Previously I’ve taken a look over the Magpul Industries Corp. DAKA Essential Wallet after carrying it daily for a few weeks and that was nice, but it lacked a little something. I had a word with a buddy of mine over at Magpul and they mentioned that a version was already in the works that featured exactly that little something I was after – a transparency for ID cards. So now I’ve been fortunate enough to have been provided a DAKA Everyday Wallet to review and unlike most types of military gear, this is an item of non-issued kit I can easily get days and weeks worth of carrying and use on before providing my thoughts.
Original manufacturer page here for reference:
https://www.magpul.com/products/magpul-daka-everyday-wallet
Fortunately, making the change from the Magpul Essential to the new Everyday design was a lot easier than when I originally went from my old conventional wallet (which did also have a transparency) to the Magpul Essential. My initial thought was along the lines of “how the hell will I manage day to day with so little storage capacity” and all things considered I think Magpul do go a little too spartan with the original Essential; as we can probably surmise with the changes put in to the Everyday. Putting that concern aside however I did want to try out the concept of maybe slimming down my pocket book and not carrying around things I knew I hadn’t used for years and years, so I started using the Essential on a daily basis and ended up not going back to my old wallet. The biggest change is, as you might imagine, only having something that feels comparatively tiny in your pocket and when you sit in a car, hop on your bike or sit down to eat that is a genuine revelation that prompted me to forget about any capacity shortcomings of these types of designs. There are disadvantages but the size advantage alone has been entirely worth the swap in my mind.
There are 3 key changes that have been made with the Everyday which are all highly beneficial in my opinion.
1 – It’s 10% larger overall compared to the Essential, meaning you’ve got room for any card, ID or currency note that is slightly larger than the norm. It’s also more difficult to lose this one out of your jacket pocket, which is exactly what I did with my Essential.
2 – The addition of a transparency is exactly what I personally needed for showing my ID to the gate guards 4-6+ times per day vs having to fiddle around actually removing my ID card each and every time for inspection. Anyone in the service will welcome this and I’m sure there’s other jobs out there which necessitate similar regular checks – especially in the public/security sector where we’re often still using humans instead of automated doors and check points. Just don’t ask me who that bloke is pictured on my MOD 90, not met him in over a decade.
3 – An extra storage slot has been created right in the middle with the goal of providing a better stash point for notes, rather than having to wedge your cash in to a credit card slot. Crucially this one addition provides a proportionally very large % increase in carrying capacity vs the older model while not falling back in the trap of making you carry tons of shit you don’t need and never use. For me this made the Everyday a truly perfect fit for exactly the cards and cash I wanted to carry every single day wherever I go.
At this point I’ll mention the one failing point I have with any sort of slimline/essentials-only wallet and that’s carrying coins, it’s pretty much not an option. If you’re the sort to jam cash in a pocket you’ll be fine, but I’m not a fan of that myself and the one thing I miss is the coin pouch every other normal wallet that I’ve ever owned before featured. This design being made of a smooth plastic will lose metal coins, especially when they’re sandwiched against even smoother plastic cards. If you live in normal modern society I’d imagine your need for coins has pretty much been eliminated in 2017, parking meters and the like tend to advertise ways to pay on your phone even in some fairly rural places that I’ve come across. Maybe you work somewhere with an ancient vending machine but those are dying out or their contents being replaced with ‘Protein+’ versions of whatever snacks were in there before and I like to think nobody reading this page is blind enough to fall for that over-priced bullshit. In my job I do sometimes need coins to buy the odd snickers from the t-bar or bacon roll on a friday morning, because we still do some old school shiz like that, but if you live in a country with 1-unit notes or work for a company that’s not still kinda stuck in the 80s I reckon you’ll mostly be fine. I’d say even the need for any sort of cash including notes has been very much diminished at this point and potentially if you live in the centre of a large city you’d only carry notes in an ’emergency’ case of that one very unlikely occasion where folding money might be needed, but your contactless cards will be the go-to 99.9%.
In terms of general capacity in the Everyday, I myself have 2 different debit cards that I regularly use, my military ID, driving licence in the middle and a couple of notes and that’s all I’ve ever needed in the past couple of months of carrying the thing. I’ve never felt the desire for any more capacity with the exception of pieces of pirate silver as mentioned above. There is room for plenty more credit/debit cards or any sort of membership or loyalty card if you want to put them in there and on the occasion you need to chuck in a business card or any other thin item that comes in to your possession the fabric will grow to accommodate. There is also just about room for 1 item of contraception, and I’m sure we all want to be grown up and responsible in that area. I never need such things because I write a tactical blog, but I know a few of you folks are more tanned and lift more weight than I do.
Construction wise I don’t have a name of the exact fabric used, but if you’ve got any gear that uses Hypalon you’ll have a rough idea. Essentially this is a fabric in the sense that it looks to be ‘weaved’ from strands at some point in its’ creation, rather than just being liquid plastic that’s cooled in to a solid sheet and cut. Fortunately it is proving to be infinitely more abrasion resistant than Hypalon, it also turns away sweat and oils from your skin like a champ. There are 5 layers of this fabric (which is incredibly thin I should add) and they’re all welded together at the edges which Magpul claim are both permanent and impenetrable. I’ve seen nothing so far to suggest those claims aren’t true. Also much like a really well made magazine pouch, the fabric does grip the smooth plastic of any ID/money card well during carry, yet relinquishes that grip when you begin to pull out a card and break the friction bond.
The rounded corners make it fast and snag-free going in out and out of bags and pockets which is something I’ve certainly found I appreciate on a daily basis. It also keeps everything inside cinched tightly together and that means it’s nearly impossible for anyone else to see which pocket your wallet is in, a very big change from your old type wallet that’s got 2 years of receipts and a Blockbuster member card collecting lint inside.
The Everyday comes in the same colour options as most of Magpul’s plastic firearms parts and accessories and it’s actually made in the US, whereas most of the EDC-culture gear you’ll find out there which isn’t firearm related will most likely come from the same country as most of everything else. At $25 the Everyday is a bit of a price hike vs the $17 Essential when you look at the percentage, but based on carrying this fabric around for a few months now I’m confident in saying you’ll get many years use out of one of these. In fact I’d say it’ll last a lot longer than it takes any leather wallet to reach that point where the external smooth hide surface of said leather has gotten ratty and chipped and exposed the grey suede underneath.
What I’d do myself is keep a leather wallet in a drawer ready for any type of ‘going out’ that might involve a touch of class or just generally wanting to come across as not being any type of prepper or EDC/CCW type (for any reason you may personally happen to have). What I do myself for example is have a horrendously bight Magpul phone case that provides protection and easy spotting to use every day, then a slim, plain black phone case to take to nice bars and restaurants and the like where I might be wearing chinos or a suit and want to trick normal people in to thinking I’m a standard adult human. Same kind of story with my wallet and watch.
I’m really glad I took the figurative leap of faith over to this style of wallet and I’m going to continue to keep the Magpul Everyday as my primary day-to-day until it either breaks or I find something better. However at this current moment it quite literally carries exactly what I need it to carry and nothing more so unless the cards/cash I need to carry change then my wallet isn’t going to.
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