The Ed Charly Classic slim wallet provides a coin pouch along with convenient card and cash storage to meet your everyday carry needs. Capable, the wallet is a little on the expensive side, but is built well enough to last.
(if you want to see all the features and how many cards and cash it can hold, please watch the video)
Following the same line, like many other wallet makers before them, Ed Charly did not like what they saw in the market, so they created a Kickstarter.
I have had this wallet for over 18 months in my inventory, but I just was not excited about it. As we review it, we will be finding out if the Ed Charly Classic Wallet impresses us. We are reviewing the black version of the Ed Classic, but it comes in a brown color as well.
From a feature perspective, it has three card slots in the front with one of them being a quick access card thumb push. When we flip it over, we can see a coin pouch that has a snap closure, it is gusseted a bit so it can take a little bit more coins than you would expect. Furthermore, it has a pass-through for cash folded once, put it in and you can access it from both sides. They do have a version where the bottom is closed, so it is only accessed from the top.
This wallet measures 4.1 x 3.2 x 0.4″ and weighs 37 grams, equivalent to 1.3 ounces. It has good features and a good layout, but how well does it work with the cards, cash, and coins?
For the insertion test, I got five cards, nine slips of cash, and four coins. With only coins, it works fine, but as with all coins, it begins to build up pretty quickly. Reasonable card carry is probably five and minimalist is three cards. However, the company recommends five-plus cards and 10 plus bills. Still, because of the cards and coins, the pass-through is not going to cause the cash to fall out. It creates a pressure that requires effort to get to, but once you do, you have access to it and there are no issues there. Moreover, it works nicely in either the front or the back pocket.
This wallet is designed and made in Singapore and China, respectively. This one is made from a top-grain Saffiano leather, which is resistant to scratches, stains, and water. The company mentions that it uses genuine top and full-grain leather verbiage interchangeably across its website, which does not really demonstrate how they particularly know what they are building by way of the materials. It does have a lot of lining material. Taking the coins out is not so smooth, because they catch in, which is not very good because you have to really get in and you cannot just unload them all into your palm if you want. In addition, they used glue, you can hear the crunchy sound because it is glued over. Besides, there is lining in here and there is lining throughout this particular wallet. The backing is lining and the leather is just leather toppers, it does not go all the way down. That said, it makes it very easy to get cards in and out, because of this nylon, they slide in nicely, and come out quickly. The nylon, of course, has been added to give this wallet a very slim profile since leather tends to make things thicker when it adds upon itself. This lining is RFID. Any lining used these days in any wallet is generally RFID. It is machine sewn, which is not a bad thing, but it does demonstrate reinforcement in all the particular areas, especially on the corners. I wish there was a little more with the different card slots, but it is still better than what you would normally see in any other type of wallet constructed in this way.
Usability is easy enough. The card slots are very accessible and you can easily get two cards in each slot, which is, in large part, due to the lining, but also because of the way it is constructed and the tolerances in the cut of this leather. If you carry coins or other items like keys, the pouch is a very nice option, and for coins of course.
Coins? Got any spare coins?
Coins are all over the world. So any wallet that can handle coins is a nice option. And if you would rather have this without a coin pouch, take a look at the Ed Contemporary, which focuses only on cards and cash. Overall, this is a good, low-end wallet with good usability. So if you are looking for a slim wallet, the construction of this wallet enhances that offering for you. In the end, there is nothing really impressive about this wallet that stands out to me.
The final score of the Ed Charly Classic Wallet is three for quality, it is not bad but not great either; price scores a two because it is a bit expensive for what you get and I think this should be in the 30 to $40 range at the highest; features score a four, anytime a wallet can carry coins does get a leg up; usability scores a four as well, everything is easily accessible, nothing is fiddly and you have quick access to everything; perception scores a three because the company is a well-functioning marketing machine, if I may say. That gets this wallet a final score of 3.2 out of 5.
Unlike other wallets, our quick access card slot design allows you to easily access your most frequently used card with a quick slide.
