As we move towards to digital payment, the way we carry our money/cards has also evolved. We carry less cash and coins nowadays. With this latest trend, the design of modern wallets has transformed from the traditional bifold leather wallets to a more minimalist wallet made from metal.
After much online shopping, I came across Dango Products and decided to try one of their metal wallets. Most of their wallets design are inspired by the open identification badge and IDs.
Dango ship their products with Fedex and shipment was fast. It arrived in bubble wrapped envelope within 4 days from United States to Malaysia.
This is what comes with the package; a product catalogue, container and the A10 chassis clip (sold separately).
Inside of the container is the A10 Adapt Wallet chassis (USD79), an instruction sheet and a paracord lanyard. The chassis come in crimson red, champagne gold, slate grey, satin silver and jet black. I opt for champagne gold.
The A10 wallet chasis is made of machined 6061 aerospace grade aluminum and anodized. The A10 is equipped with Dango' unique patent quick release rail mechanism on both sides of the wallet that allow easy access to cards.
The chassis is lightweight (2.3oz) with dimensions of 104mm (length) x 68mm (width) x 13mm (thick) and is made fully in the USA.
On the front side is a single card (not RFID protected), vertical oriented cavity meant for displaying identification, badge and any cards that needs scanning.
On one side of the chassis is a horizontal cavity holding up to 4 cards that us protected by a removable aluminum RFID plate.
The A10 Adapt Wallet chassis on its own is capable to hold a maximum of 5 cards in total; 4 cards (including embossed cards) on the back and 1 card on the front.
For a new chassis unit, the rail will be a tight fit where I notice some card wear in way of the edges which come in contact with the metal rail. The problem will go away after a few uses and card slides.
When I draw out a card from the lowest layer (the one closest to the back plate), the card is unable to be inserted back to the original position. It will have to be inserted in between the other cards.
After repetitive cards sliding over the time will cause minor displacement of the edge of the rail which will keep the cards in the rail. With a rough shake, the card will be dislodged from the rail.
This part of the rail can be adjusted by using a screwdriver to nudge it inward. This will displaced the edge of the rail inward and keep the card firmly in the rail.
When I gripped the chassis in such way, the surface of my palm is actually rubbing the card and this could cause card wear in the long run.
We still need to carry some cash with us for emergency use or in case some vendors still did not accept any digital payment. Underneath the front card slot is some gap to keep some cash. With the notes folded twice, I could easily fit 3 notes into it.
The A10 Chassis Clip (sold separately for USD 15) can be easily installed with a single screw (2 stainless steel screws and Allen key come together with the clip) to hold extra items like cards and notes. With the clip attached, the total thickness will be about 20mm.The clip can be use to attach the chassis to a belt or pocket.
Neck lanyard can also be fitted to the chassis and this would make a cool ID display.
For size comparison, I had put the A10 chassis sided by side with the conventional bifold wallet. The A10 chassis is smaller and thinner compared to an empty bifold wallet.
With the clip attached, the thickness is now about the same as the empty bifold wallet.
To increase the card carrying capacity of the wallet, additional accessories such as the A10 pull pocket adapter (USD 35), A10 single pocket adapter (USD 25), A10 bifold pocket adapter (USD 35) and capsule slide (USD 49) can be purchased separately. This could easily make the whole set cost more than USD 100.
1 comment:
Digital is convenient but the thing that concern most people are privacy issues and total control by banks and government.
In autocratic countries like China and Russia or like recent events at Myanmar
whoever has power can easily turn off their opponents/critics' digital money.
So in future it will be harder for any opposition political parties to gain strength as any incumbent governments can easily monitor their opponents' funds and activities with digital tracking.
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