Review: Minify your wallet with the RC Fibers Hybrid Wallet

The RC Fibers Hybrid Wallet is two things in one…a full-sized wallet and a slim money clip. The wallet has capacity for all your cash and assortment of cards. When you want to go without the wallet, the brushed metal money clip slides off.

If you find your wallet too bulky, a money clip is a great little gadget that help you store your cash (and credit cards) in a compact fashion. Carbon fiber clips offer improvement over traditional metal money clips by being more flexible, it can be deformed and still return easily to its original shape. Carbon fiber retains good strength, durability and is also light. Also, being carbon, it can pass through metal detectors without the problem of the normal metal clips. Lastly, it won’t scratch your precious mobile phones if you put them in the same pocket.

I was approached by US California based RC Fibers to see if I was interested to review their line of products. They offer a nice range of carbon fiber products for men. They sent me the RC Fibers Hybrid Wallet and the Slim Carbon Clip for review. I used money clips before, but they were a tad too minimalistic for me, and it was metal, so the above problems apply.

Design

The Hybrid Wallet is a traditional bi-fold design, but with a footprint just slightly bigger than a credit card. It offers space for four inside card slots, 3 on the right, 1 on the left behind the clip. The first slot on the right, is an easy access ‘cut-away’ style pocket that you can use for your one or two most frequently used cards. Notes are held on the money clip as shown. To round up, there’s also an exterior slot on the back of the wallet.

When you want to go without the wallet, the money clip slides off. It’s still good for holding on to notes and cards, just offering less protection.

The Hybrid wallet is flexible to use, either as a standalone, lean and mean clip or full capacity wallet. Either option is designed to be stylish and original. The wallet is made of pressed leather and the money clip is brushed metal or carbon fiber, giving this combo a professional polished look and feel.

You can choose between the brushed metal, or the RC Fibers Slim clip. The Slim clip can be purchased as an individual product. It’s only 1/2″ wide, and weights a paltry 38g. Built for the minimalist, the Slim has the same holding power as the RC Classic at half the width. It’s simple, easy to use, and retains the classy carbon fiber style.

On the exterior, the RC Fiber Hybrid wallet sports their embossed lion logo, which I find a little big, but not overly bearing. The wallet leather is very fine grain, and feels good to touch. It doesn’t feel like it might last, and I picked up a couple of scuffs along the way. Although, that does add to the character of leather. The inside material, is a smooth, light grey velvety material. It is a classy look. However, the material is suspect to scuffs.

There are many advantages of using carbon fiber. That’s why you see it in cars, drones, yachts, places where strength, durability are important and yet be extremely lightweight. It’s a premium material, and is a great way to minify and shed some weight off your wallet. The carbon fiber is built to last, with RC Fibers offering 5 year warranty against delamination on all their carbon fiber products.

Usability

I have been using the wallet for a couple of weeks now. And have got by quite well in lieu of my normal wallet. I tend to carry a lot of cards, on average 6 (and yes I squeezed all this) with around 8 notes of varying sizes into the RC Fiber Wallet. It held up pretty well.

The cards are less accessible than a normal wallet though. The inner wallets are full insert types, which means that the cards fit tightly, and can be a squeeze to remove them. However, frequent use should do the trick.

As a standalone clip, I find the slim style to be less stable but generally works if you grip a thicker stack or pop a couple of cards in between.

Price

It is on discount now at US$30 for the standard metal clip option. It is US$55 with the carbon fiber clip. Shipping to Singapore is at US$10.

Conclusion

It is a money clip / wallet combo! It is a minimalistic take on a traditional “gadget”! The wallet and clip is good quality but price is on the high side. It’s a wallet for those intending to go the simple yet stylish route – especially if you pick the carbon fiber option. Carbon fiber is an excellent choice for money clips and you can check out RC Fiber product line for other interesting gear.

Btw, all photos here were taken with the HTC One M9 – I think the camera’s not too bad, will update more in due time!