Quo Vadis Trinote vs. Septanote planners

This comparison is to help those of you who are trying to decide between the Quo Vadis Trinote or Septanote planners. Many thanks to Karen at Exaclair for sending me these planners to review (along with the very handy elastic strap/ bookmark)!

Both the Septanote and Trinote have the same weekly Agenda Planning Diary format, but there are some differences that will determine which one will best fit your needs.

The biggest difference of course is that the Septanote is an academic year planner (July-July) and the Trinote is on the calendar year (December-December). That alone may determine which is best for you.

But beyond that major difference, there are some other features that may cause you to prefer one over the other.

In summary, the Septanote has more pages for notes, and the Trinote has more information pages. I will walk you through them to show you the specifics.

At the beginning of both planners, there is a page for your personal information, and a page with international dialing codes.

The next two-page spread has on the left page a chart of monthly temperatures for many cities around the world. In the Trinote, the page on the right has a chart of international holidays. In the Septanote, this page is lined for notes (click on photos to enlarge):The next two-page spread in both planners is the current year's Anno-Planning calendar, which goes July-June in the Septanote and January-December in the Trinote:

Throughout the planners, the Trinote is printed in gray and teal inks and the Septanote is only in gray:At the end of the weekly pages, both planners have an Anno-Planning calendar for the following year. In the Trinote, between the last weekly spread and the Anno-Planner, there is a January calendar to start planning into the following year:

Both planners contain the same (excellent) maps of the continents marked with cities, lakes, rivers and other major landmarks. After the maps there is a lined page for notes, which is the only notes page in the Trinote:
After this page, the Trinote has four pages for Receipts and Payments. In the Septanote, these are Notes pages.
In the back of both planners there are overview calendars of last-this-next year. Also in both planners there is a removable address book tucked into the back sleeve of the cover. And both planners have the same 90 g extra-white Clairefontaine paper that is famous for being wonderful to write on and fountain-pen friendly.

So there is the breakdown of each planner. If academic year vs. calendar year is your main need, then your choice is easy. If it doesn't matter which schedule you're on, you can choose which will function better for you: Septanote with more pages for notes, or Trinote with more information, a month planner to start the next year, and pages for financial records.

The Septanote is an excellent planner for anyone on the academic year schedule. Not only students but parents, teachers, school administrators and university professors would really benefit from the organization of the daily columns and categorized list boxes on the weekly page.

All those notes pages in the Septanote can be used by students to record their class schedule, grades, and extracurricular activities. Parents will really benefit from the extra notes pages to write in their child(ren)'s school contact information, carpool schedules, party planning and gift lists for the year.

Another great feature of both the Septanote and Trinote planners that's excellent for parents: you can use the daily column for your own schedule, and the Notes space under each day to keep track of what everyone else in your family is doing. That way you can see everyone's schedule all at once, on the same page.

Quo Vadis Septanote planners for the 2010/ 2011 academic year are now available online and in stores.