In this review, we will see how the ARW managed to break into the minimalist wallets market and emerge as one of the cheapest, yet most convenient two-plate wallets out there.
ARW Wallet Review
The ARW is a slim, metal, minimalist wallet with an open frame made out of two backplates tied together with an elastic strap. It features a single expandable pocket and a money clip, with a capacity of up to 15 cards and 5 cash bills. The wallet features strong RFID protection, thanks to its aluminum and carbon fiber design, as well as many options for customization thanks to its adaptable build. The ARW is a modern card carrier and a great way to bring all the necessary things you need for the day without them bulking your pockets.
Should you buy the ARW wallet?
The ARW is the perfect wallet for anyone who has been meaning to jump on the trend of minimalist two-plate wallets without paying a premium price for a durable metal wallet.
For its fairly low price, the ARW provides great capacity for many cards and bills, while looking very elegant and stylish as well. It’s a great wallet for the front pocket, and has some customization options available.
The ARW is a great gift choice too, as it comes in nice gift packing and is one of the sleekest gadgets you can buy as a gift for someone.
Buying
The best way to get the ARW wallet at the moment is by ordering it on Amazon. The website not only has the best price for this model when compared to other stores but is the most reliable one when it comes to customer support as well.
Price and value for money
The ARW wallet will typically cost you around $23 on Amazon.
It’s a budget-priced wallet with an open frame consisting of two metal plates, a design that is often seen in many popular minimalist wallets.
While most other similar wallets, such as the Ridge, can have a price tag of up to a hundred dollars, this model will cost only a fraction of that price.
Shipping details
With Amazon’s policy for free shipping on orders above $25, you can get the wallet delivered for no additional costs by adding just around $2 more to your shopping cart.
Otherwise, you are probably going to have to pay some additional shipping fees. These fees usually start at about $5 and can go up to $15 depending on how fast you want the product delivered.
Since the shipping fees will likely be more expensive than $2 anyway, I would recommend filling your cart up with some other products you need and getting free shipping on the whole order.
Returns and refunds
If you’ve received a faulty or incomplete order, or simply didn’t like the wallet as much as you hoped you would, you can send it back in the first 30 days after it’s delivered and get a full refund for it. The only things you’ll need are the receipt, the original packaging, and an e-mail confirmation by Amazon’s customer support team that the product is eligible for a refund.
Basics
The ARW is a wallet with an open frame made out of two metal plates attached with an elastic band.
The wallet acts mainly as a slim cardholder, being able to hold up to 15 cards in between its plates, but can also carry a few cash bills as well thanks to the steel money clip attached on the side.
How to use the ARW wallet?
To open and use the wallet, you’ll have to spread the plates in a V-shaped form and stuff the cards inside it. Both plates are roughly the size of a credit card, so sliding the contents in it is very easy and practical.
Any cash bills that you need to carry can be put on the money clip found on the outer side of the wallet.
The band that holds the plates together adds lots of elasticity to the wallet, so you won’t have to worry about it being too tight or too loose after putting more than a dozen cards inside.
Additionally, the ARW has a number of customization options available as well. Since all of the parts (including the money clip) are screwed into one another, they can all be replaced or removed from the frame altogether.
Aesthetics
The ARW places a huge emphasis on its appearance. Thanks to the high-end metals used in the manufacturing process, the wallet features a clean and smooth design, with a sleek surface and a look that catches the eye.
Design and colors
On a functional note, this wallet has a ‘sandwich’ design found in many modern minimalist models. It has two slim metal plates between which you can store your cards.
One end of the wallet features a small C-shaped notch that eases the withdrawing of the cards from the middle pocket.
The money clip comes only in black, and is designed with an elegant slope that further adds a sturdy suspension that helps hold the cash bills intact. On the clip, you will also find the ARW logo, engraved in light-grey letters.
The plates, on the other hand, come in five different colors that you can choose from:
- black
- grey
- navy blue
- silver
- carbon fiber
Materials
When it comes to the materials used in this wallet, there are two options that you can choose from. You can opt for aluminum alloy or carbon fiber, each with a distinct style and color.
The carbon fiber model features a money clip made out of carbon as well, while the aluminum model comes with a spring steel clip instead. It is arguably among the best carbon fiber wallets available today, at least in the more affordable category.
For the elastic band, however, there isn’t much choice since they all come in the same elastic leather.
Clothing style fit
It’s almost impossible to pin such a diversified wallet down to a particular clothing style. Each version of the ARW suits a different type of wardrobe, ranging from professional clothes to casual streetwear.
However, no matter what choice you make you simply can’t go wrong with a wallet like this one, as each color version looks very neat and can seamlessly blend in with your image.
Features
While the ARW may appear very slim and one-dimensional, it’s stacked with many great features that provide convenience and practical everyday use.
RFID blocking
Security for their cards and all the information stored on them is a major concern for many people.
It is also one of the leading reasons why many brands have started manufacturing metal wallets, instead of leather ones like they used to in the past. Materials like aluminum, steel, and carbon fiber are much more secure and better equipped to block RFID rays sent toward the credit cards stored in your wallet.
This feature is present in the ARW wallet as well, whose metal plates provide strong RFID protection for all the cards stuffed in between them.
Money clip
To provide a pocket for bills, as well as cards, the ARW uses a steel clip that is screwed in on one of the plates.
A money clip is one of the most conventional methods of carrying cash bills on open-frame pockets, since it’s very sturdy and can hold many bills safely in it. Many similar wallets use the same feature as it helps make the wallet less cluttered and more organized as well.
How many cards can the ARW wallet hold?
The ARW wallet can hold up to 15 cards between the plates.
How many cash bills can the ARW wallet hold?
You can keep up to around 5 bills in the money clip of the ARW wallet, as long as they are folded twice.
Size, weight, and dimensions
The ARW is a very small and slim wallet, only slightly bigger than an average credit card.
Its precise dimensions are:
- width: 3.5 in / 8.9 cm
- height: 2.2 in / 5.6 cm
- depth: 0.3 in / 0.76 cm
What’s even better, the wallet weighs very little as well, only around 2.1 oz / 59.5 gr. It is one of the lightest metal wallets out there, a significant advantage that not many aluminum models have.
Customer satisfaction
The ARW has sold tens of thousands of units so far, and is one of the most popular two-plate wallets in the budget-friendly category.
It has also gathered more than 10.000 ratings on Amazon, around 7.000 of which are 5-star ones.
Known issues and problems
Even though the ARW wallet is massively popular, it is still a budget-priced wallet after all, and comes with a few minor issues that you should know of.
One major disadvantage of wallets like this one is that they can be pretty hard to get used to. Picking a specific card out of the middle pocket can be tough until you get the hang of it, which might take a couple of days.
On a similar note, it is pretty hard to stuff as many cards as the brand has advertised inside this pocket. The elastic band is too strict to comfortably hold up to 15 cards, and most of the time you will only stuff around 10.
And finally, while the aluminum and carbon fiber used for this design are durable enough, the same can’t be said about the elastic band that holds the plates together. This piece is made out of low-quality material and breaks quickly, in some instances even after only a couple of months of usage.
How does the ARW compare to other minimalist wallets?
Minimalist wallets with two-plates designs are everywhere. Numerous brands have tried to develop their own version of this concept, with several dozens of wallets released in the past few years that all look a lot alike.
These are some comparisons between the ARW and other popular alternatives
ARW vs Ridge Aluminum
The Ridge Wallet is probably one of the best two-plate wallets out there. The Aluminum version of this wallet is priced somewhere between $85 and $100 and is considered a premium wallet in this category.
The Ridge Aluminum has almost the same design and features as the ARW. but with a few very important exceptions.
It is made out of top-grade 6061-T6 aluminum and has much more durable parts that will last for years to come. The Ridge Aluminum also has a lot more customization options available as well, thanks to its adaptable build, and is offered in many artistic designs that provide great exotic aesthetics you can choose from.
Go and check out my full review of the Ridge Aluminum wallet in order to get a better picture of what this premium wallet has to offer.
ARW vs Mouzie
The Mouzie is much more similar to the ARW in terms of both appearance and affordability.
This wallet costs around $40, a price much closer to the ARW than the one of the Ridge Aluminum. For such a price, you can get a wallet with roughly the same design, features, and functionality.
The Mouzie costs almost double what the ARW does, and it offers a few advantages because of the higher price.
This wallet allows its users to pick whether they want to use a money clip or a cash band to be attached to the backplate for holding cash bills, whereas the ARW only offers the clip as an option. Additionally, with the Mouzie you could also use both the band and the clip simultaneously.
It’s also made of higher-grade aluminum and comes in many more color options than the ARW. You can see the full list of its features in my detailed review of the Mouzie wallet.
Who should not buy the ARW Wallet?
The ARW will not be very suitable for people who want something that’s easy to use. Its tight and strict pocket might need a couple of weeks to get used to, and can become a problem if you only want a simple wallet that can open and close quickly.
Also, I wouldn’t recommend the ARW to people who aren’t fond of metal wallets and want to stick with a leather folding model instead. Aluminum wallets have their advantages, but many people just want their wallets to have a soft surface and a classic design. If that’s you, you can still take your pick from a wealth of minimalist leather wallets.
The cash capacity of the wallet isn’t that great, so see my guide on the best wallets for cash if you happen to use cash a lot.
Who should buy the ARW Wallet?
The ARW is the perfect wallet for the true minimalist who is tired of the chunky folding wallet they have had for years and wants something slimmer. Gone are the days when your wallet will fill your whole pocket. The ARW is one of the slimmest wallets around, and you can start carrying only a couple of essential items outside and leave the rest of the contents that clutter your pockets back at home.
Similarly, this is one of the best wallets for people who want to swap their leather wallet for a new, metal one but are afraid to go for some of the more expensive options. Priced slightly above $20, the ARW is the perfect choice for switching to the new trend of two-plate minimalist wallets without having to worry whether you are going to pay a fortune for something that might not suit your style.
I would highly recommend the ARW to people who don’t carry a lot of stuff inside their wallets besides a few cards and some cash bills. If you only need a slim and convenient wallet that can be put in any pocket but has enough capacity for all your cards, then this is one of the best choices for you at the moment.
In the end, I believe this is the best wallet for anyone who likes to customize their belongings. The ARW allows you to order many backplates in multiple colors and swap them around whenever you get tired of how your wallet looks, or when you need a different color to match your outfit.
Where to buy the ARW wallet from?
ARW Specifications
| Type | minimalist |
| Max n. of cards | 15 |
| RFID blocking? | yes |
| TSA compliant? | yes |
| Materials used | aluminum or carbon fiber + elastic, steel |
| Height | 2.2 in / 5.6 cm |
| Width | 3.5 in / 8.9 cm |
| Depth | 0.3 in / 0.76 cm |
| Weight | 2.1 oz / 59.5 gr |
| Features | RFID blocking, money clip |
| Warranty | none |
| Return period | 30 days |
