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Chums Surfshorts Wallet Review
Cost: $12.99
Dimensions: 4.3” x 3.0” (11 x 7.6 cm)
Weight: 0.6 oz (19 g)
Materials: Ripstop nylon, generic zips
Origin: Made in China
When you’re traveling, it’s always a good idea to have two sets of everything. Two sets of cash and cards, stored in two separate places. This Minimalist travel wallet is designed to hold whatever cards and cash that you will need for the day and not much more.
Material and Dimensions
This little wallet is made from some decent materials. Ripstop nylon, solid double stitching, and sturdy key leash. It has generic non YKK zips, but I haven’t had a problem with them in the 3+ years I’ve used it. It’s about 4 3/8” long by 3” wide (or about 11 x 7.6 cm) and weighs only 0.6 oz (19 g). It’s perfect for carrying in your front pocket when you travel.
Color Options
I have the plain black and olive one, but it also comes in a huge variety of colors and patterns depending on where you purchase it. On the Chums website, it’s available in about 18 color options. However, over to Amazon, there are a few additional options that aren’t available on the website.
The price varies on these though. The regular two-tone are all about $10, while the color patterns are a little more at about $13. Also pay attention to the fabrics. They mix up the fabrics with some of the patterns between ripstop and canvas or a combination of the two.
Chums Surfshorts Wallet Waterproof?
Because this is called a surfshort wallet, people sometimes assume this wallet is waterproof. It is not. There is a thin lining material on the inside of the ripstop fabric that provides some water resistance. However, the zippers aren’t waterproof, and water will eventually soak into the fabric.
I tested this by placing several credit card sized pieces of paper inside the wallet and a dollar bill. Then I poured water over it to see if it leaked. After some initial pouring, there was some slight water leaking around the zipper areas, but the paper and cash remained dry.
Then I continued to pour more water over the wallet, allowing it to soak into the fabric. After the second test quite a bit of water had penetrated the wallet, almost completely soaking the paper. So, while this wallet does offer decent water-resistance it’s definitely not waterproof
Features and Design
The wallet has two pockets, one on each side and an additional exterior pocket. Side with plastic window has a little divider. I like to put my ID behind the fake license that comes with the wallet and credit cards behind the divider. The other side is great for cash and change.
The exterior pocket is connected to a small key ring. This pocket is great for items you want to access quickly. Like hotel room card, or buss pass. I don’t usually carry my keys on this ring, but it’s a good place to store single hotel keys so you don’t lose them.
Capacity
The Chums Surfshorts Wallet can hold a ton of stuff. You can easily stuff a dozen credit cards in here, train tickets, bus passes, and a pile of cash. However, I noticed that it starts to get a little fat after about 6-8 cards.
One downside to the size is that the width is slightly too small for many currencies. Smaller bills, like US dollars, and small Euro notes fit fine in here sideways. But larger notes will have to be folded twice. This is a major drawback for me, as just a few bills fill the wallet up and make it wide.
The Bird Booby
The Surfshorts wallet comes with a fake Utah drivers licence with the Chums mascot named the Bird Booby. I actually love this thing and carry it around when I travel. I don’t like to have my ID or credit card showing out the plastic window for the world to see. So I stick the Bird Booby in there and put my license behind it.
How to Carry
This wallet is designed to be carried in your pocket like a regular wallet. But you can also attach a tether to the keyring and tie it around your belt. I use a little piece of 2mm accessory cord. You could use paracord but it’s a little thicker and has some stretch to it. Accessory cord is static and won’t stretch.
This little cord is about 26” long. I tie one end with an overhead knot and hook it around the keyring with a girth hitch. Then I tie the other end around my belt in the same way. It sits in my front pocket and the cord is short enough that it’s not visible from the outside unless I tuck my shirt in.
Security
I think there are some advantages and disadvantages to using a cord. The advantage is you won’t lose your wallet. You won’t drop it or leave it somewhere. And second, it’s harder for someone to steal your wallet. The keyring is sewn into the wallet on the bottom seam and it’s attached pretty well. I imagine somebody could probably tear this thing away from you but it’s not going to be easy.
Which leads to the disadvantage. If someone sees the cord it them which pocket your wallet is in and it could make it easier to remove. In theory, instead of reaching into your pocket all somebody would have to do is hook a finger in the cord and pull it out. I’ve never been pickpocketed, so me thinking this works could just be confirmation bias. I’d love to year your thoughts.
Durability
After carrying the Chums Surfshort wallet around years it only showing minor signs of wear. The paint on the generic zippers is the first thing to go. Some of the laminate on the interior is starting to flake off, but there’s only minor signs of wear on the exterior. I haven’t worn this thing out yet, and if I ever do, I like it so much that I’ll probably just buy another one.
Summary
The Chums Surfshorts wallet is a great little minimalist travel wallet. It’s small but large enough to hold what I need for the day. The multiple zippered pocket allows me to separate my cash and cards. And the keyleash is great to secure this onto a belt, or for actual keys.
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