Review: Leather Padfolio for iPad Pro 12.9

Special thanks to Galen Leather for sending me the product for this review.

Galen Leather is company founded in 2012 in Istanbul that focuses on making leather products, such as leather journal covers for notebooks and recently covers and cases for laptops and tablets.

When I was contacted by Galen Leather to review one of their products, I chose the leather Padfolio for the iPad Pro 12.9. Actually, I already have a case for the iPad Pro 12.9. I just wanted a case to fit my 12.3-inch Surface Pro 2017.

My first impression of the padfolio is it's a really premium product. It really is an amazing leather case/folio for the iPad Pro 12.9 inch. The leather is thick, well tanned. Stitching looks and feels tight and strong. The pockets inside and rubber slots are very functional. The padfolio sells for USD $189 so it's not cheap, but if you're someone who appreciates quality and leather products, this is certainly worth the money in my opinion.

The padfolio comes in many colours, red, yellow, blue, green, purple and more. I preferred a more classic look and went for the Crazy Horse Brown.

The leather is 2-4mm cowhide vegetable tanned leather.

There's an elastic band on the outside to hold the padfolio together. I'm a bit skeptical about the durability of elastic bands. I've many sketchbooks with elastic bands and over the years, they would lose their elasticity and I had to cut them off.

The leather's exterior is smooth with no discernible pattern. It's quite susceptible to marks which is not surprising for this type of leather. I'm very sure it will age very well. The marks will also add more character as years ago by.

The leather is really thick. The left photo shows the other side of the leather. Corners are rounded off and double-stitching is used throughout. The workmanship is top-notch.

Here's how the interior looks like. On the left, there are straps that you can use to hold cables, slots for pens, larger pockets for a small pocket size sketchbook, phone and namecards. And behind all that is a huge pocket large enough to fit a 9 by 12-inch paper pad. It might be more practical to fit portable Bluetooth keyboards in that huge pocket.

The strap on the left is good for holding cables, but does not handle adapters or large chargers. So the wall plug and charger of the Surface Pro obviously does not fit here. The smallest slot is able to hold the Apple Pencil but it's a bit loose and there's no easy way to tighten it. When use the strap to hold the Apple Pencil, I will make sure the tip goes into the pocket below so that even if it slips, it goes into the pocket.

This Padfolio is designed to fit the iPad Pro 12.9-inch perfectly. When the large iPad Pro is placed inside the large pocket on the right, it fits smugly without much room. The dimensions of the iPad Pro 12.9-inch is 30.57 cm (12.04 in) (h) 22.06 mm (8.69 in) (w) 0.69 cm (0.27 in) (d) .

You should be able to fit the 12-inch Macbook and Surface Pro 2017 inside, but it is not going to be a tight fit so they will move around in the pocket. The 12-inch Macbook measures 28.05 x 19.65 x 0.35–1.31 cm (11.04 x 7.74 x 0.14‑0.52 inches). The Surface Pro 2017 dimensions are 29.2 x 20.1 x 0.85 cm (11.5 x 7.9 x 0.33 inches).

If you're using other laptops or tablets, Galen Leather might have something else that may fit.

There are 4 slots cut onto the large pocket on the right. Those slots are meant for removable velcro elastic bands to go through. A short band goes through the top horizontally and a longer band goes through vertically. These bands are used to hold writing pads, either in horizontal or vertical orientation.

The padfolio can hold up to A4-sized writing pads as shown in the official product photo above.

Conclusion

This is the most luxurious leather product that I've ever used. The quality is excellent. The leather feels so good to the touch and so durable. The thick leather should offer some sort of shock protection in the unfortunate event that the padfolio is ever dropped.

So if you're ever in the market for a premium iPad Pro 12.9-inch case or folio, this is a good one to consider.

If you're interested to get one for yourself, you can find it at https://www.galenleather.com/

I will also create a video review for this. Watch out for it on my Youtube channel.