• Secretarial pocket – I think some people will find this a pro. It’s easy to get things in and out of the pocket

Cons:

• The pen loop is a full leather one. Can’t fit my pens inside. I wouldn’t mind this so much if the position of the pen loop wasn’t smack bam in the middle behind the strap like most planners are it seems. I prefer pen loops to be above the strap so that the pen doesn’t stick out from the bottom if you have to clip it on to the pen loop.
• 23mm rings: I was hoping that since the zipped one had 30mm rings, the snap one would also have it.

That’s it. Those are the only cons I have. If it weren’t for that, I would be shouting “planner peace” right now ;). I found it very hard to move out of this binder after my one week of testing it out. Since my plan is to give this away, I have made a bunch of comparison videos which I will be editing and posting/uploading on the the web soon. I made a video review of it (my very first!) because I couldn’t find any videos of it in action on YT land. Check it out and let me know, what do you think?

‘Till next time,

P.