Zipper wallets seem to be more expensive than regular wallets. Sure, I get that zippers increase cost due to the zipper and sewing, but 50% or more expensive? Maybe it’s because it’s a men’s leather zip wallet? The Mr Lentz leather zip wallet is one of those, well made, excellent materials, but expensive and I don’t know why.
(if you want to see all the features and how many cards and cash it can hold, please watch the video)
Mr. Lentz pocket wallet with zip cannot be any more descriptive than that. His products always come in Mr. Lentz’s little strap and always provide you some good stiff and shine, or spiff and shine. That is an old west natural recipe that he puts together himself, and the squeaking of the leather is great. I got this wallet in western brown but it also comes in a darker color, desert night dark. The interior of the wallet is nice and cool. I love Mr. Lentz because every wallet he makes is unique, and this one has a unique number stamped on it. This wallet also involves some rivets and looks pretty good.
Feature-wise, the wallet has nothing on the exterior other than the zipper access, of course, and once we unzip it, we get into the interior compartment, which is this main compartment area, where cash folded twice and additional cards can go. On the sides, we have two interior card slots that don’t go back all the way, instead, they are more of a strap, which is okay because they still provide organization for the cards on both sides. It measures 4.25 x 3 x 0.5 and weighs 59 grams or two ounces. It is very competent and I like how it opens beyond the half-moon, which makes it more usable. Maybe that somehow justifies the price.
I have inserted six cards and five slips of cash into this wallet. The company recommends eight-plus cards, depending on whether you use cash along with it or not. The five slips of cash used in the test were all short by way of height bills. I tried inserting a euro which revealed to be a little bit taller as it ended up being caught in the zip, so the tall currencies like the euro and yen will have to be folded twice but other notes can be folded only once and will fit fine, which is quite nice.
This is designed and made in the United States from a full-grain vegetable-tanned leather that Mr. Lentz uses his own dyes and conditioners on the leather to create. He does this himself and this is a single piece of leather on the exterior. It is a wrap from the first rivet over into the entire piece that then folds over and finishes up quite nicely. This is the first wallet where he has featured a YKK zipper, which is a great choice because of the quality we know about the performance that is also built into this type of wallet.
The rivets are brass and secure the leather together. Furthermore, if we look at the various layers on the back, we can see that we have a big leather chunk and we can see where that piece of leather fits. This is what provides the interior width necessary for the card and cash capacity.
The one thing that could have been a little better in this wallet is the end quality. There is no finish on it and it is just not level. A bit of trimming and a bit of burnishing would have been commendable. Otherwise, it looks just a wee bit sloppy. Despite that, it is very rugged and very functional. This wallet is priced at $134. Personalization includes stamped or branded options that come along with the serialized number, as mentioned, indicating the uniqueness of every wallet that you purchase from Mr. Lentz.
When I first purchased this wallet, it was $98 so it has gone up significantly. Well, is the wallet worth that much money? Coming back to the zipper, it is an interesting choice, it is an auto-lock version so if I zip this up and I try to force it open by just flaying it and having the zipper open, it will not do that. It is a lock zipper, which I think is great because, if you just want to grab something, and are fiddling with it, the zip is not going to just unzip all the time. You can really control how far you want it to come undone and whether you want it to open or not. It will not open if you are just going to try and force it open, that is something that I really like.
This is the Excella model that uses an antique brass element to color. The Excella is YKK’s highest grade metal zipper, and metal is the right choice here, but it does seem a bit sheepish for the type of wallet that this is. I mean, when you look at the little pole with the secondary piece, I believe a more robust pole might fit better, but regardless, I like that it has the auto-lock version and that it is a YKK.
This wallet, like all Mr. Lentz wallets, has a hundred-year warranty against defects. I love the simplicity of this wallet and the brand that has been established by the founder around it.
The final score of this pocket wallet with zip is 5 for quality, as it is excellent even though it has that end cap issue, but the materials are still fantastic as well as the construction. Price scores 1 because it is pushing new boundaries for price for this type of wallet. Features score a 3, usability scores a 4, since the half moon is the only way to ensure accessibility properly as a zip wallet, and perception scores a 4. That gives this wallet a final score of 36 out of 50.
The interior includes two separate card sleeves and a central area to store cash or even more cards.
