Maverick Nica Bluetooth Headset review

By Torbjorn Kamblad, Sweden
for www.touchgen.com

Published: January 9, 2010

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The Maverick Nica Bluetooth Headset is indeed a strange fish in the ocean of games at TouchGen. It is a mono Bluetooth Headset, and that means it doesn’t let you play music through it. This is one of those useful tools that people use when they aren’t playing games. Actually you can still play games wearing it but you won’t have any audio. So why the heck do I care about something that isn’t completely game related? For one, having a handsfree option when out GeoCaching, walking, driving and working that doesn’t focus on noise isolation is really handy. Often I have found myself unable to wear my preferred headphones just because they isolate really well or become intrusive to my appeared attention. Wear a couple of Beats by Dr Dre when talking to someone, and watch their expression as you don’t remove them. The Nica is a small device lodged on your ear, and basically it is just like a small hockey puck. There is nothing inserted into your ear, and there is no large stick protruding from it making you look like an air traffic controller.

Upon first unpacking the Nica I was really surprised at the small size, and the lack of any visual microphone. I still don’t understand how this device works to be totally honest, and that is after spending months with it and reading about it. It just works, and quite frankly that is all I need to understand.

My first call was to my 85-year old grandma, and she is the best critique I have for making calls during the review process. She lives on an island in the north of Sweden with quite poor reception, and her hearing is not the best. Needless to say most headsets and headphones have had to be removed in favour of just talking in the actual iPhone. With the Nica she heard me perfectly, and she even said that it sounded better than when I used the iPhone by itself. We kind of had to test this as the Nica ran out of juice midconversation, and I had to resort to the iPhone instead. Not having the same electric system as the US where Maverick resides of course meant that I had to get a converter to be able to charge the Nica.

The following months the Nica alternated between my ear, and my wife’s ear. I have large ears, and my wife has small ears but both had no trouble using the Nica. It is so light, and after 15 minutes it is easy to forget that you are wearing it. 14 grams is not much to wear on your ear, and as nothing goes in the ear it soon becomes part of you. That is until a call comes in of course to rattle you. It operates within 10 meters(30 feet), and that is enough for us to leave the iPhone in the charger and still be able to move freely inside our house.

The quality of the sound is great for both you and the receiver. What it does lack is as I mentioned noise isolation, but strangely enough that is seldom a problem. I can still hear the person at the other end clearly even in a crowded room. The person on the other end gets more problem though as the microphone tends to pick up most vocal sounds. This still means that you have to take your conversations away from the most crowded situations. Sounds of traffic and other noises aren’t any trouble at all so walking along a road is not a problem.

The charger also needs mentioning for it’s cool design. The desk dock lets the Nica attach itself magnetically like the Macbook charger. It is a small tower that looks great standing next to the computer. The car dock is based on the same design, and it is easy to set the Nica in the charger while driving. This makes it possible to use the Nica on the road for the long trip. If you leave the Nica in the car dock it reconnects to your iPhone once you start your car. This is innovation to the extreme. The car dock is sold separately at $39, and if you have a car and intend to get the Nica you should really consider the car dock. It also gives you access to an auxiliary power jack giving you the ability to charge your iPhone or other devices with the same cigarette power jack.

No product is without flaws, and neither is the Nica. The execution, and details of the headset have a cheap plastic feel to them. The plastic surface of the Nica scratches and smudges quite easily, and up close it looks dirty. The volume buttons are hard to hit when wearing the headset, and the on/off switch feels kind of flimsy for the price asked. The answer/call button lets you gain access to the fully functional Voice Control in the iPhone, but it also disconnects the Nica if held to long. Used to headphones with Voice Control I have accidentally disconnected the Nica at several occasions.

The Maverick Nica Bluetooth Headset is an innovative product that gives you a complete handsfree solution without anything inserted into your ears. Great sound quality both in your ear, and through the microphone. Lack of noise isolation, and the fact that the microphone picks up other voices as well combined with cheap construction lowers the final rating. The Maverick Nica Bluetooth Headset is still the best mono Bluetooth headset I have ever used so far, and I have no trouble recommending it.

Final Rating

4-stars

Maverick Nica Bluetooth Headset at the US Apple Store $129.95

Maverick Official Nica page and shop $119

Review disclosure: Any games reviewed on this page may have been provided to us by the developer for the purposes of this review. Note: the resulting review score is never impeded by this fact, all opinions are that of the TouchGen reviewer and not the developer. This is in keeping with our O.A.T.S oath. Read more about O.A.T.S here

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