Nomad is at it again. The company that combined premium Horween leather with an integrated 2400mAh li-ion battery and Lightning charge cable (you can read my review of that Charging Wallet here) is back with another high tech combo. This time it’s the Nomad Slim Wallet with Tile. As the name suggests, this version marries the Nomad Slim Wallet with a Tile Slim Bluetooth tracker, so you can find your misplaced wallet at the touch of a button.
All the Expected Nomad Goodness
After several years of reviewing Nomad gear — from Apple Watch bands to cables, smartphone cases, and yes, wallets — I’ve come to expect smart design and quality construction.
In particular, the company’s use of Horween leather always pays off with handsome results. This American-made leather (from Chicago’s Horween Leather Co.) is vegetable-tanned and every object in my collection that uses it has softened and developed its own unique patina. They just get better with time.
The Nomad Slim Wallet is made of Horween leather and solidly stitched together with contrasting thread. Besides the compartment that holds the Tile Slim tracker, it has four card slots and two cash slots (one on the outside). That’s fairly minimal, but it covers the basics and makes for an extremely slim profile. There’s even a protective cloth bag for your wallet. Okay, that may be overkill, but it would make for nice presentation if you give one of these wallets as a gift.
Integrated Tile Tracker
The twist on this latest Nomad wallet is the included Tile Slim tracker. You not only get the Tile included with the wallet (a single retails for $30), but there is also a sleeve hidden in a compartment in the wallet that houses the tracker. You aren’t randomly trying to fit it into a slot — a specially designed compartment is already there. This keeps the Tile securely in place, makes it easy to remove and replace, and it’s hidden well enough that a thief doing a quick search may well miss the tracker, improving your odds of recovering the wallet if stolen.
With the Tile Bluetooth tracker, it’s also dead easy to find your wallet if you’ve misplaced it locally. Just push a button on the Tile app on your smartphone and the tracker will play music that leads you right to it. If you’ve forgotten your wallet somewhere (out of Bluetooth range) you can use the Tile app to pinpoint its last known location on a map. If that doesn’t yield results, you can even turn to Tile’s crowdsourced “community” tracking capability that pings you with a location if someone else running the tile app comes within Bluetooth range of your Wallet.
Not For Cash Hoarders…
The only real downside to this wallet is that it’s designed first and foremost for plastic users. There are two pockets that can be used to hold a few folded bank notes, but if you regularly carry much in the way of cash, you’ll want a full billfold.
Otherwise, this is yet another example of combining clever and high quality craftsmanship with technology from Nomad. The Nomad Slim Wallet is priced at $79.95 and available on the company’s website.
