by I’m particularly picky when it comes to wallets. I refuse to carry the giant “dad wallet.” You know what I’m talking about. A one pound brick of “buy ten get one free” business cards, reciepts going back to 2005, ticket stubs, and perhaps a few bills, ID’s and actual credit cards bound together by a rotting skin of cow hide. They’re ugly, inefficient, and cause back problems. I also can’t go complete minimalist as well. One credit card and a ID bound by a rubber band in my pocket or in a holder stuck on the back of a cel phone just isn’t functional enough.
Using these extremes as guidelines, here are my specific needs in a day to day wallet: 4 credit cards, 1 ID, an “outside” slot for a touch sensitive metro card, capacity for an occasionally used membership card, and a smallish size for carrying in a front pocket. Cards should not fall out, but must be easy to pull out individually. Carrying cash or coins is not necessary, and gee whiz features like RFID protection, or the ability to clip or tether the wallet are well…..gee whiz features. Those are my needs. Let’s see how the first entries in this competition fare.
The first two wallets I checked out are from Trayvax. A company based out of Bellingham, Washington. It started as a modern millenial success story. Young person has a product idea, it morphs into something else, they hold a TEDx talk, and boom, a new company is born. Their product line is mostly flavors of metal wallets, but have a few belts, knives, and keychains to cover all those everyday carry fetishists out there. Snark aside, they seem pretty committed to producing well made products in the USA from US sourced materials without heaping on unecessary jingoism. So regardless of what my feelings are about some specific items they sell, they seem like a halfway decent company to purchase from.
The Trayvax Armored Summit Wallet
The Armored Summit ($34.99) certainly has a cool name. It definitely sold me. Things that are armored tend to be decent at keeping what is whithin them pretty secure and it’s usually hard to get out of. The Armored Summit unfortunately only lives up to one of these stereotypes.
Definitely well made.
This wallet is certainly a sturdy little piece of hardware. The Armored Summit is pretty much all steel with the exception of the nylon strap. The steel has a baked on finish almost like exposed metal on a firearm and did not flex or bend, at all. It would take quite an effort to actually scratch or damage this thing. Also the edges are well finished and smooth, with no sharp points or burrs to catch on anything. Despite all this heavy duty hardware, it is surprisingly light. Even full of cards, it did not feel like I had a tank sitting in my pocket.
One major flaw…..
While made with lots of love from the folks in Bellingham, there was an issue with the engineering. Keeping your stuff in the armored summit is a matter of sandwiching all your cards between the “frame” and the included metal plate and tightening the frame affixed nylon strap. For you freewheeling types, you can also go al fresco with just the frame. Simple for sure, but there’s a problem. It’s hard to get enough tension on the strap to hold all your stuff in. The buckle is a fiddly little device that manages to make adjustments difficult and security unreliable. As the strap is just nylon canvas, there is no grab onto the armor plate or your cards. So when things start rattling around, they get loose, and eventually fall out. This condition is exacerbated when you pull out a single card. An act that loosens the tension on the strap even further causing catostrophic failure. Playing 52 pickup in front of a metro card machine is not a fun game to begin with, less so when the stakes are a complete identity theft package. You can try to avoid this mess by always making sure the wallet is oriented with the “opening” up, but who really is thinking about that when they run out the door or are hurriedly trying to pay at the self checkout?
Conclusion: All metal, no filler.
I find it hard to reccommend this thing. Worrying about your stuff falling all over the floor is the exact opposite feeling you want from a wallet. Despite being sturdy, compact, and light, it just doesn’t work. Yeah the inherent RFID protection from the metal plate is cool, but it does nothing if your credit card is laying on the sidewalk. Even as a business card stash or an ID holder, the Armored Summit would fail pretty spectacularly. It’s a shame too as it seems like this company is really trying to do things right. A simple update with an elastic strap that could keep tension or an improved buckle would make this something worthwhile.
The Trayvax Original 2.0 Wallet
While the Armored Summit was a bit of a bust, Trayvax has a whole line of wallets. I tried the Original 2.0 ($29.99) as well. It shared the same high quality materials and build as the Armored Summit. However it also had some design quirks that kept me from making this my day to day go to.
Good manufacturing meets a decent design.
This is actually a really good wallet, for certain styles of use. The strength and finish on the metal plates even better than the Armored Summit. This manufacturing quality is put to good use with some smart design elements. One edge is scalloped with finger grooves, which gives the whole thing a very secure, ergonomic feel. The clip on the back can hold bills, but it can also clip the wallet to your belt. It also acts as a tension spring to hold your cards secure when the wallet is “open”. The overall metal design provides RFID protection, but you can secure a touch sensitive card on the outside with the paracord bindings if needed. However, this paracord binding system is also where this wallet can have some problems.
Not the best for everyone.
For starters, you really have to Goldilocks the hell out of the tension on the paracord. When you get it just right, your stuff is secure, SUPER secure. If you just make it super loose, the cord won’t hook on the closure properly, and stuff might fall out. Too tight, nothing is coming out. That’s where this thing can be devisive. If you are constantly adding or subtracting what is in your wallet, you will be tugging on that paracord a lot. Even when it is right, it can be tricky to pull a specific card. So if you don’t need to get into your wallet a lot, or only have one or two credit cards and an ID, this thing is perfect. If you have a mileage and cashback system that requires a lot of card rotations and certain cards for certain purchases, get soemthing else.
Conclusion: A situational specialist.
I personally will not likely use this everyday in my pocket. Where this thing shines is where you need make sure nothing happens to the two or three essential cards you brought. Slide in an ID and single credit card, tension the cords, and toss it in a backpack, or clip it to a carabiner, or zip it up in your swim trunks. The Original 2.0 could also be a good secondary wallet for travelling abroad when most of your life is in the passport wallet in the safe and you only need the basics on your person. Right now I’m using it to keep my insurance card and vehicle registration in my car. They wont get wrinkled or torn, and the bright blue makes it easy to find in the center console.
