Panda Planner Review (Pros, Cons & a Video Walkthrough)
After many requests from you guys, here’s my review of the Panda Planner!
Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of the planner in exchange for this review. I was going to purchase the planner anyway. As always, all opinions are my own. Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links. If you purchase this planner using my affiliate link I’ll receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Quick facts
- Size: approx 5.25″ wide x 8.5″ high
- Bookbound / sewn binding
- Faux leather cover (no personalisation option however there are a few different colors to choose from)
- This belongs to page in case your planner is lost
- Neutral inside pages
- Undated (enough to plan 90 days)
- 2 pages to plan each day
- Weekly planner (no days of the week)
- 2 Page monthly calendar (starts on Sunday)
- 3 ribbon page markers
Price: $24 USD + shipping
This is a review of the Panda Planner Classic. There’s also the Panda Planner Pro and Panda Planner Weekly editions.
Let’s take a closer look!
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The Cover
The cover is really boring. Just plain black with an imprint of a panda face. I don’t know why, but almost all bookbound planners, notebooks, bullet journals etc. have really plain, boring covers 🙁
The planner is about 0.75″ / 2cm thick and has an elastic band to keep everything closed. It feels very light – probably doesn’t weigh much more than my kindle.
Since the planner is undated, the pages are clustered into monthly, followed by weekly and daily pages with a simple divider page between each.
I prefer when planners are arranged in this page order (although so few planners do this 🙁 ), as you don’t have any instances where some days of the previous month are carried over to the current week after the next month’s calendar.
There aren’t any tabs in the planner however there are 3 ribbon page markers.
Monthly Calendar
Week starts on Sunday.
The planner is undated so you can start planning anytime. This also means public holidays aren’t pre-printed on the pages (which doesn’t bother me but something to keep in mind if you rely on this rather than having annual holidays on a dates at a glance page / list format)
I really like that this planner has goal planning and goal review sections.
The other cool thing about this monthly calendar is the in-built habit tracker (the little H boxes for each day). While there’s only space to track 1 habit, you could use it for 2 by drawing a line in the middle of the box and using the top to track one habit and the bottom to track another.
Overall one of my all time favorite monthly calendars from the 50+ planners I’ve reviewed!
Weekly Planner
There are 13, 2 page weekly planning spreads. These are undated so you can start (or stop) using them at anytime. I much prefer weekly planners that don’t have days of the week and instead have a structured, goals & lists style format. This layout is a nice change from the typical layouts weekly planners tend to have – vertical, hourly, horizontal etc.
I really like this projects section and think it will make a great blog planner. I’m intending to use each of the boxes for: videos to record, photos for the blog, posts to publish that week and blog maintenance.
Daily Planner
Unlike most daily planners, this one has 2 pages to plan each day. I don’t tend to use daily planners and if you’re of a similar mind, I think this would make a really good weekly planner with a few tweaks. When I try out this planner I intend to:
- Change the ‘grateful for’ section to top 3 for the week
- Use the ‘5 today’s priorities’ for blog planning (since I post 5 times a week here on the blog)
- Convert the schedule into more list making space by using whiteout correction tape to cover up the times
- Possibly convert the notes box into a habit tracker
Overall, I like the proportions and sizes of each element and think it would work well as a daily planner, I just prefer to use weekly planners.
I like the ribbon banners used in this planner -more interesting than just a box without taking up extra space on the page like decorative elements typically do.
Dates at a glance
As this planner is undated, it doesn’t include a dates at a glance page.
Extras pages
There are 11 notes pages at the back – all are dot grid (0.8cm).
Tabs
There are no tabs in this planner, however there are 3 ribbon bookmarks.
Pocket Folder
There’s a pocket folder at the back for stickers, notes etc.
Pen Testing
The paper feels nice and smooth and the pen glides across the page when writing, however, there is some ghosting of the printing.
I tried various ballpoint, gel, fine tip and marker tip pens. The pens were ok but the marker pens had ghosting, along with the MAMBI stamps and most of the highlighters.
Pros of the Planner
- Portable size
- Minimalist color scheme
- 3 built in ribbon page markers
- Undated – start planning anytime
- 2 pages per day – more room than most daily planners provide
- Space to plan and review in the monthly calendar
- Weekly planning space
- Very functional layout
- Lightweight
- Paper feels very smooth to write on
- The pages lay flat without you having to hold them open with one hand
Cons of the Planner
- No tabs
- Boring cover
- No cover personalisation
- Only lasts 90 days = expensive if you buy enough planners to last a year
- Writing space in the sidebar of the monthly calendar is too small (line spacing is too close together and the column is too narrow)
Would I use this planner?
Yes, I like the potential of this planner to be used as a weekly planner (as I don’t tend to use daily planners).
If you like this planner, it’s available on Amazon (affiliate link)
Similar Planners
The Panda Planner is similar to the Passion Planner and Law of Attraction Planner.
More planner reviews:
- Passion Planner Review – Compact and Classic Sizes (Pros, cons and video walkthrough)
- Mi Goals ‘Goal Digger’ Weekly Planner 2018 Review
- Weekly Planner from Unique Planners by Pirongs Review (including video walkthrough)
Planning Tips:
- Best Paper for Printing Printables
- How to make a DIY recipe book (plus free printables)
- 10 ways to save money when buying planner supplies
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