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The Ekster Wallet (Parliament) is good, BUT NOT GREAT
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Jul 22, 2024
The Ekster Wallet is an interesting take on the brand's cardholder! Being wrapped in padded leather means it is thicker than its counterparts but feels considerably better in the hands (and pockets). In this video, I review the wallet by going through everything I do like and what I don't like about this popular minimalist wallet option! - Get your Ekster Wallet here (Paid Link): https://amzn.to/3VoDOTe - Read my full review (that I keep updated) here: https://gear43.com/ekster-parliament-review Quick Note: In the video, I call this the Ekster Parliament, which was its name during filming, but the brand changed its name to just "Ekster Wallet" after filming.
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Now, Extra has stood out as one of my favorite minimalist wallet brands out there with the
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extra carbon fiber leading the pack as my favorite minimalist wallet I've ever used
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And I was really excited when Extra agreed to gift me the Parliament wallet as they had gifted
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me the carbon fiber in the past because I felt like this was a very different take on their wallets
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I'll be able to keep the minimalism but also a leather build. How cool is that
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However, I'll be honest, I was a little let down pretty quickly after starting to
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to use it and that's what we're going to be talking about today's video. Now the extra parliament utilizes the same card holder mechanism as all of their other wallets
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and that basically you push a button on the bottom of the wallet and it pushes up to six cards
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reliably out the top of the wallet. It fans them out for easy access and that really works well
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However instead of using an expansion plate like their card holder series they instead have
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wrapped it with a kind of a faux leather build that basically flips open like a bifold wallet
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and you can put some cards and cash on the interior of the bifold
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and then on the outside is basically the face of the wallet on one side
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and the other side is another little kind of storage spot for maybe cash or an additional card
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But that is about it. So I'm going to go ahead and get into exactly what I do like about this wallet
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and what I don't like to see if it's right for you, and maybe I'm crazy in thinking that it isn't the best wallet out there
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Because who knows? Maybe these drawbacks are not drawbacks for you, and having a leather wallet with a really nice card holder attached to it is exactly what you looking for And so the first thing that I do like about this wallet is the card holder portion I really really like extras card holders
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The ability to push one button and it fans out six cards out the top
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It's a very, very ergonomic way of doing it. I generally just basically fan out the cards with my pinky finger hitting the button on the bottom
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and it reliably spits out six cards out the top. It is by far the easiest mechanism I have seen from any of the wallets I've tested
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and it's right here on the Parliament wallet as well. The number two thing that I really like about this wallet is honestly the leather
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Now I talked about it not necessarily being my favorite thing. However, the leather itself is really nice
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It is a padded kind of cover on the exterior and it feels really, really nice to hold
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It is much better, I would say, than carbon fiber or even just a metal wallet
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It just is a really, really comfortable and nice feel to it
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And I have to say, it is a really great thing about this wallet. And if you're somebody that really likes leather and likes that kind of soft feeling, this might be for you
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Number three thing that I like about this wallet is it's reasonably priced. It is considered one of Exter's base model wallets
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It sits around $89. And for an extra and for a leather wallet and having a card holder and all that kind of stuff
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it's actually a pretty good value. They did a good job at keeping a low price point
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even though they had to add a bunch of material to the card holder. And then the number four thing is for those that do like leather
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this is a nice wallet. If you had never used any of the other extra wallets
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then you probably would find yourself really liking this one. However having spent quite a bit time with that carbon fiber and even the aluminum wallet that they had also gifted me I found that this was definitely not my favorite of the three Which leads me into the things that I don like about this wallet
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And the number one thing comes down to it's really thick. Or at least it feels really thick
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Now, I put the two wallets up next to each other. I put the same amount of cards in an aluminum wallet, in the parliament
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and they actually aren't that much different when it comes to thickness over all at their highest points
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However, in your pocket, it does feel large. And that's especially when you put cash or cards in the leather portion of the wallet
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It just gets just a little too thick. And I think that comes down to the fact that the leather is a padded leather
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It is nice, but just adds a lot of thickness and it's super thick all throughout the wallet
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And I wasn't a big fan of that, especially since Exter is big in the minimalist wallet
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And they advertise this as a minimalist wallet. It's just, it's a little too thick for me
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The number two thing that I don't like is that the card holder portion is made of plastic
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Now, they hide this behind the leather. However, with a quick look, you do notice that this thing is made of plastic instead of aluminum
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or carbon fiber or anything like that, which is a big downgrade over the other wallace that they have
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in their collection. Now, I'm not terribly worried about the, like, reliability of the plastic card holder because
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it's not the moving mechanism and the actual moving mechanism is the same as the rest of their wallets
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However, it was just a bit of a bummer, I would say for me, and it doesn't place it at the same level as the other wallets in their inventory for me anyways
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The number three thing I didn like is adding leather and adding bulk to the wallet also cuts back on the capacity unfortunately Now you do have card slots available on the leather portion and then of course you can fit such cards in the wallet itself in the card holder
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and then you could probably fit one card in the rear of the wallet. However, again, that adds a ton of bulk
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and that still isn't as many cards as you could fit with their standard card holder
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So you're sacrificing card capacity, but making a larger wallet, and again, that's kind of a bummer
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And that is about it. Those are the three things that I don't like about this wallet. But for me, the deal breaker is just really how big the wallet feels in your pocket
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It definitely adds bulk, whereas you don't really notice the cardholder series in your pocket
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Now, if those are not deal breakers, I of course do have a link down the description if you
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guys wanted to purchase it from Exter or from Amazon. Those are paid links and they do get me a commission
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However, let's talk about exactly who this wallet is for. And that's honestly the people that are probably making that adjustment over from the buy
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and they like the bifold, but they really want the capability of a card holder. This kind of merges the two and kind of gives a middle point between their cardholder series
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and a bifold. So if that sounds like you and you want to stick with that leather kind of
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padded feel that you're used to, this is a great option for you. However, if you're somebody
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that's really trying to get into the minimalist wallet game and doesn't really want any compromises
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you probably should get the card holder. I think it's probably the better deal for around the same
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price, especially if you go with the aluminum version. So again, no matter what you want to get, I do have links down in the description
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If you guys want to make that purchase, they're paid links and get me a commission. It helps me out a ton
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And also, you know, don't forget to subscribe if you like videos like this