Lochby’s Pocket Journal is something that I eyeballed for a long time trying to find a purpose for it… I couldn’t find one, but still wanted it just to have it. So, as a reward for finishing up the infrastructure of the JustPews website I allowed myself to get something I really had absolutely no use for. What followed was kind of surprising to myself. As you can probably tell by the picture above this thing isn’t exactly the same size as your standard pocket; unless you regularly wear cargo shorts/pants.
So, what is the Lochby Pocket Journal? The best way to explain it is, is that Lochby’s Pocket Journal is like a small, pocketable binder that you cans store your “Field Notes” or similar notebook in, as well as some other EDC essentials that you can’t leave home without. Before giving out too much information, let’s go over the details.
Specs (Exterior Dimensions/Materials):
Height: ~7 inches (including zipper)
Width: ~4 inches
Thickness: ~1 inches
Required Notebook Size: 3.5″x5.5″
Exterior Material: Waxed Canvas
Internal Material: Nylon
Zipper Material: Nylon
On the outside of the Lochby you have three different pockets. On the front side you have a larger pocket that measures ~2.5″ x 5″ , a small pocket that measures ~1.5″ x 5″ , and a larger Velcro enclosed rear pocket that measures ~4″x 5″ .
The front pocket is designed for anything you don’t mind keeping loose, such as a pen in the slender right pocket, or business cards in the larger one to the left. The rear pocket offers security for carrying items you need quick access to if you need them such as flash drives. Alternatively you can reinforce your notebook with a piece of thick cardboard to provide a better freehanded writing experience.
The Review
As I said at the beginning of this article, I honestly didn’t think that I’d have an actual use for the Lochby Pocket Journal, I figured it’d just sit on my desk, collect some dust, and be envious of the never ending stack of notepads that get used on a constant basis. Low & behold, the Pocket Journal has become a fairly invaluable piece of sometimes EDC gear. Before we get into why it’s a sometimes EDC item, let’s talk about what all you can stuff into it.
Typically, by typically I mean all the time, I have my Ontario Rat 2, my Streamlight Stylus Pro, the primary journal, and a secondary journal on the inside, and a pen on the outside in the… you guessed it! The pen pocket!
Instead of a secondary journal, you could store a small monthly planner in it for scheduling appointments on the fly.
As far as it’s interior cargo carrying capacity goes, I can tell you this. It can carry two 3.5″x5.5″ pocket journals, and a Glock 17rd magazine… at that point though it does struggle to zip around where the base plate flares out. Needless to say, you can stuff this thing with a fair amount of stuff.
The orange interior pockets can be used to carry a small flash drive, business cards, a credit card or two (if you want to use it as a wallet as well), and fountain pen components of which I know absolutely nothing about. The exterior pockets can be used to carry a multitude of writing utensils, a small folding knife, a small external hard drive (maybe), or other miscellaneous items (such as additional memory cards for a camera) depending on how you lay it out.
Hopefully you get the idea that you can stuff a fair amount of stuff inside of the Lochby Pocket Journal, however, it was designed to carry the essentials plus a couple of things. With that we get into why it’s a sometimes EDC item (yes, I understand that means its not an EDC item; but it could be for you!).
There are only three occasions when I grab the Pocket Journal before I leave home and a handful of reasons it’s always on hand while I’m home; we’ll start with the latter.
At home I perpetually find myself misplacing important information I write down such as content ideas I come up with, when to how to order content, , and more. The Lochby has really fixed that issue for me. While I’m a decently organized person, I scrap out paper before realizing I actually needed it. With the pocket journal inside I know I won’t lose that information as long as I write it in there… which is where it now goes.
The Lochby Pocket Journal only really comes with me under three conditions. If I’m meeting someone to discuss ideas, I’ll be sitting in the vehicle for at least 30 minutes, or when I’m going to be away from home for more than a couple hours.
When it comes to discussing ideas, I’ve always found it a lot easier to circle/underline/cross out information as I’m writing it, than going back through my cell to try and edit the notes mid conversation… and it seems highly tedious to make a note about removing a note.
If I’m waiting for someone, or waiting for an appointment, it’s always nice being able to doodle or think concepts through on paper, and in an effort to take full advantage of the ideas produced by an idle mind, it’s nice to have something like the Pocket Journal in my passenger seat/map pocket for when something comes up during a wait.
When I’m venturing far away from home the Lochby offers a fair amount of use. For starters it’s an easy way to carry a back-up knife flashlight, and a notebook. It also makes it really easy to carry business cards (I use a front pocket wallet that doesn’t fit them) as well as a flash drive that has all of your documents on it, and another that has the pertinent documents for if I get pulled over in case I lost my wallet. It’s also real handy to have access to a small pocket knife that doesn’t require me to mess with my pockets.
Conclusion
The Lochby Pocket Journal isn’t a true EDC item for me, but it definitely serves a purpose for me both at home & when I’m away. Depending on what you do for a living (marketing, sales, realtor, etc.) something like this could be highly beneficial; especially if you’re someone that prefers writing notes down versus typing them. The benefit being it makes you look highly organized to potential and current clients.
All around for me, I’m happy with the purchase. It’s kept my stuff dry during rain fall, it’s not really worn at all in the few months I’ve had it, and it offers some utility that I didn’t have prior.
If you’re wanting to pick-up your own Lochby Pocket Journal, you can find it here. It comes in a handful of colors, Black, Charcoal, Navy, and Brown.
Other Products seen: (Reviews coming for most)
Ontario Rat 2
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TacCat
Michael AKA TacCat got his start on Facebook as a meme lord while his original website took a backseat. After getting the zucc he decided it was time to get a new project started...
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