PunCube Mech Wallet Review
A Fidget Toy For a Wallet
Disclaimer: PunCube sent us a unit free of charge to review, but all thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are our own and were not discussed with the company prior to publishing.
Retail Price: $99.00
I’ve owned my share of Magsafe wallets that streamline what it means to carry payment methods in a growing mobile payment world. When I first switched over to these kinds of wallets, one of the requirements I needed was the ability to carry a few bills of cash. I no longer carry a single bill nor do I carry any physical change. I really only carry identification and cards now. Even the amount of cards I bring with me as an everyday carry has significantly reduced thanks to mobile wallet apps on my phone. So when PunCube sent us their Mech Wallet to review, I was intrigued and excited to see if this could be my new daily carry. While it’s a nifty and extremely satisfying to use wallet, it’s likely not a great holder for valuable cards and I’ll let you know why.
Choose Your Design
First off, the Mech Wallet has two variants that are made of different materials. The one I have is the Aluminum 6063 which as its namesake would suggest is made out of an aluminum metal. It’s a premium aerospace-grade metal at that with 0.02mm CNC precision. It definitely looks sleek with an industrial look to add to its charm. The other material choice you can buy the Mech Wallet in is a grade 4 titanium, which as you would guess is significantly more expensive than the aluminum version.
Anyway, back to the version I have– the Aluminum 6063 model has three additional styles you can make a choice between: Wasteland, Horizon, and Ripple. This is essentially just an option to choose the accent look of the wallet. I have the Wasteland style which is a series of slanted indented lines with a PunCube logo boxed in a small rectangle. It’s clean, and once again, industrial looking, which I do like very much. The Horizon style is just a plain clean slate of metal, while the Ripple model has lines that resemble a shell. They all look pretty good in my opinion. To further add decision making into the buyer’s hands, PunCube also lets you choose between four color options for the Wasteland style I have.
Fundamentally, the Mech Wallet doesn’t need or have a lot of unique specifications to it. After all, it is a wallet and there’s only a handful of things a wallet really needs to protect your sources of payment. One of the most important specifications wallets and bags utilize in the 21st century is RFID blocking and the Mech Wallet has this. It’s a true 100% RFID blocking that metal wallets block out nearly all signals. That means people can’t scan your pocket that houses this wallet and trigger your NFC or bluetooth components on your cards. With the rapid worldwide adoption of mobile payments as a standard, it’s safer to use a carrier that has reliable RFID blocking than not.
Great for Fidgeters
So how does the Mech Wallet feel when pushing cards out? That’s an interesting question to ask right? In many ways PunCube designed this particular version of wallet to function as a fidgeting toy just as much as it is a functioning wallet. They even market it as that on their website. From my understanding, depending on the style of Aluminum 6063 you choose, the mechanical action that pops the cards out will feel differently. I can’t speak for Horizon or Ripples as I haven’t used them myself, but the Wasteland mechanism is so damn satisfying to pop out. It uses a Pinball mechanical ratchet that smoothly pushes out up to 6 flat cards stored inside of it. There’s a soothing click behind each portion of the movement and it really does remind me of those fidget toys that were popular a handful of years ago. I’ve found myself pulling this thing out of my pocket just to mess with it in my hands as a way to relieve stress.
Now while it definitely fulfills that stress relief role well as PunCube suggests it can, I don’t actually think it's a good idea to use it as a toy. The reason for this is that the mechanical ratchet swings loose from movement. The cards stored here are popping out loose from swings left and right. I don’t recall it doing this during the early day of testing, but it has been loose like this for longer than it hasn’t been. At first I thought I was using it incorrectly and missing the use of a button to lock the cards in, but as far as I can find from the instructions and the webpage, there’s no need for a locking mechanism of this design. The cards are supposed to stay lodged in its closed position. It shouldn’t be sliding open from a wave of my hand. This is a problem because included in the purchase of the wallet are two mounting items to transform this wallet to be used on a belt clip or slapped onto the back of a phone.
The Wasteland with a pinball mechanism
PunCube provides buyers with a belt clip that has a reusable nano-gel adhesive to stick onto the back of the wallet. There’s also the option to use one with a magnetic platform to attach to Magsafe or magnetic compatible smartphones. I’ve been personally using this planted on the back of my Google Pixel 10 Pro and I’m extremely impressed with the magnetic connection strength from the accessory attachment. It’s steady and won’t come off without purposely added strength. However, I’ve noticed that the wallet pops slightly open when I pull it out of my pocket, especially while it is attached to my phone. Even when I pull the phone down from my ear, the motion is enough to slightly trigger the mechanism to open. It’s shockingly loose. I don’t know if this is a mechanical failure from endurance use or if it's a mechanical design flaw, but I do know it’s not fully safe for my cards. I’ve attempted to dislodge the cards without intending to open up the wallet and have unfortunately succeeded with this test.
Limited Carry
The other slight annoyance is the limited storage space for cards. The Mech Wallet is an extremely minimalistic and simple storage space for your carry. You can’t store cash in this which I’m perfectly fine with. The company says you can hold 6 flat cards or 5 embossed cards. This is not a suggestion. It’s basically a scientific fact. I’ve tested it. The cards will jam and be lodged into the wallet without the ability to load out if it exceeds those stated numbers. So while 6 cards sounds like a lot, it quickly fills up when you transition over to a truly smart home oriented lifestyle. For example, I carry two car card keys (One for Tesla and one for Kia). A drivers license, a couple of credit cards, and an ATM card and the wallet is at its capacity. You won’t be able to bring along a health insurance card, a car insurance card, a AAA card or whatever other identification you need. There’s no back slot pouch or any additional hidden slot to slide an extra card into. The sleek minimal design is beautiful to look at and fun to pop out, but it’s truly for the barebones minimum necessity users.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I really wanted to use the Mech Wallet as my daily driver long after my review period with it ended, but I’m leaning more towards moving on from it. I might purchase another version of the Mech Wallet to see if the other mechanical mechanisms strain loose over time like the Wasteland one I have did. This is an extremely satisfying to use wallet. It really is. I’ve had sliders and poppers as daily drivers for years now, but I can’t say any of my previous wallets have felt this soothing and satisfying to use. Unfortunately, the most vital aspect of a wallet is to protect and house the cards that it holds and at least my unit of the Mech Wallet just isn’t reliable in handling this responsibility.
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