BANDO 3.0 SLIM UTILITY WALLET

I received my Kickstarter wallet and really enjoy the overall concept of the wallet. I'm pretty happy with the overall quality, however the inner compartment had major flaws for me. I've noticed cards fan out very inconsistently and sometimes some cards will not be pushed out at all. Additionally, cards will sometimes freely slide out of the inner compartment, especially my driver's license. I almost lost my license this morning because of it falling on the ground when I pulled my wallet out.

I reached out to Dash about this and while they quickly supplied me with a replacement unit, it had the same issues as the original so it is likely a flaw with the design itself.

I got mine on kickstarter, and honestly my expectations were exceeded. Its solid all around, the stitching gives a nice accent like look (something I personally like, some don't), and the pull tab is very stable with no , wiggle persay. I do believe making the entirely trigger assembly out of a stronger material and upping the cost would be a good idea for future wallets, as I do expect this mechanism to fail eventually as it's plastic. The only issue someone might have is in the trigger slot where the cards go, doesn't do well with less than 3 cards, they popped out half way when the wallet is dropped and lands not flat.

I really wanted to like this wallet, and I suppose I do, from afar. Let me explain.

Some of my family members backed the Kickstarter for the bando 3.0 and brought them to a recent family gathering and showed them off. I had been thinking about getting a new, slimmer wallet and I thought the QuickDraw feature was cool so I was excited to purchase one. Especially because the price was around $25 with coupon. I was eagerly waiting for it to arrive because it looked nice at the party and looked nice online.

I was pretty disappointed when opening the box with the quality of the product. The add says aluminum, but it seems to me like it’s mostly plastic. But I guess I can’t complain too much since it was only $25. What I really didn’t like was all the glue. The canvas material has stitching on it, but it seems like it’s not actually stitched together, rather glued together, and the thread stitching is just there for esthetics. The money band side and the dual card pockets on the other side are both just slabs of canvas glued to the center unit. Furthermore, there was excess glue hanging out of the top and bottom of the panels and the canvas panel with the dual card slots was coming unglued from the central mechanism on mine right out of the box. Once again, it was only $25, so I’m not that upset, I was just hoping for better from such a cool, innovative product.

As others have stated, I also have a problem with how tight the card slots are, I’m putting 2 cards in each slot right now to stretch them a little bit, because it’s just too hard to get the cards out. Also, as someone else mentioned, if you put a card in each of the dual cards slots on the side, one card completely covers the other one, making it so you basically have to remove the top card first before removing the card underneath, which is a pain. I understand the design choice was to make the wallet as small as possible, which is what we all want who are looking at this product anyway.

It’s an innovative product, and I love the idea. If I could make any changes, it would be to actually stitch the panels together instead of gluing them on the side, and maybe make the card slots just a little bit bigger. It would be so much better if everything were not just glued together. I don’t have a lot of confidence in a wallet completely held together by glue, but at least there’s a 2 year warranty.

I also think it’s a little silly that you can’t get a tracking number if you choose the free shipping. I don’t think it’s conveyed very clearly and I live in a city, so I like to know when my packages will arrive so they are not sitting on my doorstep. Just be aware that you cannot track when your wallet will arrive if you choose the free shipping.

I really wanted to like this wallet, but I find that the Bando 3.0 is a somewhat inferior version of the previous ones. As a longtime owner of the Bando Slim, I love its small unassuming design and simple functionality -- cards are easy to insert and pull out, the money stays secure, and the pull tab just works. But like most products today, the need to go smaller has compromised the effectiveness and ease of use with the Bando 3.0.

My chief complaint is that the Bando 3.0 is too small -- specifically the exterior card slots. When I compared the size of the Bando Slim to the Bando 3.0, I realized that the width of the wallet is a few millimeters smaller making it very difficult to get cards in and out of the wallet. While this becomes easier after the material stretches a bit, it's not the material that is the issue, but the relative size of the slot. On the Bando Slim, the slots were a little wider making card access easier, but on the Bando 3.0, the card slots fit like a glove and barely fit the width of a standard card. This means you are fighting to get your card out every single time and it is frustrating, to say the least.

The next complaint I have is that also unlike the Bando Slim, when you have 2 cards in the exterior slot, one of the cards completely covers the other one. This is a common problem amongst regular wallets and is a common problem here. The strange thing is, this problem doesn't exist on the Bando Slim. With the Bando Slim, you are able to see the top portion of the card making it easier to see what card it is and access it at any time. But with the Bando 3.0, one card is blocked and if you happen to have the same color card, you will have a hard time distinguishing between them if you are trying to pull one out quickly.

Finally, the quickdraw trigger is a nice addition and one you see a lot more of in modern wallets, but like all of them, they are best when used with unembossed cards. When using embossed cards, the raised lettering creates enough friction to keep them from fanning out smoothly all the time, so your mileage with this feature may vary. But the overall mechanism is solid -- I was just hoping they found a way to correct this issue.

In the end, the Bando 3.0 is a well-made product that unfortunately compromises on some key areas that make it inferior to its predecessors. Since I bought it through the Indiegogo campaign, I am hoping I can get a refund or exchange it for something more suitable.

I got my Dash 3.0 from Kickstarter today and my first impressions are I really like the design. It feels pretty solid in my hands and there's plenty of slots and pockets for cards.

The only thing I should mention is that I only carry 4 cards with me day to day - Driver's License, Visa, Debit and my bus card. Going from a Dash 2.0 to the Bando 3.0, I think for someone like me it might be too big (It's about double the thickness of the Dash fully loaded). Not a bad thing; if you're just starting out on downsizing from a giant wallet, the Bando 3.0 is probably the perfect step down. However, eventually you may find yourself wanting something even thinner.