Hey Reddit!
About six months ago, I designed my own wallet and I’m considering launching it on Kickstarter this fall.
It’s called the FLUX Wallet. It’s made from aluminum and roughly the size and weight of a smartphone, it holds 15 EDC essentials: 2 to 3 cards, 1 to 2 bills or a band-aid, a light, USB flash drive, MICRO SD card and adaptor, pen, whistle, bubble level, key, acetaminophen pill, US quarter, toothpick, ferro rod, SIM card ejector, battery and tweezers. Has a satisfying click when the drawer slides in.
I’ve been carrying it daily for about a month now, and the response from friends and strangers alike has been awesome. Has anyone seen anything similar?
I’d love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or support. AMA, roast it, hype it… I'm here for all of it.
I’m thinking the price point will land around $75–$100, with stretch goals like titanium screws and alternate accent colors beyond the current gray or adding a metric and imperial ruler lasered into the sides.
I think to market this you would need multiple swapable trays for different items/use cases. Maybe the ability to easily 3d print your own custom tray.
Thanks for the feedback. We originally thought about offering 3 "drawers" tech, mechanic, and adventure. Maybe we will add more later on or let people download the STL/STEP and customize their own.
Would there be a way to make the drawers modular? So if you wanted one thing from mechanic and one from adventure but most from tech then they could fit together like a puzzle? And if people are happy with what they chose they could superglue it together so it would be more permanent?
You are already losing a TON of space by having the tray be molded to hold a set of very specific items. If you just made it one big open tray or a tray with a few dividers, I’d consider buying something like this. But as it is, it’s just a gimmick to me.
I’d rather just use a slim nylon pouch like an Alpaka pouch if my only options are “you can put these specific 10 items in it” or “it all jumbles and clanks around in there”.
Ya the cards just sit on top. It isn't super obvious from the pictures. woops! If you try to stuff too many cards inside the drawer starts to drag, so then I think you'd have to remove one. If you have the cards without the raised letters and don't carry cash, you might be able to get 5 inside.
It’d also be cool if you could add a secret way to lock it. Maybe a magnet you can slide across part of it to lock it shut. Might not be possible for something this small, but my nightstand has a similar feature on a drawer and I like it a lot
Ya, that's a neat idea. I did 4 or 5 prototypes before this design and accouple of them had embedded magnets.
I'm trying to keep it manufacturable as well as a decent price point. Right now, the drawer snaps into place when fully closed so it can't accidentally open which I think is a good compromise.
Aldi's carts lock together and can be released if you put a quarter into a receptacle.
The catch is when you pull the cart out, the quarter gets locked in. To get the quarter back, you return the cart which releases the quarter
While I really like the drawer concept, I explicitly switched to card sized wallets, because the larger sized wallets annoyed me. If there was something more credit-card sized I would back it in a heartbeat. So for me it would be too large, but props to you for designing a cool looking product!
Thanks for the feedback!
I carried a Ridge wallet for years, and it worked for me. I think the reason this design works pretty well is most people are already pretty familiar with carrying a smart phone. If it's any larger than that I think it'd annoy ppl. maybe a mini version would be possible eventually that isn't as long.
I would be extremely interested in a mini version of this. Something credit card sized and maybe 2-3 cards thick. You could have a micro sd, pin, sewing needle, SIM card tool, toothpick, tweezers, and more in a tiny package. This is just too large for a wallet for me
I dig it. I think it would be awesome if you give the user the ability to customize how many drawers or trays they want. Even more awesome if you give them the option to make a layout of things they would only use. Some people don't need a micro SD card, SIM card or SIM card removal tool. So that would be wasted space if they can't find anything else to store in those spaces. Maybe more storage for coins would be better for some people vs the other things. You could either give them the option to customize it prior to ordering or make the pieces removable so they can customize it later in the future if things change for them. Look at the Snap wallet to get an idea or visual of it. They made it so you can just have one holder or stack as many as you want and customize with various accessories
I got a circuit board scaled knife I have been wanting to fill in with glow in the dark resin. A nice blue glow in the circuit board pattern would be so sweet.
Nice knife! Resin is kind of amazing stuff.
I tested FLUX with glow in the dark silicone they sell to fisherman on the sides. Didn't hold up well enough to pass muster unfortunately.
I backed a similar item about 2016, it was called the Jackfish. The Kickstarter was successful raising about a $120k. I'm sure there would be enough interest for this project to move forward, EDC is a lot more mainstream now. What do you think of two versions of the wallet? One fully milled like the original and one with a draw with STL files to create your own layout. Price wise, the Kickstarter I mentioned never delivered, partially due to the creator underestimating how much it would cost to produce items at a larger scale. Is there anything keeping the wallet closed? How thick is the drawer?
Whoa...just whoa! It really is awesome! At the same time I love the customization but dislike how it locks you into certain specific carry. Then again, as the creator, for yourself, you could customize a drawer for each and every carry.
As an item for sale, yeah, I see a market...and your price is quite reasonable for something that nice...but again, having different drawers for some variations is likely going to help. I could also see people buying the base unit from you and 3-d printing their own drawers as they see fit. Tolerances are always a pain to nail down...but I think it could be done.
Very neat, but I would absolutely not want anything like this. I detest rigid wallets. For they need to be at least somewhat flexible. I have all of these features in my pockets, but in two separate organizers.
How do y'all reconcile the inflexibility of rigid wallets, that don't adjust with your body/pocket orientation and contents?
like the idea a lot! To echo some other comments, it’s a little too large for my liking. I would be a buyer if it was more credit card sized in the $50-70 range.
I also agree that if the slots are predetermined cutouts that you should have kits with quality items included (at a higher price point obviously).
Another thing I haven’t seen anyone mention that should be fairly easy to implement is adding MagSafe magnets to allow it to easy attach to a phone, maybe with a little built in kickstand!
I love this!! I am working on a similar but different approach for my own pocket, I’d absolutely buy something like this to complement it though. I have to accommodate a car key fob, AirPods, and my SOG mini multitool. I might be able to use something like you product as a base plate that those Velcro to though.
Question: is it noisy? It seems like the items might jangle against the top deck when the drawer is closed. Is there room for a thin sheet of stick-on felt?
Suggestion: a twist on all of the “I need a different drawer config” comments: offer an empty drawer that’s as thin as structurally possible, with a cuttable foam insert! Just like custom tool drawer inserts, people could cutout their own configuration. You could even sell the foam sheets in a 5 pack or whatever, for mistakes/multiple configs.
thanks for the feedback! The foam idea is very good!
I thought about felt, the drawer has drafted walls, so the items are held slightly to stop rattling.
If your post contains an image of your gear, a list is still required. It will assist other users in answering any questions about the gear, make recommendations, and help guide any discussions. If you have already provided a list, not further action is needed, thanks!
good question. Some things still use them and don't have Wi-Fi or things you don't want connected to the cloud. I have some 3D printers and I just like to use the SD card still. Chinese backdoor into the WIFI's and all that. My dash cam also uses SD card and doesn't have wifi / cloud service.
The one single pill thing is kinda weird, but at the same time, I've been needing to carry just one single pill so...
Also, not to knock anyone, but does anyone still use SD and Micro SD cards anymore? Are you a photographer?
Ya, it's becoming less common. I am not a photographer. Maybe those could be on the chopping block. I do still use them occasionally. They don't take up a ton of room because they are so thin. My 3D printer and dash cam mainly.
I have heard a joke about it being a cyanide pill like being a spy or James Bond a few times lol.
The other day I was driving, and my wife wanted a Tylenol and it came in handy, so it's kind of proven its worth already, at least for me.
So the thing is. Like other people said. It’s incredibly niche. If you sold something like that you’d have to factor in the price of filling it with most of the edc items that you have shown. It would be an ordeal for people to look for items with the exact dimensions of the cut outs. I know some of the things are readily available. But it’s still a pain to not be able to customize it. Which isn’t necessarily difficult to do 3d printing. But would be incredibly time consuming mass producing. With that being said 3d printing isn’t great for mass manufacturing. If you were to bring something to market you’d probably want to make molds and use a rubber or polymer. Which would limit your ability to customize even further. Which would again be best if you gave the edc options to fill it. Which wouldn’t be bad cause then you could sell other options for edc items with those dimensions in the future.
Thanks for the feedback.
We would sell the accessories so they know it will fit perfectly.
adding other drawer options would make it more appealing to a wider audience.
The amount of times I have used anything in that wallet in the past year is zero. No way would I carry that. Three of these items are designed for key rings. You don't have a key ring?
Thanks for the feedback. I have no key ring. My phone is my car key. I can appreciate its not for everyone. I am using something about once every 2-3 days not counting cards, but it was designed for my needs. Themed drawers might make it more appealing for you, or others.
Maybe add a service to 3dprint or machine custom inserts.
Most people won't need a spirit level, a pill or a ferro rod.
Instead a few more keyholes, and other stuff.
Definetly give information about hole sizes if you only sell this one insert. Their kit might differ slightly from yours, knowing what fits would be a neccessity.
Sell fitting filling (pocket lamp, spirit level, ferro rod, USB...) not everyone would want to piece together their kit.
All very good ideas! We have considered offering other "themed" drawers. Thank you for the thought-out response. I have also been considering offering the CAD files as well so 3D printing savvy individuals could customize their own drawer.
Offering the cad is a great idea. You'll get more buyers, and you won't have to deal with the oneoffs.
You would be able to ask for much more for the oneoffs.
Offering the CAD could also attract more far-east ripoffs if you were to gain so much popularity.
Also a cheap one as well. People are going to rip that design to 3d print if it's too expensive to jump in. Do a premium model and a cheap one if you can.
That is a great idea. I was thinking the bare bones one could be closer to $50 and maybe one that comes with all the accessories for $100, people could piece meal the accessories to break up the price over time.
85
u/verticletraveller 1d ago
I think to market this you would need multiple swapable trays for different items/use cases. Maybe the ability to easily 3d print your own custom tray.