Today, I’ll share how to choose the MeePlus Slimpad. I’ll cover the following aspects:

1. notebook size, 

2. types of leather, 

3. ring diameter, 

4. accessory options.

 

1. How to Choose the Right Size

Choosing the right size for your Slimpad involves considering three factors:

1）Purpose: Do you need the Slimpad to be portable, or do you prioritize having a larger writing area?

2）Refill Availability: Will it be easy to find refills for your chosen size?

3）Refill Sharing: If you have multiple ring binders, do you need to use the same refills across different notebooks?

 

1）Notebook Size and Intended Use

Slimpad comes in two main size categories:

• Compact Sizes: Pocket, Mini
• Medium Sizes: Personal, Narrow
• Large Size: A5

Mini: This size has a small writing area, about the size of two credit cards. It’s ideal for jotting down short-term tasks, shopping lists, or brief notes. Its compact size means it can fit into a shoulder bag or even a jeans pocket.

If you don’t need it to be ultra-portable, consider the Pocket size. It’s similar in size to a phone and offers a balance between portability and writing space. 

Personal: This size is close to an iPad Mini. With ample writing space, it’s perfect for tracking daily plans, work schedules, setting personal goals, or recording meeting notes. It’s practical for both work and everyday life. 

A5: As the largest option in the Slimpad range, A5 provides a spacious writing surface ideal for detailed note-taking, journaling, or sketching. Comparable to a tablet in size, it’s well-suited for desk use, professional settings, or users who prefer more room to express their thoughts.

Note: Don’t rely solely on images or photos from bloggers to gauge the size. It’s best to measure the size yourself, ideally cut out a page to match the size, and test writing on it before making a decision. (Photos may make the notebook appear larger, and you can't be sure of the blogger's handwriting size.) 

 

2）Availability of Refill Pages

If you prefer ready-made functional refills (like those designed on Etsy), I recommend choosing the Personal or Pocket sizes. These two sizes are the most common, and there are more options available for functional refills and accessory pages. For those who need functional refills, these sizes would be the best choice.

MeePlus Slimpad offers standard sizes, so there are many refill options available on the market. Additionally, MeePlus provides a variety of refills, including not just plain white pages but also colorful versions, and functional refills such as weekly and monthly planners, to-do lists, and habit trackers. This makes your planner more attractive and customizable.

 

3）Compatibility of Refill Pages Across Multiple Notebooks

If you use multiple ring binders, consider whether the refills can be used across different sizes. For example, if you have both an A5 notebook for your desk and a pocket notebook for on-the-go, and you jot down an idea in your pocket notebook, you can later transfer that page to your A5 notebook. Since the ring spacing of pocket and A5 notebooks is compatible, you won’t need to re-copy the content, saving time. However, if you primarily use personal and pocket notebooks, their refills are not interchangeable.

 

Here’s a table to help understand which refill sizes are compatible:

• Mini Refills: Can fit into A5 and Pocket rings. To fit into a Personal, you need to cut off one corner.

• Pocket Refills: Can fit into A5 rings but not into Personal rings. 

2. How to Choose the Right Leather

Currently, MeePlus offers four types of leather: Pueblo, Buttero, Mist Waxed Leather, and Bridle Leather.

• Italian Pueblo leather: undergoes a special sanding process that gives it a rough texture at first. Initially, it feels slightly fuzzy, but over time, the leather develops a shiny, smooth surface, and the fuzziness disappears. The color deepens with use, giving it a unique, aged patina that reflects the passage of time.

 

• Italian Buttero Leather: undergoes a waxing and pressure polishing process, which increases its density. The leather is relatively stiff and durable, combining both toughness and a smooth hand feel. It has a rich, oily texture and feels smooth to the touch. It gains a natural sheen with use. However, it is prone to scratches.

• Bridle Leather: Bridle leather is stiff and durable, with a waxed surface that gradually wears off with use, revealing a more lustrous inner layer.

 

• Waxed Pueblo (Margot Fog): 

  A type of vegetable-tanned leather called Margot Fog, which comes from VIRGILIO Conceria in Italy.
  

  This leather has a texture similar to Pueblo and is a medium-firm type of vegetable-tanned leather. After the standard vegetable tanning process, it goes through an extra step: a layer of wax is applied to the surface and then lightly buffed with a special tool. This gives the leather a unique, eye-catching texture while adding rich visual depth.

3. How to Choose the Right Ring Diameter

The Mini Slimpad comes with an 11mm ring as standard. The pocket offers two ring diameter options: 11mm and 13mm. The personal & A5 provides 11mm and 16mm options. The larger the ring diameter, the more pages you can fit.

• 11mm Rings: Can hold up to 60-80 sheets. We found that flipping is smoother with fewer than 60 sheets; beyond that, it can get a bit sticky. If portability is a priority, smaller rings make the notebook more compact and easy to fit into your pocket or shoulder bag. However, they also limit the number of pages, which helps you focus on the essentials.
• Larger Rings: Allow you to hold more pages, making them suitable for notebooks with extensive content. However, writing on the left-hand pages might be less comfortable with larger rings. Typically, 11mm rings offer a comfortable writing experience. If you're not used to writing with rings in the way, you can remove pages from the ring to write on them or turn the notebook to write horizontally (we also offer special refills designed for this purpose).

 

4. How to Choose the Right Accessories

Currently, we offer the following accessories, with new ones being introduced regularly:

1) Ring protectors:

To achieve the best flattening and closure effect, we shave the leather around the rings. This can cause the rings to leave impressions on the leather. Therefore, we provide free ring supporters to our customers.

2) Band with Lifter:

To ensure the notebook stays compact and the pages don’t spread out when closed and placed in a bag, we offer pads and bands as accessories.

3) Penholders

Want to bring a pen with you? Try our 3-in-1 lifter + pen holder + band combo.

- Choose from two pen loop sizes: one for slim pens (~9mm), and one for larger pens (up to 15mm)- Prefer more flexibility? Stick on our elastic pen holder—it fits nearly any pen you use

4) Card holders:

Unlike other brands that separate cardholders, bands, and pen holders into multiple accessories, which can be costly and make the notebook bulky, our designs combine these functions:

We’ve got an all-in-one accessory that combines a:

• Pen loop
• Cardholder
• Notebook band

All in a single piece. It's streamlined, stylish, and cost-effective—no need to buy separate add-ons.