The 3 position ring opener allows you to angle the tab away from the pages so it doesn't interfere with turning the pages, lock for transport, or easy-open. It's flat-out brilliant. (Ppl who don't read the directions and use all 3 positions properly may feel the mechanism "doesn't work," but that is clearly user-error.) Can't say enough good things about slant-D rings mounted on the back cover instead of the spine, so it's a plus for this binder that it has that feature.
A feature NO OTHER binder has is the memory-stretch pockets: They can hold nearly half a ream of paper each and still not rip OR get saggy when empty! Why should you put more paper in the pockets than in the rings? You probably shouldn't. And yet... by the end of the day or week, that can end up happening, and this binder deals with it. A HUGE relief if you are a teacher or a student. You can even slip a paperback book into these pockets, and sometimes that just means everything fits into one slim binder. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these pockets!
Another feature Avery seems to have invented with the Ultralast Binder is the creation of a hybrid: This is a more flexible cover than the typical board-stiff covers of most binders, but far more sturdy and solid than the thin-plastic covers of "softcover" binders. You can fold the front cover completely back under the back cover, so the whole thing is totally flat, yet (because it is sturdy) still use it as a drawing board to write or work on (for those times when your "desk" is your lap or your forearm).
This is the perfect binder. I only wish I could find it in more sizes... this would make an EXCELLENT design for oversized ring binders and for Mini 3-ring binders (8.5x5.5 pages and pamphlets), especially in 2" ring size, a size that could benefit from the folds-flat hardcover-softcover hybrid as well as the easy-open with lock mechanism and the miraculous pockets as well as the lay-flat capability.
Also... the view pocket for the front cover can actually hold a magazine instead of just a sheet of paper, which is, in some cases, the PERFECT cover, and the view pocket is made of that memory-stretch material, so it doesn't get loose and saggy if later you want to go back to using just a single sheet of paper for the view cover.
I'm attaching a photo of how flat this sturdy binder is with cover folded back, because the closest thing to a hard-soft hybrid cover I'd previously found was leather, and it could neither lay this this flat nor be used as a drawing board to support work, and this binder does both effortlessly. If you try this with a regular slant-D ring binder, even if you can get the front cover to fold under (which is usually not possible), the vinyl along the seam soon rips, because the cover clearly wasn't meant to be used this way. If you try it with an Ultralast, you'll be replacing all of your daily-use binders with these.
WARNING: 
