NERO wallet, innovative design, but with some weak points

We have the highly-requested NERO wallet. It’s made in Romania out of a unique combination of leather and elastic.

This wallet came wrapped in tissue paper in a shipping box. I ordered the orange color, but you can choose from eight other color options. It also comes in both an RFID and non-RFID version. I’m sure you can guess that I went for the non-RFID option, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. This model is personalizable up to nine characters, which they’ll stamp on the leather for you. . The elastic component makes up the middle of the wallet and the exterior is made of leather. And there are five different slots included. Let’s take a closer look and see just how it comes together. The leather wraps around the outside here and the elastic is fitted inside the leather, with a Sicily slot that comes down from the top. It’s quite a clever design and it feels good in the hand. As an added bonus, it even smells alright!

There are many different ways to insert cards, cash, and coins. Let’s get into the feature view of the NERO wallet to find out more. We start with this interior slot, which can hold coins, cash, and cards. This tight space here is good for coins because they will be locked in place at the bottom of this little sleeve, which you can pinch to access your coins pretty easily. It’s a great option if you like to carry coins. From there, we have two other interior vertical slots.

You don’t really have four because you can use one or the other, on the top and bottom of the elastic. The elastic gives plenty of flexibility, while the leather provides a robust capacity. It’s a neat design that I quite like. And that’s our quick review of the features of the NERO wallet. Now onto the card and cash insertion test. It looks like you could reasonably carry six cards, the company claims a capacity of up to 15 cards. Now in my mind, that’s only possible if you don’t carry cash or coins, as you’re really stuffing it to get that many cards in. Especially considering we only have six cards in here currently. Two on the top, two on the bottom, and another two here. We also have cash, but the factor that really determines the ultimate capacity is whether you use coins, which makes the wallet bulge out. And sure, you could say, “Well it’s because they’re all stacked on top of each other.” Okay, let’s even them out a bit, and yes, that helps slightly — but then you start getting coins closer to the top, increasing the possibility of falling out.

Now, to get the coins out of here, you can pinch it a little, but it’s hard because you have cards on all sides. You’ll have to dig to get your coins out of here. So while coins are possible, I don’t know if they’re really that practical with this wallet. As for cash, it’s not a problem. You have to fold it in thirds or fourths to make it fit, but it does stay put. And there’s not a lot coming out of here. The elastic really is strong. And of course, the tension created by the cards keeps everything together.Now let’s look at how it’s put together. It’s a single piece of long-cut leather that’s folded over. I’ll take some of these pieces out here to show you how the leather comes together. It’s a wrap of leather on the outside, but then it comes together in the interior. And of course, you’ve got the pinchy function to get coins out. When you have cards stored in there as well, it gets a little difficult. So let’s pull out the elastic here. And again, you have a long piece of leather that comes around here. The elastic comes down from the top where it’s folded onto the inside of the leather and there’s this pocket for the elastic. And if we check how it comes together in the interior of the leather, you can see that it’s glued right here. You can see that seam.

And that seam is the same on both sides, where the leather has come together. That’s where they’ve used some glue. If you start pulling away at this a little bit, you can see that glue has been used. I wish it were just sewn together. You could do a stitch across just the two pieces here, but since it’s simply being kept flat, it’s not getting bowed. That should probably work okay; it’s not a bad design. The elastic is sewn on each side to keep it attached, which keeps that little pocket going. If I could deconstruct the design to see how the glue component works, again I might suggest sewing there if possible, because heat has a way of breaking down glue over time.

From a usability perspective, accessing cards is easy once you understand how to attack each area. So from the top, you can pinch.

You have additional card storage, a lot of space for such a small footprint. Now you’re thinking I have to dig a lot to get cards out of the side of this. Well, it really is easier than you think. If we put two cards on the top side and then add two more cards, you can see the bottom side of the elastic here. You don’t have to dig to get your fingers inside. It’s a matter of simply pushing from one side and out they come; you want the other cards, push from the other side and get the cards out that way.

It’s a simple exercise and there are quick ways to use any wallet. And that’s just one of the nice tricks to access the cards on the side. Be aware that if you put a lot of coins or things like keys in the elastic piece in the middle here, it will make your cards bend just like that. Honestly, I see this as a great wallet for cash and primarily cards. It’s a little limited when it comes to coins and other items. Now with this being a non-RFID, I could use the side tabs for tap payment. I have two cards I can use for tap payment. I think that’s a nice feature.

From a measurement perspective, it’s 3.55 by 2.36 by 0.47″. And it weighs 34 grams. Besides the community referral (thank you all very much!), what attracted me to this wallet is the clever design. It really demonstrates some great thinking. Minimalist wallets are everywhere, but like all things, it comes down to the aesthetics, features and usability. And if this looks interesting to you, it’s a great price for a fun little wallet. So now let’s get into the final score. For quality — a 4; price — a 4; features — a 4; usability — a 3; and perception — a 3. That gives us a final score of 3.6 out of 5. Thank you for joining us. I gave it a higher score on features because of the clever design and all that you can fit in here. It’s innovative thinking. I love originality when it comes to wallets.