Every so often, a handful of ID’s get picked up by word of mouth on campuses or sites like FIDV (or Reddit back in the day) and become the unofficial standard for what a “good” fake ID is.

The IDs rotate based on Vendors who come and go and temps that change hand and hype that goes around. For a few years the Lucy MI certainly was a good example of this. My thoughts on that ID are in my post history. It was good, but overpriced and you were mainly paying for a passed down temp and the barcode writing. With Lucy basically off of the scene, Budget’s MO has been one of the ID’s that has risen to an occult popularity in its absence. While it doesn’t get as much mention on this site or online, on Midwest campuses Missouri’s that definitely resemble the copies of this ID that I have are spreading more than most other IDs, especially over the polycarb Wisco/NNY phase that was happening during 2018.

So I thought it would be worth doing a review of it, as there are not many recent reviews and most of the reviews of this ID lack photos of any kind or lack quality photos. This review will not rate it out of 10, but instead look at it from a more holistic approach.

The ID starts at 80 bucks and goes down to a very reasonable 30 bucks with a large group order (60+). For this you’re getting two Teslin IDs. Lamination is consistent on all copies reviewed. Front is a smooth semi gloss lam that matches well with the lam that Missouri uses. The back is a textured lam that is correct for both this and Michigan. The ID appears to be diecut, and while there is a slight lack of alignment, this is a problem with all die-cut ID’s unless there is strict QC and other corrective efforts.

As far as the ID goes in the looks dept (Template), this is an updated SPB temp. For a while in 2016-17, SPB’s MO was one of the “good fake” IDs, and much of the praise was directed towards the template. Budget’s printing has preserved the good things about this temp, especially the colors. Many MO’s are far too saturated when compared to a physical, which has muted reds and blues by comparison. Budget’s MO gets this right, which is key. As for temp detail, this is admittedly where Vendors and people like me are mainly geeking out, because for most of the college kids on here this ID will never go under a micro, and if it does, no domestic is going to look perfect. However the seal detail on this ID is particularly well done. Below you will see two 10x magnifications of the seal on the Budget MO. Below them is a detail of a lower quality MO by a different vendor, showing the difference in temps between the updated SPB and a generic MO temp. Finally there is a lower quality image of a U21 Physical that shows why Budget’s temp is closer (especially in the layering of the bear claw over the seal rings) to the physical than others.




Again for the college kids, this is not something you necessarily need to care about but because this is a holistic review it’s worth mentioning that this does make the ID a better deal because of it.
The fun stuff: glo-lights and perf holes
The perfs on this ID are acceptable and illuminate well with a standard LED flashlight. The positioning is correct and when not illuminated they are not visible enough to be a giveaway. The UV is much better than my photo is making it look. I did not have the 365nm light I usually would use for a photo and had to use a shitty 395nm light, resulting in the warm look of the photo. The UV layer is correct and illuminates readily to a UV light. The OVI for Missouri is pretty mediocre on physicals as far as quality and placement goes, and this one is fine. Missouri has no back UV layer because money, and this ID correctly mirrors that.


One easy thing this ID gets right that a lot of MOs get wrong mainly because vendors don’t adjust RTP for it: 5 digit zip code. Far too many MOs have an unnecessary plus 4 printed or a row of 4 zeros printed. Both are wrong and look weird.
In general everything related to RTP comes out well on these IDs: the signature looks fine on all copies I’ve seen and ear shadows are generous and dark, as they should be. While many customers will dock vendors for dark ear shadows, I can assure you that physical after physical will prove that darker=more realistic. All the address formatting and what not is correct, as well as issue date and other fields.
Scanning: it scanned and the entirety of the PDF.417 appears to be correctly written per AAMVA. This is not a deep look at the writing and I can by no means confirm what it will or will not pass, but anything reading just the bar code should not be able to distinguish this from a normal MO. Software’s that do more parsing and are sometimes comparing (BCS is the most well known but long from the best) I cannot say anything on, because that would require more analysis.
Okay speed round for newbs: It’s a Teslin ID. Don’t bend it, like a real one, it will bend in half, that’s not what the bend test is and it’s not for Teslin. “Is it the same material as the actual ID?” If you mean is it Teslin, yes, and thickness wise it appears to be within a 1ml of it, but as per usual for Teslin states there will not be an exact match on lams due to sourcing and restrictions, but the hand feel is close enough. “Do I have to care about the real ID star?” Not really, especially with the 2021 extension but it’s a good touch that makes the temp more accurate.
So because this is a holistic review, here’s the holistic TL;DR:
On Budget’s website, they claim that “We have the Best Mo on the Market” in all caps. While this is a big claim, I cannot think of a MO currently made that would be a better choice. OIS would be the only runner up that comes to mind, but it has clear saturation issues and the price point alone when compared to the Budget MO makes the Budget MO the better buy, but the Template and consistent RTP makes this the objectively better ID. For 80 bucks (and lower), you are getting a very good deal delivered in a reasonable amount of time. So yes, there is something to the many recommendations that this ID has on this site. I would recommend it.
Disclaimers: I was not compensated for the writing of this review. I will always disclose if I am. I have not used fakes personally in a long time, but instead have a background in checking them and working around them, so whatever that means to you, consider the review in context of that or whatever.