Putting in the miles with the kit that matters

UClear HBC200 Force Bluetooth Intercom

There’s quite a choice of intercoms available now, all offering their own features and advantages. They all work in much the same way though – a wireless connection to other units, a Bluetooth connection to your phone or GPS, and a pair of speakers and a microphone to tuck away in your lid.

There’s no microphone with the UClear though – just a pair of neat speakers and the compact, sleek main unit. A pair of microphones are tucked away inside the speakers, picking up the sound of your voice even with an open-face lid. Clever.

First learning the button presses of a new intercom can be a bit of as faff (especially when you’re trialling multiple units, and have to use different ones every fewweeks), but UClear has come up with a brilliant free reference app for your iOS or Android device – guiding you through everything from the contents of the box to pairing with other brands of intercom, it’s an incredibly easy way to get used to the device. A simple three-button layout is a doddle to access with winter-gloved hands, and the main unit is attached to your lid with a very neat and compact self-adhesive metal clip. A small bulldog-style clip is also supplied for temporary fitting. The two speakers tuck inside the lid, and are only a fraction thicker than the speakers supplied with the Interphone I’ve also reviewed, despite housing the two microphones.

Careful positioning is important to ‘aim’ the mics at your mouth, but I found this no harder than fitting any other device; and not having to worry about where to put a mic is brilliant – no more foam pads touching your mouth, and no booms on flip-front or open-face lids.

Everything is linked via a small cable with what appears to be a mini-USB connector. This is a tight fit, so I make sure I grip the plug, rather than pull the lead when removing it to charge. Unfortunately a standard mini-USB can’t be used for charging, so you must take the cable with you when away. No great problem, but I do wish all intercom (and phone) manufacturers would standardise their charging ports.

At first, I found the UClears were too quiet for me – with earplugs fitted, and with the wind noise of even my relatively quiet Schuberth C3 Pro, both rider-to-pillion speech, and music from my phone weren’t loud enough. But UClear’s support is superb, and a firmware update was available on the website for both PC and Mac. Quickly and easily installed, it solved the problem.

When turning on, a couple of times my wife and I heard some noise and feedback, as the mics acclimatised to their surroundings. This very quickly disappeared though, and when we weren’t talking, the silence was stunning.

At higher speeds, some intercoms can make small noises that become distracting, making you want to cut the connection when you’re not speaking – not so with the HBC200, which keeps the peace, even with an open-face lid.

The advanced noise-cancelling technology does struggle to maintain clear conversation when you’re in the full blast of the wind and travelling at high speed, but for normal use (behind a screen, and at licence-friendly speeds), the UClear performs as well as other units I’ve tested – on a sports-tourer with a lowscreen they all tend to work best up to around 50mph, then start to break up at 60mph and above. A good-quality helmet for both users and a tall screen can make a huge difference though.

For rider-to-rider use, the HBC200 works up to 700m, but large groups can ‘hop’ between each other, increasing the range by up to 500m between each rider. The battery lasts up to 10 hours in use, and listening to music on your smartphone is easy at any speed once the firmware’s been updated.

The UClear offers a compact, simple-to-use form. I do still love the voice-prompting of the Interphone F5MC, but the lower price combined with neat design and the fact that there’s no need for an awkward microphone make these well worth considering.