Pantone solid coated allll the way. Almost all printers will go by those chips. If you're dealing with things like textile printing via roller prints etc there is a different standard for direct to cotton ink printing.

I've never used the field guide so I cannot really comment, I use a standard pantone fan and simply call out the ink colors on most proofs. It's fairly rare that I would have the need to tear out a pantone chip to give to a printer.

On the subject, does anyone have any good links to buy from?

Amazon seems to be the best bet but so many options that were throwing me for the loop.

At my job, we use Solid Coated books for plastisol prints, and Solid Uncoated books for waterbased prints (since they have more of a matte look).

justinjuno said:Just stick to the Pantone solid coated and uncoated fan books.

If you need more options, I would suggest downloading the myPantone App (if you have an iPhone). Of course the colors will slightly differ as it is on a screen, but it does have all of the Pantone books. Additionally it has a lot of built in features, including: color harmonies, cross referencing, and options to save / share color palettes via email or mobile devices.

I've been curious about the Pantone App just for reference. I think it could come in handy for giving the idea of color in a random brainstorm situation. I stick with the solid Color Bridge.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. If i were to purchase a book - does anyone have recommendations? or is the link to the book in my post the best bet?

We almost only use Solid Coated for reference, but we do have a Solid Uncoated book knocking around in the workshop too (they often come as a pair). Like Matt said, it doesn't really need to be a field/tear-out guide, since the printer should have their own book. You just need to be able to quote pantone numbers.

Having a quick glance at prices, you could get the Coated and Uncoated Combo for basically the same price as one field guide. So it might be worth looking for the combo, unless you really want those tear-out chips.

http://www.amazon.com/Pantone-Series-GP4001-Uncoated-Two-Guide/dp/1590651529/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1343417545&sr=8-8&keywords=pantone+solid+coated

is this the one I should be looking at? I can't seem to find just a coated color guide. If you have better suggestions I would really appreciate a link. Thanks!

At the day job we have all (and I mean ALL) the Pantone books as well as toyo, kurz and a few others. In all honesty though 85% of our clients send pms solid coated swatches for reference, it's the industry standard.