What's the difference between a custom and a standard log book? It turns out that it could be hundreds of dollars per book in savings - when going with custom. Surprising? Yes. How is it possible?

Consider the following logbook layout:

How long will it take you to write all of this on the page?

Assuming that for logging such events you develop shorthand, it still could take upwards of 3-4 minutes. Perhaps your logbook needs are much simpler and it only takes 1 minute to write out all sections that repeat daily. If you write quickly (and sometimes illegibly) it could come down to only 25 seconds per page.

A standard (Engineers) year long logbook will have 365 entries, which multiplied by 25 seconds comes out to a little over 2.5 hours per book. Keep this in mind as you go over the following table:

Compared directly, a custom logbook seems more expensive than a standard one. However, this conclusion only works before factoring-in the time savings. 2.5+ hours of operations(per book) will cost significantly more than $100 in most situations, which means that ordering customized books is often worth it.

As the table shows, even ordering one custom log book can be more cost effective than a standard book in the long run. As the quantities increase the choice becomes pretty clear - keep in mind, this table illustrates only 25 seconds of writing redundant input per page.

What will a custom logbook mean for you?

Instead of general examples, why not look at your own particular needs and estimate the savings you stand to gain. Below is a calculator that will help you estimate the time and money you can save with custom logbooks. The first step is to identify (roughly) what you could print instead of writing every time. The easiest way to do that is to go through 5-10 of your daily logs and look for similarities. A more indepth guide on this can be found at our article about logbook page design.

You can now see the hourly and monetary savings for your order. This is on a per-book basis. Head over to our custom logbooks quote system and get an instant price estimate for your custom order.