Up next in 10
The 10 BEST Minimalist Wallets I HAVE EVER USED!
13K views
Jul 22, 2024
I have been testing minimalist wallets for years now, and after testing out so many wallets thoroughly over that time, I can now definitively give you the list of my ten favorite minimalist wallets I have ever used. So here they are! 1. Ekster Forged Carbon Fiber (Paid Link): https://amzn.to/3JPYY64 2. Ridge Carbon Fiber (Paid Link): http://shrsl.com/4inrn 3. Ridge Aluminum Wallet (Paid Link): http://shrsl.com/4ds6e 4. Bellroy Card Sleeve (Paid Link): https://amzn.to/3UOQ5zQ 5. Ekster Aluminum Cardholder (Paid Link): https://amzn.to/3QBicQH 6. Axwell Aluminum (2.0) Wallet (Paid Link): https://axwellwallet.com/products/axwell-wallet-aluminum-bolt-blue/?ref=gear43 7. Aviator Wallet (Paid Link): https://sovrn.co/g6avqra 8. Groove Life Wallet (Paid Link): https://sovrn.co/dr3ovw2 9. Axwell Copper Wallet (Paid Link): https://axwellwallet.com/products/axwell-wallet-copper/?ref=gear43 10. Ekster Parliament (Paid Link): https://amzn.to/4ds7qWL Want to read the article version? You can find it here: https://gear43.com/best-minimalist-wallets
View Video Transcript
0:00
As a small product review YouTuber, it's surprisingly difficult to get a list of wallets that are actually really good
0:07
However, after years of testing out wallets in person, I finally have compiled a list of 10 minimalist wallets that I would recommend you take a look at if you're in the market for, well, a minimalist wallet
0:20
Now, I do want to mention nine out of 10 of these wallets were sent out to me by the brand
0:25
They were gifted to me to take a look at. However, all opinions are my own, and I will mention the one wallet once I get to it that was not gifted by the brand
0:34
And so after extensive testing with all of these different wallets to see what I like and what I don't like
0:39
this is the comprehensive list of the 10 wallets and in the order that I would get them, starting with number 10
0:45
Now, number 10 is the Exter Parliament. Now, while Extra is actually one of my favorite brands, the Parliament I never fully understood
0:53
It's a fantastic wallet. It has their card holder that I do really like
0:57
It does display up to six cards at the top of the card holder just with a push of a button
1:02
And that is really nice and one of my favorite card holders out there. However, the thing that I don't super like about it actually is the leather wallet that ramps around it
1:10
Unfortunately, it cuts back quite a bit on its card capacity. But on the other hand, it does feel really nice in the hands and it does feel really high quality
1:20
But again, another drawback being that the card holder is actually made of plastic
1:23
So it has its upsides and downsides. but I do really like extra and I think the card holder portion continues to be actually one of the best mechanisms for displaying your cards that really is on the market today
1:35
Number nine is the copper wallet from Axwell. I really do like this wallet. It follows a lot of the same design characteristics that people are used to with a ridge wallet
1:44
However, it utilizes removable copper plates rather than having plates that are screwed on like a ridge, you can actually remove these plates and swap them out for other colors
1:53
The nice thing about the copper wallet is, well, it is real copper
1:58
The plates themselves are completely real copper and not just like painted on or anything like that
2:04
And I think that is really cool. And it earns it a spot on this list. It is also easy to use just like a Ridge wallet
2:10
And it's worth a look at, especially since it's pretty good price considering the quality of materials
2:15
Number eight is the Groove Life wallet. Now, this is actually, I would say, my favorite wallet that I don't use
2:21
So it's a fantastic wallet. You push up on a plane and it displays up to six cards and on the face of the wallet
2:28
I have the go wallet portion which adds a kind of a leather attachment to it that has a cash strap as well as be able to kind of store up to one to two additional cards on the exterior of the wallet
2:38
I had some issues with putting cards in the face of the wallet because it's just really hard to access those cards
2:43
Outside of that it works really well. The only major reason why this one is not higher up on the list is card capacity You can only fit six cards in the card holder itself and maybe one on the outside which means you can really only fit about seven cards in this wallet
2:58
And honestly, I generally keep more than that in my wallet, which means I don't really reach for this one all that often
3:04
However, if you are someone that doesn't keep more than seven cards on you
3:08
this might actually be the top of your list. It is a fantastic value. It is extremely high quality and really well thought out
3:15
I really do like this wallet and again, if you don't keep more than seven cards, you might
3:20
want to take a serious look at this one. Now my number seven on this list is the Aviator Wallet
3:25
This is a smaller brand on the market today, but they do make really high quality products
3:30
It was actually shipped over to me from Germany directly to me. They don't even have a distribution center here in the USA, and so it was shipped from Germany
3:37
which was a cool experience and not something you get very often when you order something online
3:42
Now some cool features is it does come with a built-in coin tray
3:45
which I did like. I used those for guitar picks because I think it's a little loud keeping coins in there
3:50
They kind of rattle around, which most of those coin trays do. And when you order the wallet
3:55
you can actually choose how many cards you want to have in it, which means if you have very
3:59
little, you can choose, I think even one to two cards only. If you keep up to 20 cards
4:03
you can select that. So they're making sure that you don't have too big of a wallet if you
4:07
don't carry that many cards and not too little of a wallet if you carry more cards, which is
4:11
I think, really cool. And then on the exterior, you do have a cash strap that kind of
4:15
has a little clip base built onto it that is made of carbon fiber
4:19
As for how you get the cards out, it's kind of like a ridge wallet in that it compiles it between two different plates
4:25
but you remove the cards out of the vertical portion of the wallet rather than horizontal
4:29
which I thought was interesting and utilize a cash strapped to pull the cards out
4:33
It's a unique way of doing it of a similar wallet to what we're used to, but just a little bit different way
4:38
Number six is the Axwell aluminum wallet. Now I have already had an Axwell on this list, and that was the copper one
4:45
However, this is what I would call the 2.0 of the aluminum. I actually had the previous version of this one that they had sent out to me
4:52
And I didn't super like it because I felt like the magnets that keep the plates on the wallet
4:57
were not quite strong enough. And I was a little bit worried in my cash might fall off from the cash strap and that kind of stuff
5:03
And it kept me from really recommending that wallet. However, they came out with a new version
5:08
They don't call it the 2.0, but I'm going to call it the 2.0 that has 50% stronger magnets
5:13
And the first time I picked it up, I was super impressed and literally said, wow, because it is that much better
5:20
Of course, it comes in a bunch of new colors as well. And it maintains that you can remove the plates
5:25
You can swap out your cash strap and money clip, of which both do come in the package
5:29
And then it retains also that two plate and kind of an elastic strap style design
5:34
Works really well and you used to from big names like Ridge Wallet Number five is the aluminum extra card holder This was actually going to be at the top of my list Extra had sent me out the carbon fiber which we talk about in a moment
5:48
And then later on sent me the aluminum version. I actually liked the feel of the aluminum extra wallet
5:53
better than the carbon fiber. However, over time, I did find that nix and scratches
5:57
kind of happened in the paint, and it started to not look quite as nice as when I first bought it
6:02
So it is a little bit lower on this list. However, it is an amazing card holder
6:06
It feels nice, it's really, really high quality. You can fit up to six cards in the cardholder portion
6:12
which when you push the little eject button, they come in display out in front of you really, really well and super easily
6:18
I have not had any form of reliability issues on that form of the wallet
6:22
And then, of course, you can fit up to six to eight more cards behind the expansion plate on the exterior that is held on by a cash strap
6:30
that you then can put cash on the other side of the wallet. I also really like the design of these extra card holders and definitely recommend them
6:38
Number four on this list is the Belroy Card Sleeve. This is my actually only full leather wallet on this list and I really did like this one
6:47
I spent a lot of time with this one. It was kind of my go-to wallet for a really long time
6:51
It has a great card capacity and can hold up to eight cards reliably
6:55
And then of course you have a cash pouch on the exterior which does work really well and then it actually does have an easy access card slice
7:03
lot on the other side of the wallet that I kept my most used card in
7:07
Now, the thing I like the best about it is it's compact, but also being fully leather
7:11
it actually felt the best in my pocket, which I really did like
7:15
It felt so much better than most of the other metal wallets on this list. However, the only reason it's not at the top of my list, which it actually used to be
7:22
is because at some point I put more cards and cash in it than I normally do, and it stretched
7:28
the wallet out. So when I went back to having less cards and cash in my wallet a couple of things
7:33
weeks later. It unfortunately had stretched out and is no longer quite the same feel as it used to be
7:39
so it's moved a little bit lower on my list. Number five is the Ridge Aluminum Wallet. So this is the
7:45
base model of the Ridge Wallet lineup. I have the white version. This one was actually gifted to me
7:49
by my wife, not by the brand. It is also the wallet that I've spent the most time with. I spent
7:53
over a year with this wallet as my daily driver, and it's still in really, really good condition
7:59
It was also the wallet that introduced me to minimalist wallets. It's what got
8:03
me away from using something like a bifold or one of the other front pocket wallets
8:07
And this is also the wallet that people are most familiar with. You of course can hold up to 12 cards on the interior of the wallet, which you just basically
8:15
push in a little notch and you're able to fan out the cards from there
8:18
It does have a cash strap on it. You can choose a money clip at purchase if you wanted to, but it doesn't come with both in
8:25
the package or at least it didn when I got the wallet This is a really high quality wallet and there a good reason why it is one of the biggest names in the industry because it is really high quality It may be expensive I am actually convinced it is well worth the price
8:37
Number two is actually another Ridge wallet. This time it is their carbon fiber option. Now this one's about 50% more than their aluminum wallet and it does everything
8:47
exactly the same with the only difference being that it has a carbon fiber plate instead of an aluminum plate on it
8:53
Now it is true carbon fiber and I have the Aurora version basically kind of gives you
8:57
it a little bit of a green kind of flake to it. And I think it looks really, really nice
9:01
Now it is true carbon fiber. When you tap on it, it does sound like carbon fiber. And it looks
9:06
really cool. I will say it does exactly the same thing as aluminum. So if you are on a budget
9:12
and don't want to spend the extra 50% of its cash price, I'd go with the aluminum. However
9:17
I personally really do like the carbon fiber. And if you're somebody that is into that
9:21
it's well worth its price. And then now we are to the number one choice. And before we get
9:27
To get to that, if you guys could subscribe, it really helped me out
9:31
And by the way, for each of these wallets, I do have links down in the description and the top comment
9:36
If you guys wanted to get them for yourself, they are paid links, and if you guys decide to purchase it from where I sent you
9:41
I get a commission and it helps me out with making videos like this. Which brings us to number one, and that is the extra carbon fiber card holder
9:51
Now, this was one of my original wallets that they had gifted me
9:54
I use this thing extensively and I really, really do like it
10:00
It is a very compact wallet. It's not as compact as a Ridge wallet
10:04
but you don't really feel the difference in your pocket, but what you do feel is the easy access to the cards
10:09
It does a much better job at fanning cards out in front of you, easier access to the cards
10:13
It is really, really nice. And then the expansion plate, being able to hold so many cards
10:18
I really don't have to worry about how many cards I'm keeping in my wallet at any point in time because I know it can handle it
10:24
And I really did like that. Now, as for price, it's actually less expensive than the Ridge's version of the carbon fiber
10:30
wallet, which I like that as well. And the only major downside that I saw when I was using this wallet is once you start
10:37
kind of using the wallet, it does kind of have a little bit of wear and tear. It gets its little scratches
10:42
And it kind of makes the forged carbon fiber almost kind of feel like fingerprints
10:47
I have had people comment thinking there were fingerprints on the wallet. And because of that, I would probably recommend you getting the weaved carbon
10:54
fiber version because I think that one people kind of realize it's carbon fiber and not just
10:59
fingerprints. But that is my favorite minimalist wallet as of right now. Now if you're watching
11:06
this video quite a ways out, I do have a link down in the description and that's going to be
11:10
the article version of this, which is my top 10 minimalist wallets. And as I get more wallets, which I literally
11:15
have one in transit right now, I will be adjusting that article as I go. And then of course
11:20
create new versions of this video probably every year
#Consumer Resources
#Product Reviews & Price Comparisons
#Reference
#Shopping