Zip card binders

Strap and elastic binders keep the cover shut, but the sides stay open. A full zip closes all four sides, so cards can't slide out in a bag and dust stays out at home. Both Dragon binders add a water-resistant PU leather cover and a wrist strap. Read are zip binders worth it? and zip vs elastic binders.

• Dragon 9-Pocket: up to 900 cards on top-loading 9-pocket pages, D-ring, 35 × 28.5 cm.
• Dragon 4-Pocket: 400 cards on 50 top-loading 4-pocket pages, compact at 24 × 18 cm. Bigger pockets for chase cards and favourite pulls.

Both arrive in a gift box, a birthday or Christmas present collectors actually use.

A zip binder suits anyone whose cards travel. Children who take their binder to school, where bags get thrown, squashed and rained on. Players heading to league nights and tournaments with a trade binder in a rucksack. Collectors who keep everything in one place and want the whole lot sealed when it's on a shelf. If the binder rarely leaves your desk, a lighter strap binder such as the Sleek may be all you need.

• Capacity: count the cards you want to keep now, then allow for growth. The Dragon 9-Pocket holds up to 900; the Dragon 4-Pocket holds 400. Our binder calculator does the maths for a set or a whole collection.
• Pocket size: nine pockets a side fits the most cards per page and keeps a set together. Four pockets a side gives each card more room on show.
• Loading style: both Dragons use top-loading pockets, which are quick to fill. With a zip closed round the outside, cards can't wander out of the binder.
• Closure and carry: a full zip on every side, plus a wrist strap for grabbing it on the way out.

The Dragon 9-Pocket takes standard-size cards (63 × 88 mm) sleeved or unsleeved, so you can sleeve your best pulls and keep them in the same pages as your bulk. Yu-Gi-Oh! and Japanese-size cards are smaller and slip in easily. Double sleeves and very thick sleeves add bulk to each page, so if you double-sleeve a lot, test a page before counting on every pocket.

Topps Match Attax and most Panini football trading cards are standard size (63 × 88 mm), so they fit the Dragon's pockets just like Pokémon cards. Thicker relic, patch and memorabilia cards are a different story: they may not fit standard pockets, so keep those in their own holders. Football stickers aren't cards and don't belong in pocket pages. See our football card binders.

Close the zip slowly round the corners rather than yanking it, and keep the binder upright on a shelf so the pages hang straight on the rings. Don't overfill: if the zip has to strain to close, move some cards to a second binder. If it gets splashed, wipe the PU leather dry with a soft cloth; the cover is water-resistant, not made for soaking, so don't leave it out in the rain.