Perfect Bound / Spiral Bound?

[blw2 433]

Perfect Bound OR Spiral Bound?

and why?

 

Guess I'll be taking my son soon to get his new handbook (or I might just order it and save a two hour road trip across town)

 

I know this has been discussed here before, and I found a couple threads in searching but they were old and so I thought I'd bring it up here at the campfire.... now that the new book is due out.

 

I plan on letting him choose, but I'd like some opinions so that I can offer up some decent advice.

 

Personally, the perfect bound seems better to me, as a book to keep.  It sits on the shelf & I can see keeping it as a keepsake long after scouting.

while the spiral bound seems like a disposable workbook to me.

 

I honestly wish they'd offer a durable hardbound book on quality water resistant paper and a good sturdy cover, but that's just me.... and that's off track.

 

It seems like the spiral would be perhaps better for opening to lay flat on a table or on the ground while he's working on a skill or task

BUT

I have little confidence that it will hold up

AND

The perfect bound I have no doubt is neither perfect or bound sufficiently.  I'll bet on pages falling out soon after the spine is broken while trying to keep it open.....  

BUT at least it would make a better place to keep signatures organized sitting on the shelf...

 

Incidentally, my scout shop tells me that they are due in around Jan 22

 

[Krampus 696]

Unless they've changed binders the perfect bound ones eventually wear out. The spiral ones seem to last a bit better. This assumes proper care and reasonable usage across both types.

 

Lastly, it's much easier to insert a lost page in to the spiral one than the other books.

Edited January 4, 2016 by Krampus

[JoeBob 606]

The 'Perfect Bound' wind up as a collection of sections in a ziplock bag.

[Alabama Scouter 14]

joe Bob is right, the handbook doesn't have emough glue in the spine and after 8 trips to the woods it's nothing more than chapters.

The spiral book is no better; the pages are so thin they pull out at the drop of a hat.

We recommend the standard book and a gallon zip lock bag. And take pictures of incompleted ranks, often.

[Eagle94-A1 2687]

Before BSA produced a spiral bound book, a friend of mine took his to some printing shop where they cut the perfect bound book and turned it into a spiral bound book. When the first spiral bound book came out, he didn't like the quality nor the cost, and repeated the above. He said it was better quality and cheaper.

[tonkatim 26]

My Sons spiral book is going on two years old and is still in functioning condition. I bought one of these when it was new.

http://www.scoutstuff.org/cover-fieldbook-2013.html

because the book gets a lot of use and goes on every campout.

 

If you think about it, the books are subjected to some harsh conditions on a regular basis.

[perdidochas 658]

My Sons spiral book is going on two years old and is still in functioning condition. I bought one of these when it was new.

http://www.scoutstuff.org/cover-fieldbook-2013.html

because the book gets a lot of use and goes on every campout.

 

If you think about it, the books are subjected to some harsh conditions on a regular basis.

 

The fieldbook cover is great for two reasons--protection, and if the boys write their names on it in Sharpie, it's much easier to figure out who's book it is. 

[scoutldr 726]

BSA used to offer a hardbound "library edition" of their key publications.  Not sure if they are still available.  They were pricey, though, as I recall.

[koolaidman 110]

We've had better luck with the spiral bound handbook.

 

My scout shop not only says Jan 22, but says guaranteed in stock on Jan 22.

[blw2 433]

So it seems the majority recommends spiral so far....

 

My son bought one of those book covers at the scout shop for his cub book early on....(well he wanted it and I bought it)

He's continued to use it.  For cubs, protection didn't matter as much since they get a new book every year, but it made his book easy to spot since he was the only one with the cover.

Also liked it because he could store a pen or pencil in it (even though it didn't have a loop or pen pocket???? what are you thinking BSA?)

[walk in the woods 888]

A friend of mine carries his spiral bound in a bible cover.  It has all the pockets and loops you could as for.  There are solutions to problems outside of the scout shop if what's being offered doesn't meet your requirements.

 

I like the spiral bound because it lies flat.

[Krampus 696]

My Sons spiral book is going on two years old and is still in functioning condition. I bought one of these when it was new.

http://www.scoutstuff.org/cover-fieldbook-2013.html

because the book gets a lot of use and goes on every campout.

 

If you think about it, the books are subjected to some harsh conditions on a regular basis.

 

Mine is on year seven. Decent condition for 100 days camping, 6 summer camps, many high adventure trips and a few hundred troop meetings.

[Stosh 3452]

The boys in my troop pretty much destroy any of the books rather quickly, but the non-spiral books are easier to repair with tape when the pages fall out.  They have mostly gone away from the spiral books.

[blw2 433]

The boys in my troop pretty much destroy any of the books rather quickly, but the non-spiral books are easier to repair with tape when the pages fall out.  They have mostly gone away from the spiral books.

interesting Stosh.  i think yours is the first response pro paperback "perfect bound"

I can imagine that the spiral offers the advantage of lay-flat and stay open, so easier to use hands free, but otherwise your logic makes more sense to me.

Regardless, I asked my son which he wanted.... "I don't care".  I ordered the spiral based mostly on the majority of responses here.  

I hope the cover they sell for the old edition fits this new one.

[Stosh 3452]

interesting Stosh.  i think yours is the first response pro paperback "perfect bound"

I can imagine that the spiral offers the advantage of lay-flat and stay open, so easier to use hands free, but otherwise your logic makes more sense to me.

Regardless, I asked my son which he wanted.... "I don't care".  I ordered the spiral based mostly on the majority of responses here.  

I hope the cover they sell for the old edition fits this new one.

 

Lay flat?  Heck, my boys have some books that are so taped up they won't close anymore. 

 

One must also teach in this highly digitalized society of today the fine art of taking care of bound books, too.

 

The boys generally open up their book only at the advancement pages, break the binding at that point and then the pages start to fall out at that point.  If taught the way we were in 1st and 2nd grade on how to break in the binding of a new text book, the binding is eased in carefully and won't "snap" at just one or two highly used points.  By teaching the boys this trick they might get maybe a few more days of usage before they wreck them by leaving them out in the rain.....