LEUCHTTURM1917 vs. Moleskine – ultimate, final battle ;)
So, you are thinking which calendar should you pick for a coming year.
In my case, I was always struggling whether I should pick Leuchtturm1917 or whether I should stick to Moleskine. I admit, this review is little bit biassed as I use Moleskine calendars for quite some time already. However, it has some objective approach as well. When it comes to notebooks, I definitely prefer Leuchtturm1917 (especially one with red dots) over Moleskine (blank).
Anyway, I will try to give you the feeling of what to expect when it comes to both calendars. I will try to compare them “section” by “section” – if I can say that.
Size
Leuchtturm1917 (at the bottom) gives you definitely more space to write at comparing to Moleskine. Both are quite similar in size, yet, Leuchtturm1917 is wider.
Note that Moleskine comes with plain covers as well. Alice themed one is my arbitrary choice.
About yourself
Moleskine
Well, to be honest, I have no idea whether anybody fills this one. In my 10 years experience with Moleskine, I don’t recall a single year when I have filled all the info about myself. The only thing I fill is probably e-mail – just in case I loose my calendar during the trip.
Leuchtturm1917
This section is not available in Leuchtturm1917
Whole year calendar – pocket style
Moleskine
Moleskine gives you overview of current and the next year (in this case it’s 2020 and 2021).
Leuchtturm1917
Leuchtturm1917 covers three years, past, current and the next (in this case it’s 2019, 2020, and 2021).
Due to the fact Leuchtturm1917 is little bit wider it gives (in my opinion) better layout – there is more air between elements on the page.
Whole month calendar – summary of each month
Moleskine
In here, Moleskine is definitely way better organised. You get page per month, with each and every day represented, clearly, as one box.
Leuchtturm1917
Leuchtturm1917 has slightly different approach. Each day is represented by single line, and you have three months per page. In case you like to put multiple events per day, it might be a struggle to maintain this information with this layout. You also have clearly marked days with Full Moon. In Moleskine, this info is placed both in the monthly calendar and inside daily agenda as well.
There is, however, one advantage of Leuchtturm1917 here – it covers current and next year.
International holidays
Moleskine
44 countries
Leuchtturm1917
58 countries
Project plan
Moleskine
This section is not available in Moleskine
Leuchtturm1917
This section is Leuchtturm1917 specific. What you get here is a sort of Gantt chart template where you can easily mark your progress. I am not sure whether there is any chance to manage project using this kind of chart on paper, yet still, you can put some mile stones here to have sort of overview of the whole year.
Time zones
Moleskine
This one is quite helpful in case you work with people coming from multiple time zone areas. You can have quick look here and you already know what to expect when it comes to time at given location. However, this might be tricky anyway. Taking into account summer time, winter time, different periods of applying them over the year, depending on region, I guess it’s safer to check the time on the Internet (e.g. https://www.timeanddate.com/time/map/).
Leuchtturm1917
This section is not available in Leuchtturm1917
Measures and conversions
Moleskine
It comes handy in all these small situations when you have to jump from imperial system to metric one. I guess, anybody travelling to U.S. faced this issue at least once – “- What the heck this gallon is and what does it mean it’s 77 degrees out there?”.
just to give you the feeling of the whole idea
Leuchtturm1917
This section is not available in Leuchtturm1917
International sizes
Moleskine
If you are lost in all these various sizes of various types of clothes, this section is to the rescue :) It’s divided into female/male sections.
Leuchtturm1917
This section is not available in Leuchtturm1917
Dialing codes
Moleskine
If you are kind of spy person, trying to reach some esoteric country via landline from the booth in the hotel lobby, you can use this page to properly say: “- Operator, please connect me with …”. Also, quite useful if you are abroad and you have no idea how to prefix TAXI number with country code.
Leuchtturm1917
This section is not available in Leuchtturm1917
Travel planning
Moleskine
To be honest, I don’t use this one. I plan all my trips in the calendar that covers overview of the whole year, instead. But still, if you have plenty of trips, you can use this section to track them.
Leuchtturm1917
This section is not available in Leuchtturm1917
My extraordinary moments this year
Moleskine
Ok. Let me be straight here. I have no idea what’s the purpose of this page :) Really! I have never, ever, filled this one. I guess, it’s targeting sort of artistically gifted extraverts who want to somehow collect all these small, precious moments in their lives. Nope, don’t count me in here. Anyway, it’s one more place where you can stash some of your personal experience.
Leuchtturm1917
This section is not available in Leuchtturm1917
My blank space
Moleskine
Yet another place for you creativity. I guess, it sounds better than – “this page intentionally left blank”.
Leuchtturm1917
This section is not available in Leuchtturm1917
My inspiring journeys
Moleskine
This is, basically, dotted map of whole world. I guess it’s something nice for people who travel a lot and want to mark each and every place they have visited.
Leuchtturm1917
This section is not available in Leuchtturm1917
Ruler and legend
Moleskine
There are two small things that come handy. Ruler is quite useful in case you want to measure something quickly (e.g. size of the envelop while trying to buy postage stamp). Legend gives you brief overview of what to expect on pages when you see the symbol (it is related to daily agenda).
Leuchtturm1917
This section is not available in Leuchtturm1917
Daily agenda – good things come to those who wait
Moleskine
Moleskine has very simple layout of daily agenda. The day starts at 8 a.m. and ends at 8 p.m. (you have two lines of text per each hour). At the top of the page you have the list of all the countries with public holidays at that day. It’s really helpful in case you work as part of the international team.
Daily agenda contains also major phases of the moon and provides the place to mark weather conditions and temperature. You can also find number of the week within the year (at the bottom of the page).
Leuchtturm1917
Leuchtturm1917 provides slightly different layout. The day starts at 7 a.m. and ends at 10 p.m. (you have one line of text per each hour). There is a clear indication of the week within the year (at the bottom of the page). Each page is divided into three sections. Hours, notes and small calendar with previous, current and next month. You also have clean indication of current week within the small calendar. The element, I miss most, is the list of countries with public holidays. It forces you to jump back and forth from the daily agenda to the page with the list of holidays. It might be a struggle whenever you try to plan the meeting in multi cultural team.
Paper
Both calendars are made of high quality paper. I, personally, prefer one that is available in Leuchtturm1917. In my subjective opinion it’s little bit smoother and goes very well with fountain pen.
Summary
I already told you (in the beginning) that this comparison is probably quite biased. I am simply accustomed to Moleskine’s layout and I find it more suitable for my needs. I don’t make too many separate notes per day, thus, I find it a waste of space in case of Leuchtturm1917. On the other hand, I think that Moleskine is packed with antiquated layouts – like personal info, some pages that are obsolete for most of the users (e.g. traveling experiences, etc.).
Anyway, summarising, it looks like I will not switch to Leuchtturm1917 this year. As for you, please decide for yourself :)