Bit of bling anyone..........
https://www.i-clip.com/en/shop/heritage-gold/
Hadn't seen those so thanks for the heads up. Still using the plastic version with no problems, have two because I fancied a change from my original black one, so bought a 'cognac' brown coloured leather one as well. Never had any problems with the plastic ones to be honest, they seem pretty tough to me. I keep looking for an alternative but just can't find anything as simple and small. However......might be tempted by a stainless one.......
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Bit of bling anyone..........
https://www.i-clip.com/en/shop/heritage-gold/
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
I’m a big fan of these, personally the Trove has been my weapon of choice — but in all honesty, it rarely leaves my pocket anymore.
It strikes me that slim wallets may just be the stepping stone to no wallet.
I can pay for everything 99 times out of 100 with my phone, dare I say, even my watch *tin hat on*
In an effort to further slim my wallet, I’ve now got two wallets.
Most of the time I use Apple Pay on my Watch or phone, but I have a MagSafe wallet that I carry one debit and one credit card in, and whatever card I need on the day (driving licence or football season ticket).
I then have a Bellroy Card Pocket (caramel) thanks to inspiration from this thread which I keep the rest of my occasionally used cards, ready to grab and go when I specifically need them. I’ve also got folded notes and an AirTag in it.
It’s the best of all worlds for me. No wallet most days, barely a wallet some days, very small wallet occasionally.
My new I-CLIP arrived today! The dimensions are 3-1/2" x 2-3/4" x (how many cards you add)
I'm sure the answer is in this thread somewhere but I haven't found it yet. Can anyone recommend a slim but traditional style wallet. I don't want the "pop up" style, want leather , don't want a zip, and not really bothered about carrying notes, 6-9 card and don't need RFID.
Have a look here? www.Belroy.com card-holders
Good luck
Andy
I have the Bellroy Slim Sleeve Wallet in Java, which as you can see is barely larger than a credit card.
Here it is with a card in each of the front pockets and two unembossed cards in each of the spaces behind, for a total of six cards. The one on the right, has a tab pull which could accommodate another card or two. It's very neat.
I usually enjoy carrying a leather wallet, they age gracefully and can be beautifully hand-made, to order, for not very much. But recently I bought three metal, minimalist wallets, which I thought I would share here.
They are; the Ekster Aluminium Cardholder, the Fantom C Wallet and The Ridge Wallet.
The Ekster Aluminium Cardholder: As we all know, Ekster is the Dutch for magpie, and the company’s logo features two of them. Like that other well-known Dutch wallet producer, Secrid, Ekster produce box wallets, featuring a trigger to extrude and fan your cards by means of a lever. They sell a number of models most of which enclose the box in leather, with a variety of slots and pockets to store additional cards and cash. The Cardholder is the naked version, no leather, just the box, an elastic strap for holding cash and a metal backplate, below which you can store cards, cash, receipts or anything else you like.
Compared to my Secrid MiniWallet, it's taller but offers the same internal capacity of up to 6 cards, depending on how many embossed cards you have. The Ekster's trigger mechanism and fanning action works well but feels less substantial, sounding a little cheaper than the Secrid’s. It’s made predominantly from plastic and is fitted into the base of the box as one unit. The box is a single piece of CNC’ed aluminium, offering good protection for your cards, which are RFID protected inside as are those below the back plate.
Despite feeling and sounding cheaper, the cards fan out as well as on the Secrid and both are a convenient method of accessing your cards. Friction strips along the internal sides of the box prevent cards being ejected too far or simply falling out. This works even if you only have one or two cards in the wallet.
The backplate is aluminium and is bevelled to allow cards or cash easily to slider beneath it. Ekster suggests it can hold an additional nine cards! While that may be possible, it would look rather stupid, stretch the band and defeats the purpose of having a minimalist wallet in the first place. I keep the five or so cards I need inside the box and I placed a couple of folded notes under the back plate, as I generally prefer not to have cash on display.
Overall I like the Ekster. I think it has a neat, stylish appearance and the minimalist concept of the back plate works once you get the hang of it. But I prefer the mechanism in my Secrid and the fact that the Secrid allows me to fold money away more securely. But who uses money these days anyway?
One final complaint about the purchasing process. Despite being a Dutch company, they only ship from the US? Some of their wallets are available on Amazon but not this one. It therefore took a month to arrive. Here's a link to their site. https://ekster.com/products/aluminum-cardholder/
The Fantom C Wallet: If the Ekster is termed a cardholder, then the Fantom “Wallet” really is nothing but a card holder. It has no designated place to carry cash.
The C wallet was released to provide a smaller, simpler wallet than their R Wallet, which like the Ekster combined a metal box card holder, with a trigger and fanning mechanism. The R range is often considered to be large and cumbersome, offering limited capacity given its size.
The C Wallet has no mechanical components and is made from ceramic coated aluminium, with beautiful carbon fibre inlays. Cards are slotted into the wallet at a 45 degree angle, placing one card corner into a slot on the side of the wallet. You then press the cards home, level, into place. Card access is very easy, from either the front or the back of the stack, you simply thumb it upwards, angle it at 45 degrees and there you are. If you need to remove a card from the middle of the stack, you can use the rear fan slot to push them out. The use of that 45 degree angle ensures cards do not fall out unintentionally, with fast and neat access. The materials ensure your cards are RFID protected.
The main downside of this wallet is limited capacity. Fantom say you can carry five unembossed cards, I could only manage four. With embossed cards, the capacity falls further. There’s no "official" means of carrying cash, such as a band or money clip. However, you can substitute a card for a folded note or two. I’ve successfully carried, two embossed bank cards, a flat loyalty card and a twenty pound note folded into thirds. Realistically, that’s all I need to take out and about.
The final feature of the wallet is of no use to me whatsoever. It’s MagSafe™ compatible, in that it contains a ring of magnets for attaching to the rear of an iPhone. I don’t have one but I do have mechanical watches. From reviews, it seems that these magnets aren’t very powerful but still, I keep the Fantom away from my watches!
It’s fantastically built, very slim and a joy to hold and use. Cards slip in and out easily when you need them. In one way, its limited capacity forces you to select only those cards you need for the day. I like that. https://store.fantomwallet.com/fanto...-carbon-fiber/
The Ridge Wallet: This style of band wallet may be familiar. The Ridge was launched as a KickStarter campaign in 2013 and has since taken the minimalist wallet world by storm. They’re popular but expensive and present a seemingly simple construction - cards are held between two plates by means of an elastic strap. They are therefore subjected to competition from countless, cheap, Chinese knock-offs. However it’s generally true that you get what you pay for and the difference between the real thing and a knock-off is clearly apparent when handled. I tried a cheapie “carbon-fibre” model to see if I liked the concept. I did, and then I bought the real thing.
The Ridge is constructed with two inner frictionless plates, which are screwed to external plates. These come in a wide range of colours, finishes and materials, including aluminium, carbon fibre, steel and titanium. There are two configurations, with a cash strap or a steel money clip. Depending on which version you buy, there is a specific elastic band which keeps the plates and your cards together. Ridge provide you with spare screws and a torx driver, to enable you to change between the cash strap and money plate or replace the elastic should ever become worn. If you had more than one Ridge, you could even mix and match the external plates. The design therefore has changeability and repairability in-built. The inner plates provide RFID protection. Personally, I like titanium and ordered one in gunmetal with the cash strap, which in my opinion makes the wallet slimmer and holds cash more securely.
Cards are placed between the inner plates, which are bevelled to allow easy access. You can insert them one at a time, or spread it wide and place all your cards in as one stack. The elastic expands to hold up to a possible twelve cards but as before, I think that would look ungainly, make it difficult to work with and defeat the point of having a minimalist wallet. The wallet has only marginally larger dimensions than the cards it protects. I usually carry four cards and have a couple of notes folded and held in the cash strap.
These type of band wallets do take a little getting used to. The elastic band holds everything securely and very tightly. Pushing the cards up by means of the thumb hole, makes accessing the outermost cards easy. The main complaint and question about this style of wallet is; How to access cards in the middle of the stack? Many people initially find this difficult. There are several ways to achieve it. Ridge themselves recommend pushing all the cards half way out of the wallet then pressing the bottom of the plates to spread them and fan the cards. You can push the cards out far enough so you manually fan them. Finally take all the cards out, use the card you need and put the stack back as one. I’ve used a combination of the first and the last options. There is a learning process involved but I found that as the elastic wears in after a little use, it all becomes easier. The fact remains though that the two outermost cards are the easiest to access quickly.
Cash storage presents another niggle. First you have to fold your cash into quarters to place it beneath the cash strap. This has rubber nodules on the rear, which are there to safely retain your notes but they also hinder easy sliding of cash under the strap.
Finally, and this goes for most online reviews and sellers’ websites, they obligingly forget to consider embossed cards and how they work with their wallets. In the UK, it seems that we’re stuck with recalcitrant banks who baulk at offering non-embossed cards. For those of a certain age, you’ll remember those old credit card slips and manual imprinting machines which is the only reason cards are embossed.
NOBODY uses these any more. All bank cards should be flat and with the chip and contactless payment methods, there’s no need for either embossing or the magnetic strip!
Anyway, the point of that small ranting was to mention that in these minimalist wallets and others, embossed cards limit capacity and increase card on card damage. This is especially true in the Ridge, since the cards are held so tightly together. I’ve found that you have to layer embossed cards between flat cards, as two embossed cards are more difficult to insert against each other and create annoying gaps in the card stack.
So the Ridge is handicapped by poor card access, difficulties storing cash and damages your cards? Yes and still it’s my favourite of the three.
The quality of the materials and the design is outstanding. While those faults are present, they do not hamper it severely and to a large extent acclimatise to the wallet and the way it works, which is perhaps the largest leap from a traditional leather wallet. In hand, it feels superbly solid, well built and comfortably with chamfered edges to make it wonderfully tactile. It’s the smallest of these three but has enough heft and presence to remind you it’s there, in your pocket. It will last a lifetime, which is also the length of their warranty. https://ridgewallet.co.uk/collection...31515532492939
To conclude, I enjoy using all of these but in the event of loss, I would definitely rebuy the Ridge and probably the Fantom. I wouldn’t rebuy the Ekster. The Ridge despite it’s niggles is fantastic.
Costs were:
Ekster - £49 + £8 shipping - £57
Fantom - £85 ($114 US) after a discount, inc. shipping and tax
Ridge - £105 - inc shipping
Sorry for the length of this post but I hope you found it useful.
^^ very useful thanks
I just bought a great leather card holder from Amazon for £8 delivered! Made by a company called Blacksteele. Great value and great quality - you could buy a new one every year for 10 years for the price of the above!
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I ended up getting a card holder from Wingback. I've only had it a few weeks but very happy with the quality so far.
Here you go.
These are great, but I can't get my driving licence in there :(
Thanks gerrudd - that's a great design. I live those diagonal access opening.
D
It definitely helps with getting cards out. I like that it's a fairly traditional design with some modern features like a separate space for a primary contactless card, which I use a lot. I carry 6 cards (credit, work credit, debit, a store loyalty card, drivers and a golf range card, as well as notes) and it all fit nicely. Leather seems good quality and looks great to my eyes.
The wallet collection continues.
This is a Trayvax Original v 2.0 wallet which I've had for a couple of days now and I've been very impressed with its design and functionality. I like it because it also challenges, in my mind at least, what a wallet is.
Here we simply have four parts working together to make the wallet. Two metal plates, the upper, green plate is aluminium and the black, back plate is steel. They’re held together with a length of nylon paracord and locked by means of a small metal grommet on the chord which fits over a lip on the base.
It feels very good in the hand, thanks to the scalloped lower edge. I found it easy to synch the cord to provide the correct space for my cards, which some people say is tricky. No it’s not. Opening, selecting and accessing cards and then closing it again is so easy, thanks to the grommet and the window in the front plate.
There’s a very firm cash clip on the rear under which I store a £10 note. The pry tool, bottle opener and lanyard point will probably not get much use but the wallet will. It’s clearly really well made and thought out! Great for only £30.
I realised only after posting my photo of my Trayvax Original 2.0 wallet, that I hadn’t put up a shot of my first Trayvax, the Armoured Summit.
This is an even smaller, metal wallet. Also comprising two plates, this time both coated steel. In place of paracord to contain the wallet, there’s a section of one inch wide nylon webbing. This is more difficult to tension because the built-in buckle, on the rear has very narrow slots through which the webbing threads. It can be done though and once set, it’s secure. However the paracord on the Original is easier to adjust.
The Summit’s cash clip, is actually the back of the buckle. Money is slotted under it and held in place against the back of the lowest card. Again, it works but the Original’s money clip feels more secure.
The Summit is dinky, much neater on the eye. It can hold a maximum of about 7 cards, no more because of a stopper lip on the base plate. If your card stack reaches above this, they’ll slide out. The Original holds more cards and cash.
You access the top card by pushing it out via the ID window in the top plate. You can also use the window to fan the cards below and push out the one required. Again, this is easier on the Original.
As with the Original, you can customise the Summit, by replacing the webbing. Mine originally came with a black strap but I found some 1” green webbing online, and bought 30m for not much more than the price of a new strap from Trayvax.
Overall I do like the Summit, it’s only £30, but the Original 2.0 is overall, the more practical wallet.
Anyone got one of these? Be interested to know how easy you find it to use.
https://heinnie.com/trayvax-contour?...eid=7aae5dfc1a
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Walletopia and Chrispy Things on YouTube have detailed reviews of the Contour, which I'm sure will help.
I don't have one, but I can say that the common Trayvax concept of having cards sandwiched between two metal plates with cash held on the rear, allows easy card access by pushing the cards out with your thumb, through the upper opening. The only difference is in materials and locking method.
The Summit uses tension of the nylon webbing to grip the cards and the Original has a gromit on Paracord which hooks over a lip. The Contour has that good quality leather strap coming over from the rear.
I've held off buying one, for the following reasons; the cost is quite high, there's been talk of card damage through abrasion against the frame and through the large front opening, while the adjustability is good you need the tool and I think the cash holder at the back adds a fair bit of bulk, I carry very few notes.
Having said all that, I do like the look of it, especially the titanium model and people who buy them seem to love them. Who knows, if Santa is good to me, I may try one.
David
Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations
Been a very useful thread, as my son had been looking for a new wallet for Xmas as he hates the current bulky one his relative bought him last year. Monogrammed carbon fibre effect Trove ordered, and got one for myself, a Cinnamon leather.
Very, very impressed. I normally carry a Tumi card wallet with money clip in my front pocket at work, and the Trove is significantly more comfy and unobtrusive.
After perusing this thread many times (!) I've finally ordered a Loft of Cambie WOLYT Sleeve in Cobalt/Brown from Slim Wallet Junkie
10% off using code GOONTHEN, so £28.80 delivered.
I don't really carry cash and probably 5 or six cards, so let's how how we get on moving from my traditional style leather wallet.
I've had an orange and blue Trove for a few years now mainly to handle paying tube fares. But I found a good deal on an in stock midnight blue and orange Secrid Mini wallet so am now getting that for Xmas.
Well Santa was good to me and I recently took delivery of a Trayvax Contour wallet in titanium from the nice people at Mukama. While the quality of the materials is excellent, and there’s a great deal of adjustability available due to the construction, this remains a very expensive wallet.
I’ve got my four most used cards and my Tile Slim tracker contained in the main section and two tenners in the rear cash pocket. You use the provided T6 wrench to loosen the black top metal plate and feed through the leather tongues to provide a tight fit for the cards and cash you want to carry. You don’t want things to be too loose, as the cards then annoyingly wobble around. Once you have the leather adjusted, you finally adjust the grommet post, so that closing and opening the clasp is nice and easy.
As I mentioned in a previous post, card access with the open front is achieved by pushing the cards out with your thumb. It’s very easy to do. As is reinserting cards and closing the wallet. It’s nice and quick at the supermarket checkout.
The leather is high quality Horween and should patina up nicely. I went for “Mississippi Mud” and there are three other colours available. Replacement leather costs less than £25 and I may buy a couple to change the look of the wallet.
Overall, I’m impressed with this. It’s visually interesting and is a great blend of metal and leather. You can keep it as minimalist as you wish, or expand its capacity by adjusting the leather to carry up to over 10 cards. It feels really good in the hand, especially when you’ve adjusted it to the number of cards you carry. Unlike leather wallets, you can easily reduce the cards you carry without them falling out. It’s main drawback is the price, which meant that if I hadn’t had a hand from Santa, I wouldn’t have bought this.
been using an i-clip wallet for 3 years and been superb, ive recently purchased soime AirTags so wanted an airtag compatible wallet, to my delight i saw i-clip make an airtag one, result!
it arrived today
My initial doubt was if the AirTag would hold securely in place and it does but its too early to give that verdict, will need to test the wallet during this next week.
Adds little bit of bulk compared to the original i-clip but nothing major tbh
Video review I found on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoU9zCi3FmE
I ditched my wallet (basically a credit card holder) a few months ago in favour of a phone case similar to this https://www.amazon.co.uk/KRAFTCARE-G...%2C274&sr=8-21
I added a couple of supermarket card tags to my keyring and just carry a credit card, debit card and driving licence (plus a tenner just in case) - no problems so far.
I was also inspired by this thread and Trove has my wallet of choice. But I haven’t carried a wallet in over 2 years now, which is the ultimate minimalist! That won’t work for everyone of course, but I use my Apple Watch to pay everywhere, with maybe £50 cash and a single physical card in my pocket as back-up
I like to carry the bear minimum. I use a carl Friedrik Hatton card holder containing 2 bank cards and drivers license along with a money Clip for cash.
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I had to Google what they were, an apparently, they're Find My Phone for all items, not just phones!
AirTags; very useful; I have them on my bikes, camper van and wallet. If I was posting a high value watch I'd put one in the box to see where it was and ask the buyer to return it.
I'm still using the Bellroy card pocket which is excellent: https://bellroy.com/products/card-po...aramel#slide-0
I have in it 3 cards, drivers license, a couple of business cards, usually £60, a SAK and an AirTag ... all zips up to a neat small wallet that is not really any bother in a pocket.
Top recommendation earlier in this topic.
Last edited by Montello; 21st March 2022 at 19:20.
I’ve started using the apple wallet - it holds three cards, and plenty slim enough, the magnetic hold onto the phone/case works well and the find my wallet feature (while not completely there yet) is pretty good.
Just got an iclip and have to say I’m really impressed.
I’ve had a few Troves and a securID - that I think are both good, but I think this is better than both - very light, can fit more cards in and has the addition to carry an Apple AirTag for tracking if you loose it so far well pleased
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I have been trying out another small wallet, which may be of interest.
The Gomatic Wallet, which is about as minimalist as you can get, given its made from only elasticated fabric and a small, vegan leather pull tab. Nonetheless, it’s very cleverly designed and offers plenty of storage with good accessibility. The nearest wallet I have to this is a Trove, they both rely on elasticated fabric, employing good design to offer several pockets. There are three on the Gomatic.
At the rear is one for frequently used cards, which you extract using the tab. This pulls the cards up and out, allowing you easy selection from the stack.
Once done, pop the card back in and push down. The tab has the right size and position to be easy to grab and not to flop about.
At the front, there’s another card pocket. Here I store infrequently used cards. You pull them out, fan them and select the card you need and slide it back in.
Finally, on the front above is a smaller pocket, which is ideal for folded notes. Gomatic suggests storing a couple of coins or a key there, but there’s nothing to prevent them falling out, except the elastic fabric’s tension.
The thing I didn’t like about the Trove was that it bent my cards, as the pressure from the fabric was too strong. The Gomatic doesn’t bend your cards, but due to the inner seams there is an offset between the two main card pockets, so that cards in the tabbed pocket are on a slant. It’s not a practical problem, just mildly aesthetically annoying.
Accessing cards is much simpler than the Trove for my fingers, there’s no digging into tight spaces or fighting the elastic. I find the stitching on the pull tab ugly, reminding me of a post operative scar. It’s probably a deliberate design link to their A shaped logo. There's also really nowhere safe to store coins, if you need that.
The company says it can hold up to 14 cards. It probably could but you’d stretch out the fabric. From my use, I’d say the minimum you could carry is two cards in each pocket (and you do need more than one to make sure there’s enough tension) plus one folded note - up to maybe five cards in each pocket with some notes. My six cards and a couple of notes (as in the pics) fit perfectly and in the hand it feels secure, safe and easy to use. There’s no RDIF protection, unless you store an RFID blocker card in the wallet.
It’s £17, comes in a range of colours and has excellent reviews. The elastic will at some point stretch out but some have reported years and years of use from them before that happens. I like it and it would make a super light travel wallet.
https://gomatic.co.uk/products/wallet
Last edited by dkpw; 2nd August 2022 at 12:57.
Well I had 2 Loft of Cambie WOLYTs. Stupidly sold one on here and gave the other to my wife. She refuses to give it back!
They don’t make them anymore…. anyone have one they aren’t using?
Also, for those that have the Bellroy card pocket, how are you finding it now that you’ve had it and used it for a while??
Cheers
Still for sale, no?
https://www.slimwalletjunkie.com/col...c-cobalt-brown