Out of the gazillions of different types of wallets out there, whether they’re made of leather or aluminum, titanium, carbon fiber or some other sort of metal or rigid plastic, there is only one wallet —just one—that has NO CHANCE of scratching your cards.
That’s the ACM Protek wallet.
The ACM wallet won't scratch your cards because it keeps them separated within a rigid enclosure. Each card rides in its own individual track so they never touch each other. Access individual cards by pushing the labeled slider that corresponds to the specific card you want.
First of all, cards get scratched in basically two ways.
- They either rub against each other OR
- They rub against the wallet that’s holding them
The ACM wallet does away with both of these issues by holding up to 6 cards in their own separate channels without even a love tap between them. Each card is isolated by clear empty space.
Each of these spaces is about as wide as the thickness of a typical credit card, which is more than enough to keep them at arm’s length from each other.
This means your magnetic strip stays pristine and there is no chance of static discharge that can also happen when cards slide against each other.
When you’re ready to access one of the maximum of six cards that it holds, the ACM wallet has a dedicated button slider for each individual card. Just push it up and holy mamacita, the corresponding card is ready to grab.
When you’re done, slide it back into place and you’re locked and loaded again.
The ejection mechanism is very well designed
The mechanism feels substantial to me, with no slop or play when you move the sliders. And they spring quickly back into place when released.
ACM has put some serious effort into this mechanism and they offer a lifetime warranty on it to back it up.
To keep everything organized, each slider has a rubberized pad that’s preinstalled and labeled with an icon that represents a commonly used card.
If you don’t like the arrangement, you can rearrange them or change them out with 12 more choices contained in a handy red plastic card that ACM includes with every wallet.
For instance, you can choose from ATM, VISA, American Express, a medical card, auto club card, or a gas card, among others. Or you can just color code the sliders.
The pads are a little tricky to get out, but I found that the point of knife works better than a finger nail. There is a small tab on the end of each one and they easily lock into place when you install them.
The good news is that once you’ve got it set up the way you want it, you won’t have to mess with it again.
The rubbery pads also feel good under your fingers and give you a non-slip grip when you’re sliding. They’re SO much better than some chintzy stick-on label.
Card ejection is a breeze but reinserting the card isn’t as fluid. It takes some good eyesight to re-aline the card inside the track that it came from. I found that I fumbled a little in the checkout aisle until I got used to it.
The wallet itself is super light at just 2.5 ounces empty. It looks heavier because of the metallic look. The kicker is that the heart of the wallet is really poly carbonate, which keeps the wallet light and strong at the same time.
It’s made from durable but lightweight materials
The brushed metal look comes from what ACM calls their Two-Ply Chrome Coating system. This coating is also what gives the wallet RFID protection. I think it looks remarkably close to brushed aluminum.
It looks and feels stout and durable. I wouldn’t want to test it in a vice, but it feels nearly crush-proof to me.
I really like the fact that the cards stay reliably inside the wallet. I was never able to shake out a single card, no matter how hard or how long I shook.
It’s larger than most card holders of similar capacity
The ACM is a real winner in terms of card organization and protection from scratching, but the trade-off is that it’s a really large wallet. Much larger than I like to carry.
As ACM says on their website, it’s roughly the same size as a deck of cards, which, I suppose, is mostly true. But that doesn’t mean I want to carry a deck of cards in my pocket either.
If you want to carry cash, they include a money clip, which, unfortunately, makes the wallet even thicker. ACM says that it is only .75 inches thick with the money clip, but if you include the depth of the sliders, it’s much closer to 1 inch. That’s a lot.
To make it a little thinner and still carry cash, I removed the money clip (it snaps on) and added a rubber band. My wife thinks its really tacky, but it works for me. It would nice if they offered a money strap in the future.
I also noticed that after a few weeks, the money clip is starting to lose a part of its coating on the rounded edges where it clips onto the wallet. It kinda looks like a peeling sunburn—minor but noticeable.
The ACM Protek sells for $59.95 which includes the silver ProClip money clip for carrying cash. You can get also get the wallet engraved for few dollars extra.
I wouldn’t call this a minimalist wallet, but it performs better than any other wallet I know of at keeping your cards scratch free. And it that’s your primary goal, no wallet does it better than the ACM.
