With everything going cashless today, I’m not sure if people still carry around coin pouches.
In the days before cashless solutions such as PayNow or Google Pay, I’ve met some rich people who complain about coins being too heavy and would rather you keep the change if you do not have notes to pay for your share of the bill.
The missus and I are absolute suckers for pouches. We never get enough of pouches especially when we travel because there is a pouch for almost everything.
When travelling we operate a travelling pharmacy out of an elephant print pouch bought from Thailand (or Cambodia or Laos or Sri Lanka) and it is stocked filled with supplements, and various over the counter medication and balms for any unforeseen circumstances.
At home, we have a big red leather pouch that is dedicated solely to the safekeeping of Mahjong winnings collected from the rounds of Mahjong we play as a family. Mahjong at home is a bonding exercise and there are no sore losers because everything goes into a shared pool of money to be used for family bonding events such as dinners. So both winners and losers get to benefit from the rewards of the shared pool.
This GOX Coin Pouch was a random buy by the missus because having more pouches on hand is better than no pouches on hand.
First Impressions
We were quite impressed by the build quality on the coin pouch when it first arrived. It definitely felt like one of those products that are manufactured with a level of care and a quality policy in place.
Every component works as it should and the coin pouch feels like it is made from quality materials as opposed to the cheapest available OEM alternative.
On a hunch, I took a closer look at the type of zipper used and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the zipper used is a YKK zipper as opposed to some random cheap OEM zipper.
Consider me easily impressed.
What brand is this sia? Simi GOX? Never hear before leh? Not Fox ah?
What brand story? And who cares? I’m not sure if the people behind the ‘GOX’ brand were in any way inspired by ‘Mt Gox’ of the Bitcoin Exchange World. And part of me wishes that I can trade in every single $1 coin I can fit into this GOX Wallet into a bitcoin.
But their shop on Taobao is a legit Flagship store ok? And they carry a range of other bags and pouches aside from this coin pouch we are featuring here.
This is what I really appreciate about Taobao Shopping sometimes.
You really do come by good, decently made products made by Chinese manufacturers who make the effort to create a quality product for their customers.
As someone who prioritizes a useful quality product at a value for money price point over paying a premium for a known brand name, this is something I will definitely be keeping an eye out for their products in the future.
Features and Design
The pouch comes with basic but well thought out design features that will render itself useful to a variety of every day use cases
Material – Water Resistant Nylon
The entire body of the coin pouch is made from water resistant nylon which will keep your items relatively dry if exposed to the odd rain drop or if you were to carry it with you inside your pocket while running through the rain.
Common sense once again dictates that this is not something you go swimming with or subject to a drowning test.
Main Compartment
The coin pouch comes with a main compartment that is secured by a zipper and further secured by a strap with a nylon strap with a snap button fastener.
The zipper in the main compartment is a YKK zip which works smoothly and zipping the pouch open and close is made easier by the extended zipper pull.
External Card/ Ticket Slot
The external card / ticket slot is roomy and can actually hold two stacks of standard sized cards vertically in the same pocket.
That does mean that the cards are not going to be as secured in the card pocket as they would be if they were stored horizontally instead of vertically with the snap-on strap in place.
Carabiner
The attached carabiner that comes with the pouch is useful for keeping the pouch suspended within a larger bag you may be carrying the coin pouch in. This makes it easy for you to locate your coin pouch instead of having to rummage through the contents of a larger bag in order to locate the pouch.
Just how roomy is the coin pouch?
Take a look at the picture below and hazard a guess as to how many S$1 coins are packed into the pouch?
It looks deceptively flat doesn’t it? How many coins do you think are there in the pouch? 10? 20? 30?
Let’s see how many coins there are in the pouch shall we?
50 coins! That’s how many coins I’ve put into the pouch with room to spare. At 6.56g per coin, that comes up to approximately 328g in weight that is being carried in the pouch and feels like it is dealing with the weight quite comfortably without showing signs of strain.
Conclusion
At about S$8 per pouch this would not be the cheapest coin pouch you can find on Taobao but it is definitely one of the better constructed, value-for-money coin pouch you can get for yourself or your friend.
A similarly solid coin pouch in any retail store in Singapore would easily set you back upwards of S$20.
I rate this coin pouch a solid 3.5 Carrots out of 5 and this will integrating into my daily use or to break out as a travel wallet when the borders and air travel open up again hopefully by 2022?
Keen to get this pouch for yourself or for someone? Get it HERE!