REVIEW – One of my favorite EDC categories to review is wallets. I tend to go for the minimalist type as I don’t like to go all George Castanza on what I carry in it. Over the past 3 years, I’ve reviewed two Groove Life wallets. Their original wallet back in 2022 and their newer Smart Trace wallet from last year. I liked both, but I had a few complaints about the sliding mechanism not being very easy to use. Well, they listened to the comments and updated the wallet to solve that problem forever. So, let’s take a look at the new Groove Life Groove Wallet.
⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $74.95
Where to buy: Groove Life
What is it?
The Groove Life Groove Wallet is a minimalist EDC wallet with a unique slider mechanism that lifts your cards out of the wallet for easy retrieval.
Tech specs
- Product Dimensions: 99.44 x 63.83 x 9.03mm
- Product Dimensions with Money Clip: 100.1 x 63.83 x 13.13mm
- Product Weight: 2.75 ounces without an attachment
Design and features
The wallet comes packaged in a tin box. Kinda neat, but it’s one of those things that you’ll probably just shove in a drawer. It makes me wonder how much it adds to the overall price.
The new Groove Life Groove Wallet is made of aerospace-grade aluminum and is only available in one color. As you can see here, it’s a gunmetal grey. It has a nice Teflon coating that so far doesn’t show any fingerprints, scuffs, or scratches. From the angle of the photo above, you can see the new feature that makes this version of the Groove Wallet much better than previous versions. We’ll get to that soon.
The wallet has a smooth front and chamfered edges. There are no sharp bits to cut or scratch your fingers. A strong clip is attached to the bottom edge of the wallet.
You can use this clip to hold folded cash. I folded 8 bills and it held them like a champ. That said, I’m not a fan of money clips.
I wouldn’t mind an option to buy the wallet without the clip. As is, you can remove it if you have a tiny star bit driver.
The business end of the Groove Life Groove Wallet. The “mouth” of the wallet can fit up to 6 cards:
- 6 cards with no embossed letters or numbers
- 5 cards with a maximum of 2 embossed cards
- 4 cards with a maximum of 3 embossed cards
How does it work?
When you use your thumb to slide the top cover upwards, it causes the latch on the left side to move outward which allows the cards to glide past it.
This allows the cards to rise in a stair-step configuration. From there, you can easily remove the card you want and press the cards back into the wallet where they are again secured by the latch on the left side.
The Groove Wallet’s sliding action is very smooth and satisfying to use. The cards are effortlessly lifted. That is as long as you don’t try to stuff too many cards in the wallet. I did this the first time I loaded mine and they would not lift.at.all. I was sure I had damaged the wallet, but I was able to use my Leatherman ARC multitool to grab the edge of a card in order to pull it out. From that point, I made sure to follow the rules above as to what types and the number of cards this wallet can hold, and I’ve had no issues ever since.
See it in action
Final thoughts
This is my favorite Groove Life wallet to date. It’s well made, looks great, and works great. The new thumb indention makes using this EDC wallet super easy and frustration free. It’s also a fun fidget toy! Bonus #1 – it blocks RFID skimmers. Bonus #2 – it comes with a 94 year warranty!
What I like about Groove Life Groove Wallet
- Same great design but much easier to use
- RFID blocking tech
- Fidget factor is high
- Quick card lift action
What needs to be improved?
- More colors please!
Price: $74.95
Where to buy: Groove Life
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Groove Life. Groove Life did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
Check out these other EDC wallet reviews!
- The hugely popular Ridge EDC wallet went on a diet!
- Fold, assemble, and enjoy – The DIY Lemur leather wallet experience
- Ekster Cardholder Pro wallet review – a new style wallet for all you really need to carry
Gerber Gear 22-47162N Fast Draw Folding Assisted Opening Pocket Knife, Fine Edge, Black
$50.00 (as of April 23, 2025 17:44 GMT -04:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
Gadgeteer Comment Policy - Please read before commenting
Great, for cards and quarter folded cash, but you don’t carry a license, insurance cards and others, just credit cards? These EDC gadgets are nice and sometimes tempting, but they’re not realistic being a true EDC item
If your driver’s license is credit card sized, it will work just fine in this wallet.