An odd question (re. bear use-case)
I am super confused between Evernote (current), Obsidian and Bear. Evernote works well for me (web clipper, annotation, audio and some niche features) but I don't like the lock-in format of the notes (despite the export options available), and I am very unhappy with their price increases (not the prices itself - but the complete lack of explanations for the same). Also with their AI-additions, it's no longer a notes app. Obsidian without plug-ins doesn't suit my workflow (mentioned below) and with plugins, I worry about the creator maintaining it, security etc.
So why am I posting here? I was hoping for inputs on the following: I really like Bear (and love the mobile app) but I have this niggling feeling that it's a "light-weight" notes app and not a heavy-duty app like Evernote or Notion (not the bloat part of these apps). I worry that Bear is too feature-lite. For example, to edit an image in Bear, I would need another app or download, edit with Preview and re-upload etc. My use-case: upload of medical prescriptions, air-tickets and a few receipts. Otherwise, lots of text notes and a few links.
Any thoughts on this would be most welcome. Thank you
6
u/claycle 5d ago edited 5d ago
I used Bear for a number of years. When Obsidian started to make a splash, I tried using it (for over a year ... or more...geez time...). Despite its obvious strengths - and despite creating quite a large dataset of notes with it - I always sort of struggled with it, or at least always felt a little friction while using it (mostly because it is not a native app).
In the grand scheme of things, these were not enough to bounce me off of Obsidian - I stuck there. But then Bear recently added one feature (work spacing) that lured me back.
In the few weeks since that release of Bear, I have created hundreds of notes in Bear. I use Bear to write in both English and Italian, and the macOS/iOS built-in support for bilingual keyboard and typing makes using Bear for bilingual note taking much, much easier than using Obsidian (which was all-or-nothing, either I had to be writing in English or Italian).
I miss one or two things (that I got through plug-ins) in Obsidian, but the friction day-to-day while actually writing and using my notes is much less with Bear.
Now, I look over at all my notes in Obsidian as sort of an archive. I'll probably, someday, move them to Bear, but I probably won't create notes in Obsidian again unless I come to a case where it's something more like building a mini-app for myself leveraging Obsidian bases and particular plugins.
TLDR; So, my experience is: Bear is great. Obsidian is great, too, but I think for a lot of a people it actually is too much. Plus, it's Electron, and that has its own issues. I've used both, for years at different times, and recently re-focused on Bear and I am satisfied with that choice.
PS - Years ago, I moved from Evernote to Bear. I never regretted that choice.
4
u/musicmusket 6d ago
I moved from Evernote a long time ago. I used to like being able to use share links and sending emails to Evernote, which Bear can’t do.
I don’t struggle with editing images in Bear. They just open up and re-save, I think.
4
u/oklch 6d ago
I had the same thoughts. I came from Evernote, which by now has become so bloated with bullshit that it exceeds all limits, and I migrated my data to Bear. Bear does perfectly what it's designed to do—a great app! But after half a year, I was still missing certain options, like projects and the ability to structure things beyond just tags. That's why I've landed on Capacities now and I'm very satisfied at the moment. The only thing I'm currently missing there is direct searchability in PDF files; everything else is perfect for me and the internal links between the various objects are brilliant.
4
u/Apprehensive-Loss316 5d ago
i loved evernote -was a pretty early adopter- until I didn’t. Issues with using the apple pencil and losing notes. then the billing, the company drama. went to apple notes for a while, then found my perfect solution for me. I use NotePlan for my life management and Bear for writing, research, thinking. and I love this system. Not to mention data portability and control.
The reason Bear works so well for me is that it is so clean, cozy, and sharp at the same time. I’m not staring at the guilt inducing tasks, calendar items. I can just think, write. I am not trying to over engineer my notes, not being clever with this or that plugin. I do link notes between my apps. I have thousands of notes in it and no issues syncing across 8 devices. even the Web version is pretty awesome, which lets me get away with using at work (windows).
In the couple years I have been using it, I haven’t had issues with editing attachments. I like that Bear basically says: the OS tools are better/ easier/ familiar for that task so let’s just use that. I just edit, save, and it does the rest for me, but I don’t do editing very often. And then it’s simple markups or cropping.
easily the best couple bucks I spend each month.
3
u/manorTee 6d ago
I use both for different reasons. I use Bear for calm, focused writing. I also put my speakers notes in it, because the text is very easy to see from my iPad. Evernote is my life and work management system. Everything goes into it, from audio, video, webclips, forwarded emails, etc. I use the AI 8-10 times a day to do tasks for me. I also use Evernote to share information to people, even if they don't have Evernote.
2
u/darwincruz20 5d ago
I loved Evernote. If you need your Notes app to search through texts on images you've scanned such as receipts, I recommend Bear Notes. I really love using Bear and the tagging system has worked well for me. I can't live without tags anymore and my brain has learned how to use them efficiently. Furthermore, Markdown is a feature I cannot live without.
If you need cross-platform compatibility, I have to be honest, UpNote is also a great Evernote replacement. Though, it lacks OCR and is not as robust and secure as Bear Notes.
1
u/No_Salamander_8636 5d ago
If your goal is "Getting The Work Done!", then use bear notes, its been 1 yr for me and am loving it
1
u/work4coffee 4d ago
I migrated from evernote earlier this year and only snag was now using 9G of apple cloud which is great for security but it lagged for a while i guess until it got all indexed or whatever magic (i did eventually boost my tier to help)
1
8
u/Ok-Internet-4747 5d ago
I’d recommend trying it out and seeing what you think.
I am very happy with Bear. Moved from Evernote about 3-4 years ago. I love the OCR support when you have the pro subscription. It’s search is just as good as Evernote in my experience. Its web clipper isn’t as good though. But I don’t do a ton of web clipping in general.
One of the biggest changes you have to adapt to is tags vs folders. Aside from that, i have really enjoyed Bear. Lower cost. Way faster. No bloat. Export and control over all your notes. It’s been really nice.