by 
While many folks prefer to just type out their notes, I’m all about writing things down by hand (and studies back me up). It used to be in a standard notebook that I’d then snap pictures of and upload into Evernote, but now I’m all about doing it digitally first via a tablet and stylus. If you’re looking for a less investment-heavy option, but want the ease of getting your notes digitally, the just-launched Rocketbook Axis is something worth checking out.
If you’re thinking Rocketbook sounds familiar, they should, as we wrote about their prior offerings here and here. What they’ve done here is work up a new folio system that will help keep you organized. In the external sleeve, you can drop a page pack (which has 20 pages in it, so you’re not having to take photos every time you need a new page), and then swap out for something else later on (all held in place with magnets).
To write in the Rocketbook Axis, all you need is a Pilot Frixion pen (or marker or highlighter) and away you go. The key here is the Pilot Frixion. This is an “erasable” writing implement, that you simply can wipe the page clean, and then it’s reusable. While I’ve not tried a Rocketbook, I will make one callout for the fellow left-handers out there. The Pilot Frixion pens (in my experience) will leave ink all over the side of your hand. This is by design, as the ink is meant to come off the page at some point. For me, leaving those days of elementary school behind where the side of my hand was covered in graphite is enough for me to stay digital with my notetaking (or relying on the quick-drying Pilot G-2, which won’t work on these pages).
For those worried about having the right pen on hand, the Rocketbook Axis has you covered, as there’s a slot-and-loop on the front of the cover to hold the pen right in place. That’s critical, since you won’t want to ruin the page with using the wrong pen. Once you’ve got your notes down (or your DnD map – yes, there’s a pack for that) you snap a photo with your phone, and easily send it over to a variety of cloud services, like Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, Box, iCloud, Slack, or email.
The Rocketbook Axis is currently up on Kickstarter, where it’s already fully funded, well in advance of the close date of April 30, 2021. For $60, you get the cover, one lined and one dot-grid combo pack of pages, a Pilot Frixion pen, and a microfiber cloth; additional page packs will be available as an add-on once the project closes. While the pages will be quick to erase, you’ll need to wait until November to try it out on your own. campaign page
