It's Tom from Pack Hacker where we review the best gear for travel, for you.
And in this video we're going to be taking a look at the Trayvax Contour
Wallet, the newest and slickest offering from Trayvax. In addition to that these
guys hold the award for the most intense wallet promo videos out there.
[Trayvax promo]
Let's check it out.
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In addition to the Contour, Trayvax also sent us the Axis Wallet which is a bit
of an earlier iteration on this idea. They also sent over the Element, which is
going to be a bit of a different look. It's gonna have a little bit more
leather on it. But this review is all about the Contour Wallet, so let's check it out.
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We love the way the Contour looks. This machined CNC metal border that you see
in the front here is solid, and it leaves you a nice little window if you have an
ID inside. And if we contrast that with the leather on the backside it creates a
nice complimentary look. Now we wouldn't normally qualify a 'wallet' as 'gear' but
the durability of this thing and the way that it feels when you're holding on to
it, definitely it seems like that's the correct word to use here. So coming with
all that durability this thing is going to be 2.55 ounces in weight. A little
bit heavier than other wallets, but it's metal and it's solid. When asking about
20 other people what they thought of the aesthetic of this wallet, some liked it,
others didn't. But that's to be expected. Oh, and one last little detail that makes
this wallet great - there's a quote on the inside of it that says 'earn your story'.
And I think this is pretty great for people that would be using this wallet,
maybe more of an adventurous type or somebody that needs this extra
durability. So [snaps fingers] it's fitting there.
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So to start off, this was created by an actual human in the USA. Thank you so
much Tristan, for making my wallet for me. That's great. When initially unboxing
this thing we thought this hex wrench setup here would be a little bit
complicated. And it was a bit complicated to understand at first, but once we have
everything set, you don't really have to change it again so that's only kind of
a one-time deal. Most of us carry a fixed number of cards, so once you get these
hex wrenches set based on how wide you want the wallet to be, based on how many
cards you have, you're gonna be all set. This is actually a great idea when you
compare this to other leather wallets that stretch out, and then maybe you have
cards slide in and out a little bit easier on these things. If you do try to
take some cards or cash out it doesn't create as tight of a fit. So with this
thing it's fully adjustable. It's a bit of a modular approach here. It kind of
holds your cards all together in a very slick way. You can choose what leather
strap you want to have with this thing. The original strap holds eight cards and
ten bills. And the newer, larger strap holds thirteen cards and ten bills. So
it's up to you what you want to go with. We found that some cards can be a little
bit thicker and even with the smaller, original strap we weren't able to fit
eight of every card that we have in there. So just recommend that you get the
larger strap if you're kind of on the fence between you know, eight or seven or
something like that. Just get the larger one, it's gonna be easier to fit
everything in there. For those of us that travel a lot, we may not always have a
fixed number of cards in here. So you go to a hotel, you pick up a new key card.
You go to a new city, you pick up a new transit card. Right? A lot of that has to
be considered with this thing, so I would recommend keeping the strap a little bit
looser so you have that extra room for cards. Now things will slide around a
little bit more when it's not completely full, but things will never slide out
completely. The thing still buckles down in the front here, and you're gonna be
good to go.
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The operation of this wallet is pretty slick. You just fold down this fasten
strap in the front that's also adjustable, flick out to the card that
you need and pull it out. Now it's very slick once you get used to it and you
get used to the motion. One thing that we have found is that some cards in here
can stick together a little bit more than others. So if you have cards with
raised numbers they're gonna be a little bit easier to slide in and out. But if
you have a bunch of flat cards, those may stick together a little bit more and
provide a little bit more friction. So that'll be a little bit harder to deal
with. I've really learned to love this thing. You know that thing when you're up at a
counter at the grocery store, or any store buying something, and you're doing
that kind of wallet shuffle right? With this thing you just quick flip to the
card you want, pull it out, kind of use that as a space saver, toss it back in.
Boom you're done. No more sitting at the counter holding up the line. With the
bills you're gonna have to fold these up two times and they go in the flap behind
the wallet. Now you're always gonna have to take your full set of bills out and
you can't really look through them individually as you could with a bifold
wallet or a wallet of a different design. But that's not what this wallet is about.
And the benefit that this wallet does have is that you can fit any other types
of larger foreign currency in here as well. One of the things that you may run
into with a traditional (say US) wallet when you're abroad - so you go to
Singapore right? Their bills are massive there and those are gonna stick out the
top of the wallet for you, so you're gonna need to find some way to kind of
mitigate that regardless. For this, they're a little bit longer than the USD,
you just fold them up and slide them in there and they're gonna be fit and snug.
There are also two other 'features' on this wallet to note. See that's why
we call it gear; this wallet has 'features'. We have a stealthy looking bottle opener
right here that doesn't get in the way when it's not being used. And it's always
a hit at parties, or just if you need one in your Airbnb and they happen to not
have a bottle opener right? The other feature is this CNC-machined loop right
here on the metal. So super strong if you want to attach a carabiner to it, maybe to
like a lanyard that attaches to your pants or a chain. Something that adds
that next level of security without needing to wear an ugly money belt. You
could definitely go for that when you're traveling around in a foreign country or
you're in a more dicey area. Just don't use the carabiner to
attach this on the outside of your bag; you don't want to invite people to steal
all your money. If you put this wallet in your back pocket it's gonna feel like
you're sitting on metal. Because you are. You're sitting on a huge chunk of metal.
So I would definitely recommend putting this in your front pocket if you want to
roll it that way. Just maybe separate from your phone. This thing is metal, it's
heavy-duty. You know it can kind of move around. You don't want that scratching
your phone screen or you know, creating any cracks or any other damage like that.
One last thing to mention is that Trayvax offers a 65-year warranty. So you
can't go out and run this thing over with your truck, but they will cover any
manufacturing defects that happen. And this is a big core part of their brand.
So they're definitely into the durability of their products which is
great. So to wrap up - the pros of this wallet are that it's high quality and good
durability. The function of this wallet is useful without getting in the way. So
you have the bottle opener and the carabiner clip, as well as the nice
sliding mechanism. The cons of this wallet are that if you have a lot of
flat cards, it may be a little bit harder to move the cards in and out of the
wallet. Cards with raised numbers are gonna do better in here. And also, the
thing is kind of a pain to adjust. So if you plan on adjusting it just once and
keeping it like that, that's great. But if you go in here and you continue to
adjust it all the time, it can be a little bit time consuming and sort of
annoying to do. But, it all comes with the territory of the Trayvax Contour.
Thanks for taking a look at the Trayvax Contour Wallet. For more travel gear
reviews just like this one, head over to Pack Hacker.com. We'll see you in the next review.
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