- [Adam] In this video,
a detailed look at the Pularys SOLO Wallet
and Secrid Mini wallet.
Pularys are a Polish factory of leather goods
designing and factoring minimal wallets.
I thought it would be cool to compare
the Pularys SOLO Wallet
with a real benchmark product,
the popular Secrid Mini wallet, made in Holland.
I’ve previously reviewed the Secrid Miniwallet,
Slimwallet, and Secrid Twinwallet.
Secrid wallets set a high standard
for quality and desirability.
Both slim wallets share similar materials.
Both wallets can hold cash bills.
Each have this awesome
credit card eject mechanism,
and offer RFID technology,
which protects against unauthorized scanning
of cards-equipped with a contactless payment chip.
But does it work?
I’ll do a quick real-world test of the RFID blocking.
Starting with the Pularys SOLO Wallet,
let’s take a look at the outer materials.
The Pularys SOLO has a soft,
high-quality Italian leather.
It’s a full grain leather
made with vege-chrome tanning.
The vege properties give a natural look and shine,
and the chrome tanning guarantees strength
for resistance to pulls and rips.
Pularys have been producing leather products
since the 1930s, continuing a family tradition.
So lots of heritage here.
For discloser, the wallets featured in today’s video
were sent to me for free, but if they suck I’ll tell you.
One of the wallets I bought myself,
I’ll point that out when we get to it.
I keep these videos concise and factual for you,
so if the video helps you in any way,
please hit the like button,
or just watch to the end,
which is what helps me out the most, thanks.
Next the Secrid Miniwallet Original Black.
We see a naturally glossy finish
with corrected-grain leather.
They’re made in Holland and Italy
from European cowhide.
This semi-aniline leather
gives you a thin protective top coat,
making it easy to maintain.
Side-to-side, the Pularys SOLO shows off
a little more of the leather’s natural grain.
Secrid does offer quite a lot of different types
of leather finish to chose from
if you don’t favor this smooth finish.
Some immediate comparisons:
The contrasting grey stitching
gives fantastic aesthetic detailing
on the Secrid Miniwallet.
The leather is pinched on the Secrid wallet
where the press stud is fixed.
The Pularys wallet is a lot tidier here.
The exposed reverse side of the leather
is super soft on the Secrid Wallet.
This is hidden on the Pularys SOLO Wallet,
which is reinforced with polyester lining
for addition strength and rigidity
to better secure your cash.
Otherwise you’d see the same soft reverse,
like on this Pularys minimalist wallet,
one of the other samples received.
Let’s take a look at the outer storage solution.
Sticking with the Secrid wallet,
we have two external card pockets here.
These pockets don’t benefit from RFID protection
but are great for ID cards or similar.
And here we have this, plastic I think,
for securing your cash bills.
I personally find this awkward to use
and access.
I feel like I’m unravelling a burrito
to take the lettuce out.
Once you’ve got your cash in the Secrid Wallet,
it is held securely.
As I’ve I previously demonstrated
in an earlier video seen here,
you can get rather a lot of cash in a Secrid wallet,
albeit with the wallet loosing its slim profile.
So in comparison, the Pularys SOLO unfolds
to expose three non-RFID protected card slots,
and a much easier-to-access cash compartment.
We can see the Pularys SOLO
is a little wider when empty.
They allowed a little more material here,
giving thought to what’s needed
when the wallet is loaded.
Just like the Secrid wallet,
the Pularys Wallet is a storage monster if needed.
Let’s see. I have pretend money today.
This stash is about what I put in the Secrid wallet.
And the Pularys SOLO still folds and closes perfectly.
Secret have couple of variants around this design.
Here’s a Secrid Slimwallet I purchased myself
a few years ago, virtually identical to the MiniWallet,
but without this fastener.
There’s also a Twinwallet, which has two
of these aluminium center compartments.
As I’ve reviewed those previously,
just see the links in the video description
if you want to learn more about those,
and please hit the Subscribe button
for more videos like this one, thanks.
Pularys also offer model variants. Quite a lot.
If you must have a coin holder, they have that.
If you must go slimmer, you’ve got that too.
I want to take a quick look at my personal favorite,
the Pularys BONO RFID Wallet.
This one is slightly slimmer than the SOLO,
as there’s less folded leather.
I love this, what looks like Cordura,
or a similar nylon-type strap.
This stuff is super durable,
and looks a lot more modern
than the purse-like button of the Secrid Wallet.
It doubles as a pen holder.
We have two outer card compartments,
and a flap here for more.
The stitched-on strap continues around
the aluminium center credit card compartment,
which means you can push folded cash
either side of it,
making the Pularys BONO wallet very versatile. And how cool is this?
It’s the first wallet I’ve reviewed
with a dedicated SIM card slot.
There’s links to all of the wallets featured today
in the video description, they are affiliate links,
which means I may earn a small amount
at no extra cost to you, if you chose to buy a wallet.
Let’s stay on-task with the video topic,
comparing the Pularys SOLO Wallet
and Secrid MiniWallet,
and let’s check out the RFID
aluminum credit card compartments.
The core part of the Secrid wallet
is its aluminium card holder.
You can buy this part only, as a separate product,
called the Secrid Cardprotector,
the first version of this was a Red Dot Design
international award-winner in 2010.
Your contactless payment cards placed
in this center compartment are protected
from unwanted RFID and NFC skimming,
which prevents people stealing your cards’ data.
Said to carry six cards,
but most bank cards have embossed writing,
so I find four are a more comfortable fit,
and allow proper operation
of the patented mechanism.
The push-lever ejects cards in a fan-like fashion,
allowing them to be selected easily.
The manufacturers say that the mechanism
can be operated 250,000 times without any problem.
The aluminium center card holder
on the Pularys SOLO wallet offers the same capacity
and protection against theft
or unauthorized scanning.
Even with just one card in each credit card holder,
they will fit securely, without falling out.
Notice the push-level on the Pularys SOLO
is a little larger,
this mechanism is their own registered design.
Pularys also sell this center part separately
as a solo product if your prefer,
called the ZEN RFID Credit card holder.
The operation of both wallets’ mechanisms
are smooth and satisfying.
Don’t be tempted by cheap overseas alternatives
and copies, they rattle
and are made from flimsy materials,
and really just don’t work well.
Both Secrid and Pularys products
I’ve shown you today,
are high quality immaculately made items
that will work reliably.
So what about the RFID protection?
Here’s a mock-up bank card I’ve made
with an NFC sticker attached.
As a control, let’s first test this is a regular,
non-RFID protected wallet.
(phone beeps) And you can see, the app on my phone
is able to detect the card.
Remember, I said the outer leather pockets
of the Secrid Wallet and Pularys wallet
are not RFID protected,
so I’ll just demonstrate that to you.
(phone beeps) Easily detected.
This is the same for both Secrid and Pularys wallets.
So let’s try the RFID protected central compartments.
First I have the Secrid Wallet.
And as you can see,
we have no chance of detecting the card now.
By the way, a real bank card has a built in antenna
around its perimeter, and is a lot easier to scan.
The card I’ve made only bounces back a weak signal
which is why we have to get so close.
Next, the Pularys SOLO wallet.
That’s a pass for the Pularys wallet also.
I can’t find anything that significantly separates
these wallets apart from price.
At the time of making the video,
the Pularys SOLO Wallet costs quite a lot less
than the Secrid Miniwallet.
Which was your favorite?