rocketbook core notebook reviews

Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook review: Endlessly reusable notebook for the digital age

iMore Verdict

Bottom line: The eco-friendly reusable notebook lets you handwrite notes and save and store them digitally.

Handwrite notes on reusable paper

Upload notes to a variety of digital services

OCR-enabled

Eco-friendly

Easily replaceable pen

Ink dries slowly (bad for lefties)

OCR isn't great for bad handwriting

You can always trust iMore. Our team of Apple experts have years of experience testing all kinds of tech and gadgets, so you can be sure our recommendations and criticisms are accurate and helpful. Find out more about how we test.

• Price and availability
• What's good
• What's not good
• The competition
• Should you buy?

The endlessly reusable Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook gives you the best of both worlds: writing by hand and digital organization/storage. Write in the notebook with a Pilot FriXion pen. Scan your note with the Rocketbook app on your favorite iPhone and have the note sent to your choice of digital services. Then you can erase the note with a moist cloth and reuse that same page as many times as you'd like. Your notes are safely tucked away in digital form. The app even has OCR (Optical Character Recognition), so you can tag and search your notes later.

Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook: Price and availability

The Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook comes in two sizes: Letter Size and Executive Size. The Letter Size is 8.5-by-11 inches and contains 32 pages, and the Executive Size is 6-by-8.8 inches and has 36 pages. For either size, choose dot-grid or lined paper. The notebook comes in a wide variety of colors and patterns.

The Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook can be found at Amazon and Rocketbook's site as well as big box and office supply stores everywhere. The retail price starts at $32, but you can often find it discounted as low as $20.

Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook: What's good

Obviously, you can use an iPad and an Apple Pencil to take notes in your favorite note-taking app . But if you prefer the old-school feel of pen on paper, check out the Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook. It's a slim spiral-bound notebook with a sturdy plastic cover. Inside you'll find 32-36 glossy paper pages, depending on which size you choose.

The paper is specially designed to work with Pilot FriXion erasable pens. Once the ink dries, it stays put until you wipe the page clean with a moistened cloth. One of these pens is included with the notebook, but it's not a proprietary pen. You can easily find these pens anywhere that sells writing implements. The cloth is included too, but it's not a special cloth.

You'll notice a QR code and seven symbols along the bottom of each page. This is how the notes are digitized. Download the Rocketbook app and set up where you want your notes to go. Choose from Google Drive, Evernote, Dropbox, OneNote, OneDrive, Trello, Slack, Box, iCloud, or email. Each of the symbols can be designated to a particular spot. So you can send your notes automatically to the service of your choice just by placing an "X" over the symbol you've set up.

You'll never need another notebook again; just reuse this one over and over

I'd definitely recommend taking the time to set up folders within the cloud services to send your notes. Alternatively, you can skip all that and just send the note wherever and however you'd like. You'll also need to set up OCR in the app if you wish to use that feature.

I set up the "arrow" symbol as my email address and the "diamond" symbol as my Google Drive. In fact, I created a folder in Google Drive specifically for my Rocketbook notes. So any note where I mark the diamond symbol goes right into that particular folder in Google Drive, without my having to select anything in the app.

The more you use the system, the more you learn about useful features. For example, if you write two hashtags on either side of your note's title, the OCR picks that up and will give the note that name digitally. You can also batch notes rather than sending one page at a time to the service of your choice.

Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook: What's not good

The glossy paper and erasable pen don't feel exactly like a regular pen on normal paper. You won't get the smooth flow of a high-end pen on quality paper, and I saw some complaints about this online. I don't mind the glossy paper, it didn't bother me at all, but tastes will vary.

The bigger issue is that the ink doesn't dry immediately. It takes about 20-30 seconds to dry completely. The way I hold my pen, right-handed, this isn't an issue for me. But for left-handed folks, or right-handed folks writing in a right-to-left language, or anyone who tends to smear ink as they write or draw, it might be a big issue.

The OCR is pretty cool when it works. It allows you to name your notes automatically as well as search them once they're in your cloud service. However, your handwriting needs to be pretty neat, or the OCR just won't recognize it. I had to slow down and make a conscious effort to write neatly enough for the OCR to read it.

Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook: Competition

Moleskine is such a popular luxury notebook brand that you can't talk notebooks without talking Moleskine. Moleskine has its own ecosystem that includes a variety of smart notebooks, writing sets, and digital tools. However, the paper notebooks themselves are not reusable.

There are cheaper reusable notebooks to be found on Amazon and the like, such as the HOMESTEC brand. This one must be erased with a hairdryer or the eraser end of the pen, making it a bit more cumbersome than the Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook that only requires a moist cloth.

Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook: Should you buy it?

You should buy this if ...

• You want a smart notebook that digitizes and organizes your notes
• You want to be able to reuse the notebook over and over
• You want OCR so you can search your stored notes quickly

You shouldn't buy this if...

• You don't like the feel of glossy paper
• You write left-handed and/or tend to smudge ink that dries slowly
• You have bad handwriting (OCR may not recognize it)

If you're looking for an endlessly reusable smart notebook that can scan, digitize, and organize your hand-written notes, you'll love the Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook. However, if you don't like the feel of glossy paper, or the slow ink dry time will cause you to smear it, then look elsewhere. This also may not be ideal for the person with bad handwriting.

I've enjoyed using the Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook. It's so easy to write a note, mark off where you want to send it, scan it, and send it on its way. The erasable Pilot FriXion pen dries slowly on the notebook's glossy reusable paper, but once it's dry, it stays put until you wipe it with a moist cloth.

Since you can just reuse this one notebook over and over, it's an eco-friendly choice. I can see it being great for students, creators, and anyone who likes to put pen to paper. With so many different cloud services that you can upload to automatically, it's such a useful tool. You can even use OCR to further organize and search your notes.

Bottom line: Get that old-school pen on paper feel with the advantages of digital notes.

This is the companion app to the Rocketbook Smart Notebook lineup. It puts the "smart" in your smart notebook.

Karen is a contributor to iMore.com as a writer and co-host of the iMore Show. She’s been writing about Apple since 2010 with a year-long break to work at an Apple Store as a product specialist. She's also a contributor at TechRadar and Tom's Guide. Before joining iMore in 2018, Karen wrote for Macworld, CNET, AppAdvice, and WatchAware. She’s an early adopter who used to wait in long lines on release days before pre-ordering made things much easier. Karen is also a part-time teacher and occasional movie extra. She loves to spend time with her family, travel the world, and is always looking for portable tech and accessories so she can work from anywhere.

Google just showed Apple Intelligence the pitfalls of letting generative AI create artwork

Twitch is hiking its subscription prices as it tries to claw back Apple's App Store fees from customers

iPhone 16 launch event will take place on September 10 says top Apple analyst

Most Popular

• 2 Twitch is hiking its subscription prices as it tries to claw back Apple's App Store fees from customers
• 3 iPhone 16 launch event will take place on September 10 says top Apple analyst
• 4 Here's every iPhone 16 camera improvement you can expect to see on Apple's newest phone
• 5 macOS Sequoia is set to release at the same time as iOS 18 – in the middle of September

The 6 Best Smart Reusable Notebooks

Reduce your paper usage with a smart notebook.

Heidi Wachter was a senior editor at Experience Life magazine for 10 years. She has written for publications like Experience Life, Shondaland, and betterpet.

• Syracuse University
• San Francisco State University

• University of Tennessee
• Green Living
• Pest Control
• Natural Cleaning
• Thrift & Minimalism
• Sustainable Eating

We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more .

Treehugger / Chloe Jeong

The United States generated 67.4 million tons of paper waste annually. That means reducing how much paper you use is a great way to help the environment. Writing on both sides of every sheet is a simple way to limit your usage, as is opting for eco-friendly notebooks with recycled or sustainable pages. But paper-free, digital notebook options are becoming more widely available and less expensive.

Many “smart” notebooks offer a reusable, erasable solution for those who like the experience of putting pen to paper but prefer to keep trees in the forest . They also reduce the amount of paper that needs to be recycled , which cuts carbon emissions. Other types of smart pads allow you to use both sides of your favorite paper or notebook to make lists or drawings and then digitize them. Most smart notebooks allow you to save your work to cloud storage using a compatible app.

Here, the best smart reusable notebooks to consider.

Best Overall

Rocketbook core.

Available in multiple colors, the Rocketbook Core offers a classic analog writing experience designed for the digital age. Using any erasable and refillable Pilot FriXion pen , simply write, doodle, or create lists on lined or dot-grid pages that are made from a special polyester composite (no trees necessary). The ink bonds to the pages in about 15 seconds to prevent smudging.

Ready to save your work? Select the correct symbol at the bottom of each page and use the Rocketbook app to send your notes to your favorite cloud-based service like Dropbox, Evernote, or Google Drive. When you’re done, gently wipe the erasable pages (up to 500 times), and you’ve got a new notebook ready for your next meeting or assignment. There are several different cover color options to choose from, including black, gray, green, orange, red, and teal.

The Rocketbook Core is our top choice because the user experience is the most like an analog paper notebook

Best for Organization

Rocketbook fusion.

Looking for a reusable notebook to reduce back-to-school waste or a more sustainable take on an annual planner ? The Rocketbook Fusion could be your new, super-organized best friend.

It’s got all the features of a Rocketbook Core—erasable pages and the ability to upload content to cloud storage—combined with new page styles like a task list page, two weekly planner pages, and a monthly calendar. When you’re ready to work on a new idea or to turn the page to a new year, just erase your old work with a damp cloth and start fresh.

Best for Kids

Boogie board blackboard letter.

This paperless LCD notepad is great for all ages, but especially for young ones who might not be as careful with a more expensive tablet. This modern-day bulletin board offers a sturdy, hard surface to write on even when you aren’t near a desk or table.

No stylus is necessary, so it’s super easy for little ones to grab the Boogie Board and write or doodle with the touch of a finger. It works best to use the stylus included, but almost any object with a slightly pointed tip will work.

Line and grid templates and a magnetic pen holder are an added bonus. The long-lasting five-year battery is an eco-friendly feature. Capture your creations using the free app compatible with iOS and Android, then erase instantly using a one-touch button.

Best Pocket-Sized

Rocketbook everlast mini.

It may be small (3.5 x 5.5 inches) in stature, but the Rocketbook mini is packed with 48 reusable pages. It’s a great travel companion, but it’s also handy for anyone—like medical personnel and journalists—who need to record info on the go.

Like the larger Rocketbook family members, this smart notebook comes in a variety of colors and requires a Pilot FriXion or specialized pen in order to write on the pages. But it fits in your pocket instead of your backpack. The Rocketbook app lets you scan, share, and save your work for accessing later. Simply wipe the pages clean with a damp cloth anytime you need a clean slate.

Best Spiral

Elfinbook 2.0 smart reusable notebook.

Elfinbook’s ring-bound option looks like a traditional notebook, but its double-sided pages are reusable and erasable up to about 500 times with a damp cloth, microwave, or hairdryer. They can also be removed from the binding for easy sharing on collaborative projects.

Available in two sizes, the pages are big enough to be used by architects, designers, and anyone with a creative streak. It comes with one Pilot FriXion Pen. Use the Elfinbook app to send all of your completed drawings and illustrations to a handful of cloud storage services. Later you can manipulate, organize, share, rename, or delete the stored files.

Best Reusable Paper Notebook

Paper saver classic paper saver.

If you’re not ready for a digital notebook, the Paper Saver is a fresh take on an old-school paper writing pad. Its faux leather cover is the perfect place way to reuse any one-sided scrap paper all that paper you have lying around.

Simply collect all that any letter-sized paper that's blank on one side (between 40 and 50 sheets fit) and insert them into the stainless-steel binding. Fold the other half over and you’ve got a notebook of pages ready for writing or scribbling on. When you’re at the end of the book, pull the stack out, flip it around, and start again. Free downloads of printable lines and grid patterns are available for those who prefer writing on something other than blank sheets.

Treehugger's top pick for a reusable notebook is the Rocketbook Core . If you’re looking for something good for kids and is an alternative to an expensive tablet like an iPad, then the Boogie Board Blackboard Letter Paperless Notepad might be right for you. 

What to Look For in a Smart Reusable Notebook

Reusability.

Since you’re looking for an eco-friendly option, check to see how many times, if any, each page can be erased and reused.

Does it require a battery to operate? If so, how long it will last? If not, is the device charged with a USB cable or something else?

The “Write” Implement

Most smart notebooks require a special pen or stylus. Prior to purchasing, confirm how many pens are included and how often they need to be replaced or if they can be refilled.

Does the device sync to your favorite cloud services? Or does it store your information on the device? Decide how important these factors are to you.

Some reusable notebooks are larger and more portable than others. A5 (5.8 x 8.6 inches) tends to be cheaper and great for note-taking, writing, and simple sketches. If you’re looking to design or illustrate, B5 (6.9 x 9.8 inches) might be worth spending a bit of extra money on. There are also A6 (6.7 x 4.2 inches) options available.

Most smart notebooks utilize dot grid patterns so smart phones easily capture the content. Dotted pages are also handy for engineers and architects, while students and writers might prefer a lined option. Artists and illustrators might opt for blank pages.

It depends on the notebook. To clear your Rocketbook reusable notebook, for example, you simply need a damp cloth. Other models, like Elfinbook , let you use your microwave or a hairdryer to get a clean slate. LCD-style notepads are often erased with the touch of a single built-in button.

You will want to keep that pen you swiped from the resort you visited in Maui away from your reusable notebook.

Most reusable notebooks require a stylus or special pen. They’re often erasable gel-style pens like Pilot’s FriXion model . LCD-style notebooks may let your finger do the talking. That makes them great options for kids.

Often the necessary pen or stylus will be included with your purchase. But before you buy, read the fine print about the exact kind of stylus or pen you’ll need to use.

If the specific pen you are required to use on your reusable notebook is available in different colors, you can absolutely color inside or outside the lines in as many hues as you want.

Why Trust Treehugger?

Heidi Wachter is a writer and journalist who has been covering climate and sustainability issues for about a decade.

" National Overview: Facts and Figures on Materials, Wastes and Recycling. " Environmental Protection Agency .

• The 11 Best Eco-Friendly Notebooks
• The 6 Best Electric Lighters
• The 6 Best Energy-Efficient Clothing Dryers
• The 6 Best All-Natural Chewing Gums
• 10 Easy, Green New Year's Resolutions Anyone Can Keep
• 10 Tips for Making Your Dishwasher More Efficient
• The 7 Best Energy-Efficient Fans
• 22 Sustainable Swaps to Make at Home
• 5 Easy Tips to Make Travel More Sustainable
• Are Paper Napkins More Environmentally Friendly?
• The 8 Best Energy-Efficient Ceiling Fans
• Reusable Water Bottles Are Not as Green as You Think
• 19 Ways to Stop Creating Unnecessary Trash
• Ask Pablo: Ceramic Plates vs Paper Plates
• The Problem With Mason Jars
• Why You Should Use Reusable Shopping Bags

Please contact the site administrator

Get the Reddit app

Notebooks and related stationery: "any aspect of your life which you want to give more conscious attention to can be used as the foundation for a notebook."

Comprehensive Rocketbook after six months (daily use)

I was first attracted to Rocketbook because of the easy digitization features. I figured they would be useful for a me in my schooling (currently studying economics), but I ultimately bought the notebook (30 bucks--pretty steep pricing for a working student) because I liked the erasable-pages gimmick. For the two of you who don't know what Rocketbook is, it is a tech/notebook company that you might want to look into. They make two notebooks/products, each in several different sizes. The two notebooks are called The Everlast and The Wave. I happen to own one of each, but my Everlast is a pocketbook size, and my Wave is a full notebook, so I've mostly used the Wave.

Review is split into sections so you can skip around if you want. TL:DR at the end.

I'm talking about this first because most people talk about the erasable pages gimmick like it's all that RB has to offer, and it's not. The app, and the technology attached, is by far the best thing about Rocketbook. Apparently there were some glitches with it in the early days, back when Rocketbook was a newly funded Kickstarter, but the kinks have been straightened and the bugs have been squashed. It is free on IOS and Android.

If you don't know how the app works, read this paragraph. The Rocketbook app uses your phone's camera to scan the Rocketbook pages (each has a QR code and a thin border of black ink, for better framing/scaling) and send them off to the hosting webservice of your choosing. It is, essentially, a quick way to take pictures of your pages. It doesn't differ in speed or quality if you compare it to something like the Evernote scanning tool, if you are familiar with that.

There are two main features that set Rocketbook scanning apart from the scanning in other apps. The first is the customizability. If you've never seen a Rocketbook page before, there is a little row of bubbled symbols in the footer of each. The app can tell which bubble you fill in, and will send the scan to a pre-programmed location associated with that bubble (color in the apple, and the page goes to your pintrest board, color in the star and it goes to your onedrive, etc.) It keeps your online folders nice and tidy. Very cool. You can use Evernote, Onedrive, an email account, dropbox, or about a half dozen other things. Your scans are also stored on the Rocketbook app itself. The second feature is a little less exciting, but is still useful when you make a scan, you can choose to format it as a PDF or as a Jpg. Its useful for students like myself who are forced to use several different submission services at once. Some websites only want PDF, some won't have them at all. Either way, you can send your problem sets to your teacher without much fuss.

HANDWRITING RECOGNITION

The other cool thing about the app that is not offered by other paper-scanners is the handwriting recognition. It is, by far, my favorite part of Rocketbook. If you write legibly (and in English) the app will embed a digital transcription of your handwritten notes into the scan of your notebook page, and your notes will become, with no effort on your part, electronically searchable. It's super badass. Like, seriously mega badass. I love it so much. If I'm trying to remember a certain term or equation that I know I've written down somewhere, I can just pull out my phone and search for it. Boom--the page is there. The exact words I wrote. So fucking cool. Super helpful.

You can also use this feature to automatically title your documents, which is insanely useful when the documents you're scanning are related to academics. Most of my headings are things like "CH 7, continued" or "HW 4.2, Money and Banking". Really easy to keep things straight. You just have to draw double hash marks on either side of your title, and the book does the rest. ##Midterm Q's and hints## is one of the more recent entries I've made.

That being said, the recognition technology isn't perfect. It tends to occasionally push words together or split them up. I also take notes in all caps because it helps me read them later, even if I'm writing quickly in class. It might be that someone with chicken scratch cursive would find no use in this feature at all. Keep that in mind.

(***For those who don't want to buy the notebook but might want to try the app, you can download a PDF of the scannable pages here and print them out yourself on normal, ungimmicked paper***).

PAPER ON THE EVERLAST

Like I said, I'm mostly using an older version of Rocketbook--not the Everlast, but the Wave. The difference between the two is in the paper, and the way that it can be erased. (Both notebooks require you use a particular brand of friction-erasable pen. They are pretty cheap and write about as well as most inexpensive alternatives.) The Everlast is the newest generation of Rocketbook, and it is essentially a bunch of dry-erase leaflets bound together with the rocketbook bubbles and QR codes. The ink from the frixion pens doesn't soak into the special Everlast paper (a laminated, smooth plastic). Once it has dried, you can actually feel it on the page. The ink is erasable, as always, but you can also wipe it off of the paper with a damp cloth. When you order the Everlast, rocketbook gives you a cute little microfiber towel to use for this purpose, though any towel/cloth will do. The drawbacks of the Everlast are that, without absorbent paper, the ink takes 15-20 seconds to dry completely. That means that it can be royally easy to smear, which is not good for someone who is taking quick notes. If you use the Everlast, you have to train yourself not to rest your hand on the notebook while you write. You also may have to rewrite certain things after the ink beads on the paper and turns your solid lines and letters into traceable, dotted replicas. It also means that if your paper gets wet for any reason, the ink will run in rivers off the page.

PAPER ON THE WAVE

The Wave is erased with a microwave (hence the name). It's a little zany, but it works because the frixion pen ink fades with high temperatures. If the ink becomes hot enough, it disappears. The only thing that sets this notebook apart from the 5$ ones at Walmart is that this one is treated to be microwave safe. Normal notebooks can burn, or fall apart when their bindings are melted. The Wave is advertised to be able to go through the microwave up to five times, as long as you also put a mug of water in there with it. In theory, this means that the notebook (40 leaflets, 80 pages) can be used as 200 leaflets, or 400 pages. It's worth noting that the ink doesn't erase completely when its microwaved, though, and that the pages are not standard 8.5X11 on the standard notebook. In fact, they are a little smaller, so the writing doesn't go quite as far. Anyone who is curious to see how well the pen cooks off can see the imgur gallery here .

TL;DR: The Rocketbook app/technology is incredibly useful. The scanning is slightly better than that of competing products, but the handwriting recognition software is super badass. Both books the company offers are cool, but I personally prefer the Wave for its extra pages and paper texture. Neither are perfect.

By continuing, you agree to our User Agreement and acknowledge that you understand the Privacy Policy .

Enter the 6-digit code from your authenticator app

You’ve set up two-factor authentication for this account.

Enter a 6-digit backup code

Create your username and password.

Reddit is anonymous, so your username is what you’ll go by here. Choose wisely—because once you get a name, you can’t change it.

Reset your password

Enter your email address or username and we’ll send you a link to reset your password

Check your inbox

An email with a link to reset your password was sent to the email address associated with your account

Choose a Reddit account to continue

Rocketbook Reviewed: The Good, Bad & Good-To-Know (Meta Review)

Discover what the internet is saying about Rocketbook .

Yay or nay?

Upgraded Reviews scanned the web to find out what real users are saying about Rocketbook.

See the highlights below and decide for yourself!

Table of contents

✅ pros, ❌ cons.

• ⚖️ Summaries
• 💸 Top Discount

💸 Top Current Discount

40% off select items.

Show Discount Code See all Rocketbook deals About | Contact | Deals | Reviews

Dislcaimer The display of third-party trademarks and trade names on this site does not necessarily indicate any affiliation or endorsement by Upgraded Reviews. If you click a link and buy a product or service on another website, we may be paid a fee by the merchant.

Author Upgraded Reviews

Posted January 28, 2024 — 7:04 pm

Categories Uncategorized

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?

ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.

When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.

ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form .

Why this reusable smart notebook is the perfect tech gadget for students

The new Rocketbook Pro comes in two sizes, the letter size (8.5 inches by 11 inches) is pictured.

The Rocketbook Pro looks like any other notebook but it packs a beautiful secret: It's completely reusable, and the Rocketbook app makes it easy to transfer your notes from the pages to your phone. 

Also:  Best smart notebooks for students

The notebook comes with a Pilot FriXion erasable pen, a microfiber cloth to wipe the pages clean, a 40-page lined and dotted grid page pack, and a scratch-resistant cover.

Smart notebooks are one way to reduce your environmental impact, especially if you're one to buy a planner each year or a fan of journaling. Beyond their eco-friendliness, is the plain fact that a lot of people still prefer to handwrite their notes, journal entries, lists, and planning rather than use a digital alternative. 

Also:  Remarkable 2 adds keyboard case to level up its impressive no-distractions tablet

Personally, I have an easier time remembering things when I've handwritten them, which has been proven to be true for others  in medical studies . 

The Frixion is a line of eraseable pens from Pilot.

The greatness of the Rocketbook Pro is in the two-pronged approach to a smart notebook; you get both the benefits of old-fashioned handwriting and the ability to digitally store and save your pages. 

Also: The 5 best note-taking apps for the iPad

How does that last part work? The notebook cover on the Rocketbook Pro features an embedded NFC chip that, when held up to an NFC-enabled smartphone running iOS or Android, leads to the Rocketbook app. This will then let you scan your pages and save them as a shareable PDF, individually or as a bundle. It can be preset to automatically send the scans to different destinations, like OneDrive, Evernote, Slack, email, iCloud, Google Drive, box, OneNote, and more; all with different codes that are at the bottom of each page. 

After you're done with your notes and satisfied with how they got scanned into the app, you can wipe down your Rocketbook Pro page clean with a damp microfiber cloth. 

The Rocketbook Pro is a sleeker version of the smart notebook aimed at professionals.

Rocketbook has also taken a step towards a more professional look with the Pro smart notebook, by doing away with the spiral binding and flexible cover in favor of a hard, scratch-resistant portfolio-style cover made of vegan leather. 

The hardcover on this newer option is one thing that many users of previous Rocketbook versions had requested. The Pro version can also lay completely flat when open for easier writing and bends in 360 degrees to take quick notes on the go. 

As a fan of bullet journaling and organization in general, I love how customizable a blank or dotted notebook is. My bullet journal serves as an all-in-one for planning, writing down work tasks and meetings, lists, to-dos, budgeting, and random annotations. 

The Rocketbook Pro has a variety of page packs from planners to blank pages for sketching, so the ability to customize my planner is there. Pilot also offers different types of the erasable Frixion pen, like clicker colored pens , markers , pastels , and more options to make my journaling heart flutter.

Aside from a damp cloth, the included Pilot Frixion Pen has a pretty effective eraser on one end.

I like keeping my old journals as snapshots of my life at that stage, but scanning and saving my pages serves the same purpose and the fact that I can just wipe down the pages to start over is so convenient.

Bottom line

Having used it for a number of weeks, I can't say for sure that I'll never go back to my pen and paper notebook, especially my beloved bullet journal. But I can definitely say I won't for a good while. I love the fact that the Rocketbook Pro is versatile so I can create my own layouts on the dot grid, and I can wipe off any errors I make -- something I can't do on my paper bullet journal. For now, I find myself reaching for my Rocketbook exclusively whenever I have to take down a quick note or try to organize my thoughts, so it's been a win in my book. 

The Rocketbook Pro is available in letter size, 8.5 inches by 11 inches, which retails for $60 ; and a 7 inches by 9 inches executive size, priced at $55 .

For more back-to-school recommendations, check out ZDNET's  ultimate tech deals list .

Featured reviews

The best magsafe wallets you can buy: expert tested, the best windows laptops of 2024: expert tested, this subscription-free smart ring i tested gives oura a run for its money.

Trusted Reviews is supported by its audience. If you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a commission. Learn more.

Rocketbook Fusion Review

A notebook that you can use again and again

It pretty much gives you the feeling of pen and paper, letting you record notes how you want them. However, the Rocketbook Fusion has a trick up its sleeve: you can wipe pages clean to reuse them. An app lets you quickly take backups of notes and store them where you want them, although its OCR feature wasn't particularly good when I used it. Even so, this is a well priced high-tech alternative to replace your old paper notebooks.

• Works like pen and paper
• Easy to wipe clean
• Smart app lets you scan pages
• OCR is poor
• Front cover looks cheap

Key Specifications

• Review Price: £39.99
• Reusable notebook
• Includes FriXion erasable pen, and cloth
• Diary, planner, objective, grid and lined pages

Try as it may, digital technology hasn’t managed to replace the ease and convenience of being able to hand-write notes. The Rocketbook Fusion aims to change that with its high-tech paper that can be wiped and used time and time again, combined with an app that will scan and save notes for use.

Cheaper than its digital-based alternatives, such as the Remarkable 2 E Ink tablet, this notebook feels much more like writing for real. A slightly limited number of pages and slow drying ink are minor issues but this is a handy high-tech way of replacing a low-tech item.

Design and writing – Pretty much like paper but with slower-drying ink

Rocketbook has several notebooks that use its technology, including the Core, which just has line pages, and the Fusion that I have here. This book is designed to replace many other notebooks, and contains pages with templates for tasks, two pages of weekly planning, a calendar, objectives, and then a decent chunk of pages with grids or lines.

That gives you a fair amount of flexibility, but the ideal would be an openable ring binder that lets you choose the combination of pages. A Filofax replacement, if you will.

Despite the cost of the notebook, it comes with a rather cheap-feeling hard plastic front to it. I’d like a more premium feel, more along the lines of a Moleskine notebook.

All of the pages are made from Rocketbook’s high-tech synthetic paper, which has the feel of a whiteboard: it’s flexible like paper but has a high-gloss sheen on it. While the company’s original notebooks could be wiped up to five times using a microwave, you can just wipe the Fusion’s pages clean using a damp cloth (cloth provided).

The only caveat is that you can only use Rocketbook FriXion pens. You get a 0.7 ball pen in the pack, which is a fairly cheap-feeling plastic model: Rocketbook also sells different pens, including different colours and you can buy refills that should fit most ball pens.

Writing with the pen is like writing on paper, with a couple of caveats. First, it seems to take a while for the ink to truly flow, so my first characters always looked a little faint. Secondly, the ink takes a while to dry, so be careful of smudging or closing the book too soon.

The results are impressive, and the Fusion is as readable as any regular notebook. And, when you’re finished with your text, you can just take the cloth, get it damp and wipe it to clean off the page and start all over again. Just wait until the page is fully dry, otherwise the ink won’t stick.

There’s a very faint outline of previous words if you look at the page at the right angle, but not enough that this will put you off writing. This suggests that at some point some pages may get worn out, so I recommend trying to use the entire notebook as evenly as you can. Again, it would be nice if you could buy replacement pages only and slot them in, just in case you have an issue with a single page.

App – Quick to scan with some neat options but OCR didn’t work well for me

So far so good, but what if you don’t want to lose your notes? That’s where the app comes in. This lets you scan pages, with the app recognising the QR code and automatically lining up the camera, cutting out areas around your desk. It’s far more fluid and gives better results than other scanning apps designed for regular paper, such as Scanbot.

Inside the app, you can set destinations to have your scans sent to. Each destination has a thumbnail icon, including a rocket, a diamond and an apple. For each choice, you can set the default options for how you want the scan to go across. You can choose to bundle scans together (scan multiple pages), and whether or not you want OCR turned on. There’s a huge range of destinations including email, Google Drive, Dropbox and Evernote.

While you can just scan a page and then choose the destination from the app, you’ll notice that the bottom of each page in the Rocketbook Fusion has the same icons. Just put a cross through the destinations you want, and the app can read these.

The quality of the scans will depend on the quality of the phone and camera that you’re using, but I found them very good using my iPhone X. The OCR wasn’t so good. Again, this will depend on how neat your handwriting is; for me, both the quality of the translation and the layout were pretty poor. OCR may be useful in a bind, but I tend to rely on the PDF notes instead.

Should you buy the Rocketbook Fusion?

The original microwavable Rocketbook could only be used five times, but the new Fusion gives you far more goes. It comes very close to replacing paper, and the ability to scan and save notes to PDF is really handy. If you love hand-writing notes and want a well-priced way to go high-tech, although I’d prefer it to have a nice front cover and the option of buying extra or replacement pages would be nice.

How we test tablets

We test every tablet we review thoroughly. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly and we use the tablet as our main device over the review period. We’ll always tell you what we find and we never, ever, accept money to review a product.

Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.

Trusted Score

Starting life on the consumer PC press back in 1998, David has been at the forefront of technology for the past 20 years. He has edited Computer Shopper and Expert Reviews, and once wrote a book on ho…

Why trust our journalism?

Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.

Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.

Editorial independence

Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.

Professional conduct

We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.

Sign up to our newsletter

Get the best of Trusted Reviews delivered right to your inbox.

Rocketbook Core Reusable Spiral Notebook, Executive Size 6x8.8, Lilac... › Customer reviews

Customer reviews.

Rocketbook Core Reusable Spiral Notebook, Executive Size 6x8.8, Lilac - Lined Pages, App-Connected, Erasable, Durable Cover, Ideal for School, Work, and Creative Projects

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

Top positive review

Top critical review

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. please try again later., from the united states.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

• ← Previous page
• Next page →

Questions? Get fast answers from reviewers

• About Amazon
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Sell products on Amazon
• Sell on Amazon Business
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Become an Affiliate
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Host an Amazon Hub
• › See More Make Money with Us
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Amazon and COVID-19
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices

• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices