Combining the open-ended nature of a clip and the purpose-driven function of a charging cable seems like a logical product path, but few companies have been effective at this strategy as Nomad Products.
After coming to market with the NomadKey, a keychain-sized microUSB or Lightning adapter, and following up with a credit card-formed NomadCard, the company got to work designing a carabiner with integrated charging abilities. The result is, barring proclivities for climbing, one of the most useful accessories I’ve ever encountered.
The aim for Nomad, according to co-founder Brian Hahn, was creating a really great carabiner first. Unlike its other products, the NomadClip, as it is known, performs a double function; it isn’t merely supposed to travel surreptitiously in one’s pocket or wallet.
NomadClip’s frame is built from a single piece of aluminum, with a spring-mounted metal clip that sits gingerly in a precise-machined groove. Sheathed over it is a scratch-resistant plastic housing, smooth and curved at the edges.
I took the product with me to Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, putting it under one of the most intense weeks of scrutiny one can muster for any accessory. It alternated between protecting my wallet when attached to my belt loop, or withstanding gravity’s pull with a half-litre water bottle bouncing on the back of my bag. Pulling back the metal clasp took just the right amount of pressure, the spring always reestablishing with a satisfying ‘click’.
Tightly fitting, the clip’s two extremes house separate USB and Lightning connectors, cables reinforced with rubber for strength and flexibility. I must have removed and replaced each end 100 times throughout the week, and they fit together as snugly today as they did when I removed it from its recycled cardboard box a fortnight ago.
Like the NomadKey, which is on its second generation, the Clip reportedly went through several design iterations before the company settled on a combination of materials that would stand up to the use one generally subjects a carabiner. The only thing Nomad says about it is that, for liability reasons, it is not usable for climbing. Rest assured, I believe it could withstand most else.
Pricing: $39.95 USD for microUSB or Lightning, free shipping to Canada
Highly Recommended
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