I’d been hearing about Nolty planners for a while and finally decided to try them out

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I’ve also filmed a video with my first impressions, you can watch it here.

I accidentally ended up purchasing three. One A5 and two A5 Slims.

The reason I accidentally purchased these? I was only intending on getting the A5 and one A5 Slim. However, I couldn’t decide between them as one has a horizontal layout, and the other vertical. I clicked through to review the total price but instead of doing that it placed the order. I took it as a sign I should have both and left the order!

The range

There is so much to choose from in terms of sizes, layouts and colours. It’s not that easy to find full explanations as to the available range, and Amazon Japan isn’t the easiest to navigate. I found this fantastic blog post that really helped me work out which ones I wanted.

There are six different sizes of planners offered, and I lost count of the different colours available. All the planners come with covers that allow most of the planners to come with different colour options.

I lost count of the different layouts available. Basically, if there’s a layout you want, you can probably find it in a Nolty planner. From highly directed weekly spreads, to simple traditional planner layouts.

The easy comparison to make with these planners is with Hobonichi. The A5 Slim size sits perfectly in between the Weeks and the Cousin. The Listy 1 that comes in that size is a very similar layout to the Cousin, so if you love the layout but don’t want something as large as the Cousin, this could be a good compromise.

Price

These are all really reasonably priced. When you purchase from Amazon Japan you pay all customs fees upfront, which means you don’t get charged any handling fees when your order arrives. Including those customs and delivery charges, all three planners cost me less than £70, which is almost about what one Hobonichi Cousin costs once you add in all the fees.

Quality

I was very impressed with the quality of these planners. The cover is thick plastic that would easily with stand being thrown around in a bag all year. There’s also a pen loop in the cover which I love.

I haven’t been able to find the gsm of the paper, but it’s thick, smooth and takes every kind of pen I’ve tried, really well. There was no bleed with anything that I used. All the fountain pen ink dried really well, except the J Herbin ink, which is always a problem when it comes to drying on paper.

All the planners I purchased come with bookmarks which is a nice touch.

A5 – 6322

The planners have a numbering system to denote the different types. The A5 one I chose is the 6322 which has a black cover. It also comes in khaki which is the 6323.

The cover comes with three card slots on the inside which is really handy.

The front pages are similar across all the planners I purchased and are very similar to the Hobonichi planners. There’s a year at a glance, yearly on two pages, and then a month on two pages.

I’m not a fan of the monthly pages in this planner as the pages are lined. The weekly pages are the main reason I purchased this planner.

This is perfect for work. A small about of space to plan out each day, and the rest of the pages are just free planning space. I don’t have much day specific planning in my work life and have been using a bullet journal for the last year. This layout is the perfect compromise between the two. I no longer have to set up any weekly pages, but have lots of space left to plan flexibly. If you want to see how I plan for work, I wrote a blog post here.

Behind the weekly pages there’s also a good chunk of blank notes pages. There’s not enough for daily pages, but these will be perfect for meeting notes and other planning.

If, like me, you don’t need all the daily pages in a Cousin, this could be a good alternative.

Listy 1 – 6506

I purchased this in red as I couldn’t find the light teal in stock and I didn’t like the caramel.

The red cover on this has got a texture to it, but doesn’t come with any card slots inside.

Like the A5, this planner starts with a yearly overview, year at a glance and then monthly pages. I prefer the monthly layout in this planner as it has grid pages.

The weekly pages in this are very similar to the Cousin. However, the timed part of the vertical layout doesn’t cover the whole page. It doesn’t cover all 24 hours, but it does mean there’s room for both to do lists and a schedule. I used it with a Hobonichi Weeks kit between Christmas and New Year and loved how it turned out.

There’s also about twenty notes pages behind the weeklies.

Listy 2 – 6509

The 6509 is the grey version of the Listy 2. This is also available in black, red and blue.

The only thing that differs between the Listy 2 and the Listy 1 is the weekly layout. This has a very similar layout to the Hobonichi Weeks.

Aside from the size, there’s two differences to the Hobonichi Weeks layout: there is a timeline for scheduling and both pages have a grid layout. My one complaint about the Weeks is the fact that the only side of the weekly layout has a grid page (my handwriting is very wonky on plain paper) so this is a great alternative.

I’m really impressed with these planners

The only thing I don’t like about these so far, is the fact that they don’t lay flat as easily as the Hobonichi planners. Even on the A5, it takes some work to get the pages flat. This is something I really take for granted on my Hobonichis, and it does annoy me that I have to spend some time to flatten out any pages I want to write in.

I’ve just started using these and am still in the process of getting these all fully set up, but will share full reviews once I’ve used them for a while.

If there’s any specific posts or videos you want on these planners, let me know in the comments!