I picked up a neat little wallet/cc holder this weekend. I'd never seen one before and it was only $5.00. It reminds me of the Jimi wallet a little. They are made by a company called Umbra. I found a pic of the wallet on their website. Click the pic to see a description of the wallet.
It is made of aluminum with molded plastic caps on the end that are attached by an elastic cord on each side. To open it, you simply grasp the aluminum middle and gently pull the wide plastic cap to stretch the elastic band to remove the cap from the case. The cap does not come completely off and you must rotate it to the side to put items in the wallet. This is easily accomplished with one hand. The elastic cord that holds the cap on is wrapped through the cap and runs down two grooves on either side of the wallet and around the bottom end to hold the wallet together. To close the cap, you can guide it into place or simply release the cap and the elastic cord will quickly pull it back into place.
The length of the wallet measures approximately 109 mm and contains approximately 96 mm of storage capacity.
The width of the wallet measures approximately 69 mm and contains approximately 54 mm of storage capacity.
The depth of the wallet measures approximately 14 mm and contains approximately 8 mm of storage capacity.
Total wallet size: L x W x D = 109 x 69 x 14 mm = 105,294 cubic mm
Total volume available to use: 96 x 54 x 8 mm = 41,472 cubic mm
I tested the wallet to see how many CCs and other misc. cards it would hold. So far, I have been able to fit about eight CCs in the case. Eight cards should fit comfortably but you could probably fit nine if you needed to. I also tried inserting a Swisscard into the wallet and it fit nicely. I was able to add 4 credit cards to the wallet easily once the Swisscard was inserted. One more card may fit but it would definitely be tight.
The wallet itself is not wide enough to insert bills into it folded simply in half. You must fold the bills at least twice to insert them into the wallet which does limit the capacity somewhat. I was able to insert 16 double-folded bills into the wallet. It was a tight fit and anymore than this amount would probably not fit at all. I noticed also that I had to leave the bills exposed a bit at the top above the aluminum body so I could pull them back out. The cap fit nicely over the exposed edges of the bills so there was no problem here. But, if the bills somehow got lodged in the aluminum body I am sure it would be difficult to remove them.
The website mentions that the wallet will hold keys also. I did not think of this at first but it could prove useful to stash a spare key. I also thought about spare change. This made me wonder how strong the elastic band was to hold in heavy items such as keys or change. It held in eight CCs easily since these weigh very little. I only had eight quarters in my pocket so I inserted them in the wallet. I pointed the cap used for opening down and held the wallet by the aluminum body. Nothing happened. The cap stayed in place. It held eight quarters easily. I had no other change on me so I decided to try my Swiss-Tech Utili-Key. I put it in along with the eight quarters. The cap stayed in place. Next, I decided to add my Swiss-Tech Micro-Plus pliers. I put these in along with the eight quarters and the Utili-Key but the cap stayed in place. This made the wallet somewhat heavy so I decided to stop here. According to Swiss-Tech's website, the Utili-Key weighs in at 0.5 oz. and the Micro-Plus weighs in at 1.6 oz. Combined with the weight of eight quarters ((5.67 grams = .2 oz. x 8 = 1.6 oz.) Cornell) the total weight was 3.7 ounces. This means that the elastic band would hold approximately 19 (18.5) quarters, 46 (46.25) dimes, 21 (20.56) nickels, or 34 (33.64) pennies or a combination of these up to at least 3.7 ounces. I believe it would hold more than this but it did make the wallet feel quite heavy and I'm not sure how heavier I would like it to be.
Overall, I think this wallet is well worth its price. At $5.00 it's a steal. While not necessarily great for carrying bills, it would work very well for carrying CCs, business cards, a Swisscard, or a combination of these. It could also hold a spare key or two or some change if desired. I myself would rather use it as a CC holder. If this wallet was paired with a money clip it would be a great combination.
It is made of aluminum with molded plastic caps on the end that are attached by an elastic cord on each side. To open it, you simply grasp the aluminum middle and gently pull the wide plastic cap to stretch the elastic band to remove the cap from the case. The cap does not come completely off and you must rotate it to the side to put items in the wallet. This is easily accomplished with one hand. The elastic cord that holds the cap on is wrapped through the cap and runs down two grooves on either side of the wallet and around the bottom end to hold the wallet together. To close the cap, you can guide it into place or simply release the cap and the elastic cord will quickly pull it back into place.
The length of the wallet measures approximately 109 mm and contains approximately 96 mm of storage capacity.
The width of the wallet measures approximately 69 mm and contains approximately 54 mm of storage capacity.
The depth of the wallet measures approximately 14 mm and contains approximately 8 mm of storage capacity.
Total wallet size: L x W x D = 109 x 69 x 14 mm = 105,294 cubic mm
Total volume available to use: 96 x 54 x 8 mm = 41,472 cubic mm
I tested the wallet to see how many CCs and other misc. cards it would hold. So far, I have been able to fit about eight CCs in the case. Eight cards should fit comfortably but you could probably fit nine if you needed to. I also tried inserting a Swisscard into the wallet and it fit nicely. I was able to add 4 credit cards to the wallet easily once the Swisscard was inserted. One more card may fit but it would definitely be tight.
The wallet itself is not wide enough to insert bills into it folded simply in half. You must fold the bills at least twice to insert them into the wallet which does limit the capacity somewhat. I was able to insert 16 double-folded bills into the wallet. It was a tight fit and anymore than this amount would probably not fit at all. I noticed also that I had to leave the bills exposed a bit at the top above the aluminum body so I could pull them back out. The cap fit nicely over the exposed edges of the bills so there was no problem here. But, if the bills somehow got lodged in the aluminum body I am sure it would be difficult to remove them.
The website mentions that the wallet will hold keys also. I did not think of this at first but it could prove useful to stash a spare key. I also thought about spare change. This made me wonder how strong the elastic band was to hold in heavy items such as keys or change. It held in eight CCs easily since these weigh very little. I only had eight quarters in my pocket so I inserted them in the wallet. I pointed the cap used for opening down and held the wallet by the aluminum body. Nothing happened. The cap stayed in place. It held eight quarters easily. I had no other change on me so I decided to try my Swiss-Tech Utili-Key. I put it in along with the eight quarters. The cap stayed in place. Next, I decided to add my Swiss-Tech Micro-Plus pliers. I put these in along with the eight quarters and the Utili-Key but the cap stayed in place. This made the wallet somewhat heavy so I decided to stop here. According to Swiss-Tech's website, the Utili-Key weighs in at 0.5 oz. and the Micro-Plus weighs in at 1.6 oz. Combined with the weight of eight quarters ((5.67 grams = .2 oz. x 8 = 1.6 oz.) Cornell) the total weight was 3.7 ounces. This means that the elastic band would hold approximately 19 (18.5) quarters, 46 (46.25) dimes, 21 (20.56) nickels, or 34 (33.64) pennies or a combination of these up to at least 3.7 ounces. I believe it would hold more than this but it did make the wallet feel quite heavy and I'm not sure how heavier I would like it to be.
Overall, I think this wallet is well worth its price. At $5.00 it's a steal. While not necessarily great for carrying bills, it would work very well for carrying CCs, business cards, a Swisscard, or a combination of these. It could also hold a spare key or two or some change if desired. I myself would rather use it as a CC holder. If this wallet was paired with a money clip it would be a great combination.
). I do have a "Jimi" case now, which I like. Very nice little case. These were the type of cases I was looking for a few years ago, when I needed a new wallet. 