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The Andar "The" Pilot is Leather AT ITS BEST! (A Full Review)
Oct 31, 2024
I'm finally reviewing a wallet I have wanted to use for quite some time! The Andar "The" Pilot Wallet is a high-quality, top-grain leather cardholder that comes with the best competitors. So what do I like about it (and not like about it)? That's what we are going to talk about in today's video. - Get your Andar Pilot here (Paid Link): https://www.andar.com/products/the-pilot/AUSTIN26380 - Read my full review here: https://gear43.com/andar-the-pilot-review
View Video Transcript
0:00
all right let's talk about the andar
0:03
pilot I've actually had this for a
0:05
little while now the brand sent it out
0:07
to me this is a wallet I had actually
0:09
wanted to try for quite a long time but
0:11
I just kind of had never really reached
0:13
out to them to see if they'd be willing
0:14
to gift one to me uh however I finally
0:17
did reach out and they were more than
0:18
happy to gift this one to me so just a
0:20
heads up this was gifted to me by the
0:22
brand but you know all opinions are my
0:23
own as you guys know I'm more than happy
0:25
to tell you guys in all of my reviews
0:27
the things I do like the things I don't
0:29
like and exactly who it's for so like
0:31
all of my videos that is exactly what
0:33
you can expect from this video right now
0:35
so let's go ahead and get right into it
0:38
so to start things off let's go ahead
0:39
and talk about what the andar pilot is
0:41
now like a lot of these ejector style
0:43
wallets basically you have a button on
0:45
the bottom here where you push and up to
0:47
six cards get fanned out the top this is
0:50
a six card capacity on the interior and
0:53
then you can fit one to two cards right
0:55
here on the face of the wallet I keep
0:58
one just so that it's a quick access
1:00
pouch I feel like any more than that it
1:01
kind of makes it a little bit more
1:03
difficult to get a card out and then on
1:05
the back you basically have a little
1:06
kind of a little leather sleeve right
1:09
here where you can put money in there
1:10
you only have to fold it once however
1:13
you can fold it twice if you want to I
1:16
find it is a little bit better to kind
1:17
of fold it twice and it it keeps it a
1:19
little more snug in there so you can
1:21
expect up to seven to eight cards total
1:24
and then of course cash on the back now
1:26
as for the leather surround right here
1:28
that is a full grain leather it is
1:31
actually really nice and it's kind of
1:33
glued around an aluminum card holder
1:35
it's not a plastic card holder even if
1:37
it honestly kind of feels like it
1:39
sometimes that is a full anodized
1:41
aluminum card holder on the interior on
1:43
the bottom here this is going to be your
1:45
button that is a plastic button and then
1:48
on the interior is going to be a plastic
1:51
ejector mechanism in the bottom there I
1:54
will say that is pretty normal in the
1:55
industry there are metal ones coming out
1:57
here now however this one is a plastic
1:59
mechanism as for the warranty this is a
2:01
lifetime warranty which is really nice
2:03
because a lot of these wallets generally
2:04
are in a 1 to 2ear warranty so that is
2:06
pretty impressive and is Big a reason
2:08
why this is a luxury style brand because
2:11
you can buy it once and count on it for
2:12
life and so with that let's go ahead and
2:15
get into the things I do like about this
2:16
wallet and the things I don't like so
2:18
let's start with what I do like before
2:20
we move on with this video I do want to
2:22
say I have a paid link down in the
2:23
description if you guys wanted to
2:25
purchase this it is a paid link I do get
2:27
a commission if you guys purchase it but
2:29
I really appreciate it if you do use
2:30
that and also use this time maybe right
2:33
now to subscribe and like this video as
2:35
it helps me out in the algorithm so back
2:37
to the video and of course the number
2:38
one thing I like about this wallet has
2:40
to be the leather now I initially was
2:43
really getting into wallets and I really
2:45
enjoyed like carbon fiber wallets I
2:47
really enjoyed metal wallets however
2:48
lately I've been really appreciating
2:50
leather wallets and especially ones that
2:52
are top grain or full grain and I have
2:54
to say the leather on this wallet is
2:56
extremely nice as you can see I've been
2:58
using it it's starting to Patina you're
2:59
kind of getting scratches and that kind
3:01
of stuff and over time it's going to get
3:03
nicer and nicer it does have that
3:05
leather smell to it and you can see that
3:08
it basically is two pieces of leather
3:10
that are com that are sewn on this side
3:12
and then on this side the stitching is
3:14
really nice and high quality and I have
3:16
no qualms about it whatsoever and I'm
3:19
actually going to talk a little bit more
3:20
about this strap here but this is full
3:22
leather which is nice considering a lot
3:23
of other ones are using you know kind of
3:25
a nylon Fabric and it kind of takes away
3:27
from the Aesthetics I just think the
3:28
leather Construction this is really nice
3:30
I will say I'm not a huge fan I don't
3:32
know it just feels weird that it's kind
3:33
of glued to the interior it's I realize
3:37
it's not a big deal however just knowing
3:39
it's kind of two pieces of leather that
3:40
are glued to a an aluminum card holders
3:43
kind of takes away a little bit for me
3:45
however the leather itself is super nice
3:47
and I have no quals with that at all all
3:49
right so the number two thing that I
3:50
really like about this wallet is this
3:52
quick access slot there are good ways of
3:54
doing quick access slots and then there
3:57
are bad ways of doing them the bad way
3:58
is making a slot that's too tight and
4:01
doesn't work very well it's really hard
4:02
to kind of get that card out and that's
4:03
not the case with this I will say it is
4:05
really easy to get it out so if you want
4:07
to keep your kind of primary card right
4:09
there it is easy to get to and I have no
4:11
quals with it I wouldn't put a second
4:13
card in there because it makes it more
4:15
difficult to get to the card and kind of
4:17
does make it too tight uh so that does
4:19
kind of restrict this capacity to around
4:21
seven however I do really like that
4:23
quick access slot and it works well
4:25
number three comes down to its price I
4:27
actually was pretty impressed
4:28
considering this is a full grain leather
4:29
wallet there are wallets that are just
4:32
kind of genuine leather that don't smell
4:34
nice that don't work nice they don't
4:36
they're not going to patina for more
4:38
than this one and the main competitor
4:40
being something you know like the extra
4:42
wallet as you guys know I'm not a huge
4:43
fan of that one primarily because of
4:45
that I have to say it's in the $80 to
4:47
$90 range you're getting a highquality
4:50
leather wallet with a decent capacity
4:52
for a pretty good price now that
4:54
definitely is still pretty expensive but
4:55
when you're comparing it to other
4:56
comparable wallets with full grain
4:58
leather it's it's a pretty good deal and
5:00
then the number four thing I really
5:01
liked about the wallet is its cash strap
5:03
as I promised earlier I am going to talk
5:05
a little bit about that this is a really
5:08
cool way of doing the cast strap
5:09
basically there's this I don't even know
5:11
what the right word is for it's not up
5:12
and down it's side to it's from corner
5:14
to corner and it does work really well
5:17
it does hold on to Cache you just slide
5:19
it right in there it's not too tight and
5:21
I really appreciate that it is leather
5:24
and not something like nylon or rubber
5:27
or something like that it really makes
5:28
it so like if you don't carry cash it
5:30
still looks like a really nice wallet if
5:33
you do carry cash it's pretty thick and
5:34
kind of hides the cash behind it I have
5:37
to say the cash strap there's very few
5:39
wallets where I think they get the cash
5:40
strap or you know money clip right and I
5:43
think andar did a fantastic job with
5:45
theirs now what do I not like about this
5:49
wallet and number one is it doesn't have
5:52
a metal push button a lot of newer
5:54
wallets that are coming out here now
5:56
especially things like the extra card
5:57
holder Pro are now coming out with metal
5:59
mechanism so you can see right here
6:01
basically you push this button right
6:02
here and it pushes out those cards now
6:05
this is a plastic push button and then
6:07
the internal mechanism in there that
6:08
does the pushing is also plastic now I'm
6:11
not terribly worried about them being
6:13
plastic cuz this does have a lifetime
6:15
warranty on it however the feel of the
6:17
button just isn't super nice even in
6:19
comparison to some of the other plastic
6:21
button wallets I feel like this plastic
6:23
button feels a little bit cheaper than
6:25
the competition you can kind of see it
6:26
bending and stuff I'm not terribly
6:28
worried again about it break breaking or
6:30
anything like that but the feel of it
6:31
just isn't quite as nice it does
6:33
function correctly and works really well
6:35
just like every other wallet so I'm not
6:37
complaining on the usability side of it
6:39
but as for a premium wallet that's being
6:40
held as a premium wallet I do wish this
6:42
was a metal button and since other cart
6:45
holders are starting to get it I
6:47
wouldn't be surprised if andar does that
6:48
here soon but until they do not a huge
6:51
fan of the button and then the second
6:53
thing and really honestly the last thing
6:55
that I don't like about the wallet it
6:56
really is a good wallet I'm not
6:57
complaining about it too much is I wish
6:59
it had an additional capacity pretty
7:01
much in the past most wallets do have a
7:04
sixc card capacity that fans out like
7:06
that basically there's a little rod on
7:08
the inside here that fans them upward
7:10
and a lot of card holders like the extra
7:12
card holder Pro and the Double Oak which
7:14
were both gifted to me by those Brands
7:16
and I review them you make sure to check
7:17
out my channel if you guys want to see
7:19
what I said about those wallets they
7:21
have a seven card capacity in their
7:23
ejector mechanism right there and having
7:26
that extra card actually does make a big
7:27
difference for me cuz sometimes it makes
7:29
it so a wallet is even not usable for me
7:31
because I'm somebody that does carry
7:33
around quite a few more cards so I wish
7:36
you know maybe in the next version of
7:38
this they'll have a seven card capacity
7:39
on the ejector side of things but we'll
7:42
see how that goes all right so who is
7:44
this wallet for and I would say it's
7:47
somebody who lives in the city is a
7:49
professional and goes into the office or
7:51
goes you know Starbucks or whatever um
7:53
is you're trying to make an impression
7:55
every time you pull out your wallet this
7:57
is going to have a very similar feel to
7:59
pulling out a really nice bold that is
8:01
made of full grain leather it's going to
8:03
be impressive it's going to be nice you
8:04
won't you won't worry about pulling it
8:06
out of your pocket it even makes it so
8:08
the cash looks nice and stuff because a
8:09
lot of other wallets look look a little
8:11
more utilitarian so if you're always
8:13
trying to make a good impression when
8:15
you pull your wallet out this is
8:17
probably one of the best ones out there
8:20
however if you're somebody that's a
8:21
little more utilitarian and prefers to
8:23
have a large capacity of cards easy
8:25
access to cash and doesn't mind a bit
8:28
larger wallet this may not be for you
8:30
just because you are so limited you
8:32
don't have like an expansion plate for
8:34
putting cards into like you would with
8:36
something like an exter um and so I
8:38
wouldn't recommend it for somebody that
8:40
is you is wanting to maximize their
8:43
space this definitely is essentially a
8:45
card holder with a leather wrap around
8:48
there just aren't many good versions of
8:50
those and this is actually a really good
8:51
version so with that said thank you guys
8:53
so much for watching this video If you
8:55
are going to purchase this if you if you
8:57
are a professional and somebody that
8:59
wants a wallet that looks really nice
9:00
like this I do have a link down in the
9:02
description and the top comment it is a
9:04
paid link so I do get a commission if
9:06
you guys do make that purchase but make
9:07
sure you purchase the right wallet for
9:09
you and if this isn't right don't get it
9:11
if it is right for you go ahead and get
9:12
it but make sure to use my link and I'll
9:14
see you guys next time