Ready to take on coin carry the Bellroy Coin Wallet packs in a lot of features, but in so doing makes it more of a thick, back pocket wallet. Are we ready for this?
(if you want to see all the features and how many cards and cash it can hold, please watch the video)
We’ve got the Bellroy Coin Wallet for review today. Newly released, Bellroy is always taking their analytical data and creating new versions of wallets that hopefully hit a particular demographic and this is an example of that.
This is very typical Bellroy construction, this is the marine blue color. A lot of interesting things are going on in this wallet. On the exterior we have no appreciable features, however, we do have a really nice 3D logo of the Bellroy owl logo.
If we move to the interior, we see on the left-hand side we have three card slots, and I think the two at the top are more slits than actually separated card slots. Behind the card slots in the front there is another slot with a leather pull strap for cards used less often.
On the right-hand side, we don’t have a card slot in the rear due to the area being completely occupied by the coin pouch. If we open the coin pouch up, we can see that we have a nice and deep area for coins. The bottom of the magnetic closure is rigid so even if the flap is open, coins are not likely to fall out. Thus, to get coins out you have to pinch the slot.
If we move into the billfold area, right towards the front, we have a small card pocket. And on the opposite side, we have another card slot with a flap that covers it. And of course the interior is where cash is stored.
I was able to put seven cards in the wallet. I utilized every slot and I put two right back here into the pull strap area. I also successfully placed five slips of cash in the billfold space and six coins in the pouch. Of note is that all currencies tested work fine in the billfold pocket including US Dollars, Euros, including the 100 Euro note and Yen. Eight plus cards is what Bellroy indicates as maximum carry. Once measured it was 1” in thickness, which is substantial and is not a minimalist wallet.
From a quality perspective it is designed in Australia and made in India, The interior of this wallet is what’s really interesting. Unlike other wallets, this wallet is lined with 100% recycled PET plastic bottles. The leather is from environmentally certified vendors and for all Bellroy products, is very slim-cut to accommodate all the features you see in Bellroy products. Bellroy products have many features compared to others, and because of that, the cut of the leather needs to be thinner.
Let’s take a quick look at the pull strap. Underneath the strap itself is a guide channel and it actually falls right back into the liner. The pull strap is leather and it does have a very secure foundation on the back of this wallet. But the cut guide channel the strap runs through might become problematic because it actually is beginning to tear. I pulled on it just a little bit and began to tear easily. Thus the thinness of the leather could be detrimental to the wallet at this point, as it didn’t take much pressure to start the tear.
And from a usability perspective, it surprises some in the community that we still have wallets that can carry coins. But if you have lived or have traveled outside of the United States, you know that coins are still used very heavily, everyday, all the time.
As we look at the coin pouch the strength of this magnet clap is impressive because it’s strong just enough to keep it down without being so too strong that it’s hard to open, or so weak that it just opens up on its own. In order to extract coins you need to pinch the top and bottom of the lower pouch, which forces the mouth open. At that point you turn the wallet upside down to slide the coins out. But here’s a problem, often we’ll see that the coins get caught up on lip of the flap, forcing you to really turn the wallet up on end to get all coins to fall out.
Measurements on the wallet is 4 x 3.75 x .48”, and it weighs 61 grams. They have a three-year warranty on their products for defects and materials, and are a Certified B Corporation. They meet high standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency in what they do, and legal accountability. They really try to balance profits and purpose. They’re based in Australia, as we know, and they’ve been founded since 2010.
For the final score, for quality a 4, price a 3, features a 3, usability a 3, and perception a 4. That gives us a final score of 3.5 out of 5.
A traditional design, with impressive coin storage. The Coin Wallet gives you equal access to cards, bills and coins, with a trim professional look.
