UCLEAR HBC 120 Snow helmet kit
This is a photo of the speakers/microphone and controller. Not pictured: charger and various fitment pieces.
UCLEAR HBS 120 Controller
It's small!
UCLEAR HBC 120 Speaker Close-up.
You wouldn't want this right next to your ear on a cold day.
Reto-fitting the UCLEAR speaker to my Smith Variant Helmet
Once you undo the stitching on the top of the pad, drop this little baby into place.
UCLEAR HBC 120 ready to go.
Ready to snap the earflaps back into the helmet.
UCLEAR HBC 120 install.
Goggles, check. Helmet, check. Noise-cancelling speakers, check.
UCLEAR HBC 120 controller.
It comes with a clip that wraps around your goggle strap. Or you can mount it to your helmet with a provided adhesive clip.
UCLEAR HBC 120 paired with the iPhone and Rocking the head.
Easy to pair, and the speakers sounds very good at full volume.
My love for gadgets goes way back to when I was a kid and I used to read my father's Popular Mechanics magazines. After combing through all the little tiny ads in the back, I often dreamed of do-it-yourself go-karts, hover crafts, and one-man submarines. I was fascinated with all things mechanical and motorized. Perhaps if I actually read the articles, I might have gotten into engineering or some other career path. Instead, I ended up in Utah chasing the snow, but I still have that addiction to cool gadgets. Now that fascination has evolved to software and technology. The futurists who 30 years ago predicted that our world would be taken over by robots walking among us may not have been too far off. Walk down any busy crowded urban area, and you see robots wandering around, staring at their little screens, waiting for the next set of instruction and prompts. But I digress.
I recently received an offer to test out a new product on the market from a company called UCLEAR Digital. I have to disclose I didn't solicit this company, they found me from the Ski Utah blog, and my alter ego moto blog, http://itsallaboutthebike.com. UCLEAR makes several Bluetooth wireless communicator kits for various applications (ski helmets, motorcycle helmets, bicycle helmets) that all boast military noise-canceling technology, high quality speakers so you can rage with your tunes, and a full feature set of mobile calling and answering functions, such as voice command for calls pick-up. I was keen to try this gadget out, because I use a similar product on my motorcycle for helmet-to-helmet intercom, tunes, and mobile hands free gabbing on the iPhone. All this sounds great for listening to music, but their technology for hands-free microphones will absolutely blow you away. The UCLEAR system has no close-talk boom microphone that sticks out in front of your mouth, and that's a good thing, because if you were skiing with one of those things, well, you'd look like a tool. Instead, the two little microphones that are part of the speaker units bounce signals between each other and create a sweet spot that picks up your face. Not sure that it will work if you wear a tin foil hat, so you might want to leave that at home.
For Part 1 of this review, I'm going to focus on the product presentation and the installation first. Prior to even opening the box, I was thinking about how this would work with my Smith Variant Brim helmet, which already has the Single-Shot audio kit. The nice things about this kit, which features Skullcandy speakers built in to the earflaps, is it's simplicity. You just pop in the replacement earflaps, plug and play, and then connect your device to the wired controller. The downside is the sound is poor quality, and if you forget the little wire and controller, you are tuneless. I always seem to leave it in the pocket of my other jacket, you know, the one you are not wearing.
When I opened the UCLEAR box, I was sort of surprised. The little speakers/integrated mic were small and metal, with some velcro on the back side. I suppose the theory is you just stick them to the inner ear surface of your existing helmet earflaps. FLAW #1: this is not going to happen. They will be cold and uncomfortable. If they were meant to be installed another way, they might want to clear that up in the instruction manual. Since I had a spare earflap kit for my Smith helmet, I decided to do a little surgery and see what I could come up with. I was pleasantly surprised how easy this was to do.
With a sharp exacto-type knife, I undid the stitching on the stock earflaps, slid these little speakers in place between the foam and the cloth surface that touches your ear when the helmet is on. Voila, instant audio retro-fit kit. Fits as comfortably as the stock kit, and has a nice little cloth buffer between your ear and the hardware. I snapped the earflaps back in place. I thought about sewing up the earflaps to make this a permanent solution, but for testing, decided to leave them undone in case I need to move the speakers around inside the earflaps. The funny thing is, after snapping the earflaps back into the helmet chassis, you can't even tell that I cut them open. Nice.
So how do they work? Pairing the device with my iPhone 4 is just like any other Bluetooth device I've used. Turn it on, wait for it to be discovered, enter the code, done. I put the speakers to the test and fired up The Raconteurs, and was impressed with the audio quality of the speakers, way better than the tinny, thin sound of the Single-Shot Skullcandy wired solution. Stay tuned for a full-on review of the phone and intercom features, and the claimed weatherproofing of this device. I am heading out as I type to test this in blizzard pow skiing conditions! Guess it's time to fire up my powder playlist.
Your Comments:
Cn anybody tell me way sort of range can be expected with the intercom?
Here's an update to my review: apparently the mod I had to do to my Smith Variant Brim (2 seasons old now) is not needed with some of the newer helmets. My buddy has a brand new Smith Variant helmet, and the stock earflap kits have pockets for speakers. Sweet. Stay tuned for an updated post about how these work out on the hill. So far, so good. I'm really digging the noise-cancelling feature of these speakers, and the acoustics are far better than anything I have tried yet.
How well does the noise canceling work? Does it cut out 100% of wind noise as you are skiing/snowboarding?
Did a similar DIY mod to my helmet with a Jabra Clipper and a Skullcandy Tuneups set of speakers. Total was only around $100 with excellent results. Only downside was the somewhat small controls on the Clipper for volume, song advance, and call acceptance. Fine for fingers and small gloves, tough with larger gloves. All in all, very good combo for much less money.
Otis, the set I am testing was sent to me by UCLEAR free of charge to test out and share my experiences with Ski Utah readers in an unbiased way. After using the set up all day yesterday skiing POW at PCMR, I can add to the above review, the voice-activated call answering is money when you are trying to hook up with your buddies on the hill, although, when you are on a chairlift sitting between two strangers and you all of the sudden start talking to yourself, it's a little weird. To answer your question, though: a Google search of where to buy lists several retailers, including local ski shop Ski N See. The street price seems to be $229 for one kit.
for 2012 the HBC120 is $199
the upgraded HBC220 is $249
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At the end of last years ski season we purchased two units for skiing. Our primary attraction to the product were the military usage you describe. Keeping in communication among a group of soldiers is similar to us keeping in touch skiing. Wow, we were sold.
During the summer we purchased new helmets. Last night all excited oboist the Uclear and new helmets we paired them to try them out.
While reading the manual,vs the box, I noted the military communication is only good for a few meters. What!!!
When we ski I can talk to my wife in a normal voice at ten meters.
We feel that we were sold your product using a very poor description of its capabilities. At a minimum I expected line of sight intercom.
That said at ten meters the communication is clear. But skiing I am rarely that close.
We ski most days of the season with a large group of friends. We will not be recommending this product.
Robert,
You were a little confused by the review. The military technology applies to the voice recognition and noise cancellation technology that the unit features. The intercom on the HBC120 works farther than 10m but not much more than 40.
If you want increased intercom capabilities you have to check out the new model HBC220. It has all the same voice recognition and noise cancellation features as the 120 but it comes with an easier to use controller and a huge upgrade to the intercom system. The HBC220 uses what is called multihop technology. The line of site distance from one user to the next is up to 700 meters. However you can pair up to 10 people on the same intercom and that intercom signal can bounce from one user to the next increasing the range up to 1.5 miles if there are enough users spaced far enough apart. If user 1 is 700m from user 2 and they can see each other communication is crystal clear. If user 3 is an additional 700m past user 2 then all three users can communicate as the signal bounce off user 2 in the middle.
For 2012 the HBC120 is $199
the HBC220 is $249