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One nice thing about running a somewhat popular blog is that companies occasionally send you free stuff to review!

Last year, I wrote an article discussing wallet alternatives for the minimalist.  The nice people over at Rogue Wallet saw this article and I guess they didn’t want to be left out!

They sent me a couple samples of their patent-pending Rogue Wallet for me to try out, the black leather Original Rogue Wallet as well as the Rogue Red Line Wallet.  I used the red line wallet for about a week and felt informed enough to give a detailed review of their wallet.

Design
Now first of all, the Rogue Wallet is a bi-fold wallet (meaning it folds in half) unlike most of the minimalist wallets I described in my article.  Regardless, it is still thin: well under a centimeter thick.

The most unique (and obvious) feature of the Rogue Wallet is its contoured shape.  This patent-pending shape is designed to sit comfortably in your front pocket because someone finally realized that most pockets aren’t rectangular shaped!  Given this fact, this is indeed a front pocket wallet and would look funny when used in a back pocket.  You shouldn’t put your wallet in your back pocket anyway due to health concerns and pickpockets.

The Red Line wallet that I used has a distinctive line going across the entire outside of the wallet.  I love this little accent but it is simply for show and serves no practical purpose.  It matches my Thinkpad laptop very well though!

Canadian-friendly!
I’m not sure why it’s so hard to find Canadian friendly wallets as there are so many of us!  Our currency bills are slightly taller than their American counterparts so bills stick out unsightly on a lot of wallets, but not the Rogue wallet!  It seems like the designers kept other countries in mind when deciding on the height of the wallet, and for that, I thank them!

How much can it hold
Superficially, it has a bill compartment, 3 card slots and 1 transparent ID window.  Practically though, it can comfortably hold about 8 cards and a wad of bills.  Of course, the more you put in, the thicker it gets so it is still advisable to only hold your essentials to keep the size down.

Comfort
Trying this wallet in the front pocket of my pants that have rounded pockets, it does indeed work as advertised!  It fits naturally and comfortably.  Trying it on my other pair of pants that for some reason have rectangular pockets, you can see a little corner jutting out of my pants… of course, I then simply flipped it around and put it straight edge down.  Comfort problem solved!

As for the size of the wallet, the rounded contours do not provide any sort of extra storage space, in fact they are just attached to the ends of the wallet so it does make the footprint of the wallet larger than normal.  As for the thickness, the Rogue Wallet is thinner than a lot of wallets I’ve tried, but not as thin as the minimalist wallets I reviewed in my other article.  Then again, those wallets can’t hold as much.

Conclusion
The Rogue Wallet is a novel idea and implemented very well.  It is well made and can potentially replace your current wallet.  I wouldn’t say it is a true minimalist wallet though but it comes close, especially if you cannot bring yourself to hold less than 4 cards at a time.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 at 10:51 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.