Review: Carswell Triform Private Security Evidence Notebook

Notebook rear

Well, I have to say that the Canadians were pretty quick in sending me my order - it arrived in a matter of days. No doubt helped by the rather steep shipping costs.

Oh well.

Anyway, now that I've had a chance to put one to the use, what are my thoughts?

Okay, my first impression is that the notebooks are a little squat - 3.5" x 5" (as opposed to the small Moleskine Reporter at 3.5" x 5.5"). Not that it's an issue. The user can enter various details such as reference and date of first and last entries etc on the front cover, as shown below.

Notebook front

There are 100 writeable pages (200 sides) each individually numbered. The lines, horizontal and vertical, are in blue as is the numbering. See below.

Also, the pages are sewn directly into the binding and the notebook can be opened completely flat without problems.

Inside

The pages are not particularly thick, however, but even with a broad Signo uniball pen, there wasn't all that much bleed-though as I expected and both sides of a page can be written upon without issue.

I also purchased the leather 'carrying case', or what I would call 'a holder'. And this was my first puzzling moment, because it wasn't exactly what I expected. Rather than a rigid back, the leather holder is rather thin and quite soft. But the notebook fits inside readily enough and the holder is kept closed with a domed flap.

 

Notebook and leather holder

I find that the leather holder is a little 'oversized' though and could have been trimmed a bit on each side, as it might be a bit unweildy for some pockets. Particularly with the pen-holder to the side, but that can easily be cut off.

In terms of comparison, below is a Triform notebook in holder, a Moleskine clone, and a Monsieur Notebook side by side.

Now, to be fair, I also did order some vinyl 'carrying cases' which were exactly what I thought the leather one would be like only, you know, in leather. They were made with hard cover approximating that of any Molskine or similar and were not oversized. However, those were for someone else so I do not have one with me at time of writing this post.

So, my thoughts?

In a nutshell, this notebook satisfies all the requirements needed for evidential purposes. Despite a few minor grumbles (like making the date/time column wider) this will now enter my own personal arsenal for every day use.

My Rating: A