About two months ago, I dug deep into my bank account and bought a reMarkable 2 tablet.  Having used it every day for the last two months, I thought it may help someone to get a review geared specifically for pastors.

The reMarkable 2 is an e-ink tablet about the size of a standard sheet of paper.  It allows you to write notes in any number of digital notebooks using a special stylus (which costs extra) or with an included keyboard case (which also costs extra).  Basically, what a kindle is for your library of books, the remarkable is for your stack of paper notebooks.  A very expensive upgrade I may add: I bought mine with both the upgraded pen and the keyboard case and it came to around $600.

For that $600 you get a decent product:  The hardware is very well-made and the software is intuitive to use.  It does what it says on the tin, but is that even nescessary?

Giving your stack of paper notebooks digital powers does have some noteworthy benefits. 

For one, you can carry around an almost infinite amount of notes with you in one small package.  Much like my kindle allows me to carry my whole library of books everywhere, the Remarkable allows me to carry what would be lots of notebooks and pens everywhere in one light and easily portable package.

Those notebooks get some software superpowers.   

I could also, if I felt so inclined, use the reMarkable as an e-reader for reading books.  I have used it to read and mark up pdf sermons and I have been able to find ebooks and send them to it - but I don't find it to be as good as a kindle for reading.

The two biggest strengths of the reMarkable, in my opinion, come from what it **doesn't** do:

It's not a perfect device, and there are four things I wish I could change about it:

First, it's too expensive.  While you CAN technically buy one of these for $250, it will be useless without a pen.  Adding a pen and a case will get you closer to $500.  Opt for the keyboard case and you are up near $600.  When paper notebooks cost $.99, that is a hard sell.  If they could bring the cost down to something closer to $400 with accessories, I think it would be easier to recommend to people.

Second, the e-reader isn't great.  I've spent twenty years amassing a massive kindle library and I can't read any of those books on my Remarkable.  When I do import books, I find things like swiping between pages slow and frustrating.  If reading is your primary task - buy a kindle.

Third, the software is sometimes frustrating.  Just little annoyance that add up.  For instance, one thing that drives me nuts is the lack of any kind of home button.  (There is a menu button in a prominent place, but it doesn't take you to your home screen.)  I can't customize the lock screen.  PDFs and Ebooks are often too small to read and zooming in and out is a pain. 

Finally, and most importantly for me: the notes and typing are missing some key features.  My biggest request is the ability to link between notes (like you can on any desktop note app.) That would be a killer feature and make this device a lot more useful.  I really wish the typing feature integrated markdown, that to me seems like low hanging fruit for a lot of people. I also wish it had a word count feature for typing. These three things would make the Remarkable much better as a go to notes device.  

Despite it's weaknesses, I do use the ReMarkable every day and it has become an essential part of my life.  Here are how I use it as in my life as a pastor:

I use it for taking literature notes

The main thing I do on my Remarkable is use it to take literature notes.  For each book I read, I create a notebook on the ReMarkable and as I read I keep it open and take notes on each chapter.  I mostly use the stylus for this (to keep me from writing too much) but if I want to add a quote, I can open the keyboard folio and type it out. 

Without the ReMarkable, I'd either have to keep a half dozen notebooks around for this or find some way to organize a lot of books in one notebook.  With it, it's easy to keep these notes organized and quickly pick up where I left off on any book.

I use it as my day planner.

I've created a custom week calendar in PDF format that is based on how my life actually works (mostly revolving around church life) and imported it and use this file as my main calendar.  I check it every day and can quickly write on it when things come up.

I use it when I really need to focus on writing on the road or outdoors.

Sometimes I want to get out of my office and go sit outdoors or in my truck and write.  I find the ReMarkable perfect for this.  It's incredibly portable, distraction free and you can use it in direct sunlight.  Whatever I type in it I can easily copy and paste into my main notes app when I get back to my computer.

I use it to mark up scripture passages.

I do not like to write in Bibles. I find my notes become too much of a distraction when I am trying to read the scriptures.  But sometimes I do want to write on scripture as I'm studying for a message.  In those cases, I usually download free books from paperbackbible.com and put them on the reMarkable and write on them there.

I use it to take sermon notes when others are preaching.

The Remarkable is discreet enough that I can bring it into church and use it to take notes when other people are preaching without it being a distraction.  Because it doesn't connect to the internet, doesn't glow, and looks like a notebook, no one really notices.  I do like knowing that the notes I take are going to be somewhere where I can reference them later instead of piling up on scraps in my Bible where I will just throw them away.

I use it to read other people's sermons

Occasionally, in sermon prep, I'll read one of Charles Spurgeon's sermons or one of John MacArthur's messages.  (All of these are available as PDF downloads online.)  In that case, I like having them on the reMarkable. I can read them when I want to and mark them up.

Would I recommend it?

If you a bookish pastor who feels distracted at a computer and takes a lot of notes - having a reMarkable might be a big help to you.  It certainly has helped me.  I don't regret the decision to purchase it.

At the same time, I totally recognize that many people would be far better served with a stack on index cards, or paper notebooks.  If you read this and thought "that sounds like the dumbest thing ever" then you are right, it's not for you.  If you thought "I might really like that" then you are also probably right.  It's a great product for a very specific group of people.