Price$139.95
Media TypeTrick
CategoryClose Up
Date AddedFeb 04, 2015
Cerberus Wallet
Meadows, Daniel
MagicWorld.co.uk
(Based on 2 reviews)
Named after the mythical three-headed guardian of the underworld, the Cerberus Wallet is a descendant of a Jaks Wallet, but adapted and upgraded so it can be used like an everyday store-bought wallet. The best part? The Cerberus Wallet is a monster by name, but not by nature. It actually fits in your front trouser pocket!
What features does the Cerberus Wallet have? Bills and notes can be carried like a normal wallet (All US, UK & Euro paper money fit) 5 credit card pockets & 2 utility pockets Driver's License window Internal & External Peek System Out-to-lunch System 8 Card Index System (Business card sized) Card to Wallet: Load & Steal System (Business card or folded playing card) Use as platform for secret writingWhat does the wallet look like?
Built from the ground up in high quality black leather, this feature-packed tri-fold wallet is a real 'all-in-one' utility item, just without the usual size.
How do I learn what to do with the Cerberus Wallet?
On the accompanying DVD, Daniel Meadows shows that Cerberus' bite more than matches its bark as he walks you through all the features of the wallet, runs through some example routines, and suggests further reading for some great Cerberus-compatible effects!
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: They're Rod Hot by Robert Johnson
Daniel Meadows: Cerberus Wallet Review
One DVD, 45 minutes, one utility wallet and $140 bucks. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.
Effect, Method & Some Product Quality too
This is a mentalism wallet that has several features as listed in the ad copy:
- Peek
- Load/Unload
- "Out To Lunch"
- Index
There's an overall issue with the wallet that will come up in the discussion of each component listed above. It's too small. If it were, literally, 5 or 6 millimeters bigger, problem solved. As it is, most of the functionality is hard to use.
For example, your business card barely, and I mean barely, fits into the peek compartment. Getting it out of the peek compartment is nearly impossible without mangling the card. The load/unload feature works really well with a folded (quarters) playing card. However, with a folded (halves) business card, it's way fidgety and a tight fit.
The out to lunch gimmick is probably the worst offender. Normally with OTL, you have about half of the business card beneath the rubber band/elastic that can be written on. In this case, however, you have about 32% of the card available to you beneath the elastic. Additionally, in order for the business cards to fit into the OTL elastic without slipping out the bottom, you have to have a stack that's too thick, so the wallet doesn't close all the way. Again, if the wallet were just a few millimeters thicker it would close just fine.
Speaking of the OTL component, the elastic is anything but. It more like a cloth band with very little elasticity, so the cards don't really stay in place. They tend to slide around, unless you jam so many in there that you can't easily remove them as you need them.
For the index, there are 8 slots. However, if you use the two top slots, the business card will stick out above the wallet. About 5 or 6 millimeters taller would do the trick. In the DVD, Daniel Meadows admits that it's too small to hold 8 business cards, so he suggests that you fold them. If you do that, then the cards go way too deep into the pocket.
If you plan on using the index, you'll have to cut some specifically sized cards (which he does not discuss) to make it work well. Further, four of the slots are well crammed into the corner of the wallet making access to them very difficult and less than smooth.
Ad Copy Integrity
The ad copy is fine. It simply describes the wallet's features. The problem is that the features don't quite work as well as they should.
Product Quality
The majority of the "Method" issues also kind of fall into the "Product Quality" category as well. However, there are a few more things to discuss.
The Wallet
The wallet itself is very good quality leather and would last a long time as a wallet. The problems, as mentioned, are related to the functionality and size.
The DVD
The DVD is just weird. The menu navigation is fine. However, they used a green screen or some color of screen. I'm thinking it was black because every time the wallet was infront of the screen, chunks of it would disappear into the background. Also, the lighting was very whitewashed. Anything he showed us that was white (e.g., business cards, billets, etc.) was very difficult to see. His face was washed out in quite a few places as well.
They didn't appear to be using very good microphones either. Additionally, whenever the camera needed to move down to his hands, rather than the camera moving down, he moved up. It was very bizarre and disorienting. I'm not sure if it was a camera/editing trick or if he was on a movable platform. My vote is on platform because throughout a few segments of the video, I could hear creaking and cracking. I was seriously waiting for the floor to cave in or something.
The Teaching
The teaching wasn't teaching at all. It was brief run throughs. On several occasions, Daniel Meadows said, "I'm not gonna go into detail on this [effect/idea] because I don't do it." Yet he claims that this is his everyday wallet that he uses all the time and performs with. If that's the case, then why is he not explaining the way he uses it. Most of the stuff he "explained" was stuff that not only does he not do, but he couldn't even perform it because he's never tried it or practiced it. This is not a guess; this is something he admitted.
Additionally, he mentioned that the one he was using in the DVD "teaching" segments was a prototype and that the one we would get is better. Specifically, he mentioned the OTL problem with the elastic. It looks like they didn't fix that in the production version. He also struggled (a little bit) getting business cards into the peek section which surprises me if he uses this regularly. Why is he using the prototype in his everyday work?
If it's because he hadn't received the production version of the wallet, why did he release the product and film the DVD before he tested the final version? Lastly, he placed a website on the screen that has more ideas, etc. for the wallet.
The link doesn't work. It just takes you to a "pre-order page for the Cerberus Wallet."
Final Thoughts
If you want a $140 4 - 6 billet index that can act as a "regular" wallet, this might be for you. As for using it as an everyday wallet, I was not able to fit all of my wallet stuff in this wallet. However, I understand the fact that everyone has different stuff in their wallet, so your stuff may fit. That aside, all around, this product, DVD, teaching, etc. is just not very good quality.
Final Verdict:
2 Stars with a Stone Status of Rubble.
(Top ▲)
I used to carry the Real Man’s Wallet as my every day wallet, then I met the Cerberus Wallet. The Cerberus is now my every day wallet. It is a top-notch tri-fold wallet that can fit in your pants pocket. No expense was spared in the materials used and in the manufacturing. Compared against top quality “normal” wallets, the Cerberus will rank just as high. The wallet measures three-and-a-half by four inches when closed and folded. It measures ten-and-a-half by four inches when it is completely open. Unlike many “magic” wallets, this is completely normal looking, has an ordinary bill compartment and could be handed out for inspection.
The Cerberus comes with an explanatory 45 minute DVD which is narrated by Daniel Meadows. The video and audio quality are excellent. Meadows credits scores of magicians and mentalists with teaching, inspiration and methods. He also suggests incorporating many other tricks with this wallet. The DVD does not demonstrate any full routines with either a live or studio audience, but instead demonstrates the effects while teaching them. This wallet is for performers and not beginners.
One of the strongest functions of the wallet is the peek function. Meadows gives a solid explanation of this function and teaches several different peeks. The wallet is also constructed so that the outer folds can fold into the middle of the wallet in different orders, which helps with the peek. This is not designed to peek a playing card, but to see written words or a drawing on a business card, billet or other small piece of paper. The wallet also has a simple and well-constructed compartment that enables you to do an easy switch of a small piece of paper or folded bill, which is also used for the index system. This switch is demonstrated on the DVD in addition to another type of switch using a different part of the wallet. Meadows also teaches how to load or steal a billet, which is a very useful function of this wallet. You can use this function to place what appears to be a prediction written by the magician and then load a different piece of papers, which a different prediction, without the spectator’s knowledge. The wallet also contains an out to lunch gimmick and Meadows quickly reviews how to exploit this function. There is also an index gimmick that allows you to access up to eight business cards/billets, although there may be some flashing of two cards. Instead, you may want to use the index system for only six cards. Finally, Meadows briefly suggest that you can use the wallet in conjunction with a bug holder or swami writer for various other prediction effects.
The promotional video is accurate and the ad copy is accurate. Although the ad copy claims that you can load a folded playing card, the card needs to be mercury folded and on the DVD, Meadows himself indicates he would not use this wallet for a mercury folded card-to-wallet effect. I agree. It probably should not have been included in the ad copy, despite the fact that it is possible to load a mercury folded card.
Although the wallet is not inexpensive, it is well worth its price due to the top-notch quality.
The Cerberus comes with an explanatory 45 minute DVD which is narrated by Daniel Meadows. The video and audio quality are excellent. Meadows credits scores of magicians and mentalists with teaching, inspiration and methods. He also suggests incorporating many other tricks with this wallet. The DVD does not demonstrate any full routines with either a live or studio audience, but instead demonstrates the effects while teaching them. This wallet is for performers and not beginners.
One of the strongest functions of the wallet is the peek function. Meadows gives a solid explanation of this function and teaches several different peeks. The wallet is also constructed so that the outer folds can fold into the middle of the wallet in different orders, which helps with the peek. This is not designed to peek a playing card, but to see written words or a drawing on a business card, billet or other small piece of paper. The wallet also has a simple and well-constructed compartment that enables you to do an easy switch of a small piece of paper or folded bill, which is also used for the index system. This switch is demonstrated on the DVD in addition to another type of switch using a different part of the wallet. Meadows also teaches how to load or steal a billet, which is a very useful function of this wallet. You can use this function to place what appears to be a prediction written by the magician and then load a different piece of papers, which a different prediction, without the spectator’s knowledge. The wallet also contains an out to lunch gimmick and Meadows quickly reviews how to exploit this function. There is also an index gimmick that allows you to access up to eight business cards/billets, although there may be some flashing of two cards. Instead, you may want to use the index system for only six cards. Finally, Meadows briefly suggest that you can use the wallet in conjunction with a bug holder or swami writer for various other prediction effects.
The promotional video is accurate and the ad copy is accurate. Although the ad copy claims that you can load a folded playing card, the card needs to be mercury folded and on the DVD, Meadows himself indicates he would not use this wallet for a mercury folded card-to-wallet effect. I agree. It probably should not have been included in the ad copy, despite the fact that it is possible to load a mercury folded card.
Although the wallet is not inexpensive, it is well worth its price due to the top-notch quality.