Aleck Nunchucks Ski Helmet Speakers – Test and Review

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Updated April 9th, 2024

Manufacturer and Model: Outdoor Tech Chips 3.0
List Price: $129.95

Summary

The Aleck Nunchucks wireless ski helmet speakers have good sound quality and battery life. They also have a comm feature that runs through their phone app. They are thinner than most other wireless helmet speakers making them more comfortable to wear. They are the best ski helmet speakers around today.

Aleck Nunchucks Wireless Ski Helmet Headphones Review

I like listening to music while skiing. I have a hard time finding speakers that are thin enough to be comfortable in a ski helmet. I want good sound quality that sounds good over the wind and other background noise while skiing. I have been a long time fan of Smith Optics ski helmets. Smith sells the Aleck Nunchucks as the recommended helmet speakers for their helmets. They have square cutouts in the earpad foam designed to fit the Nunchuks which makes them very comfortable to wear.

I picked up a set of Aleck Nunchuks to try out in my Smith Nexus helmet this winter. Keep reading to get all the details of the Aleck Nunchucks wireless ski helmet speakers.

2 – Bluetooth Wireless

These speakers use a Bluetooth connection to your phone or other device to play music. They use an app as part of the paring process. The 2 speakers have a thin flexible wire connecting them. There is no wired connection to your phone.

2 – Sound Quality

The Nunchucks have the best sound quality of any ski helmet headphones I have tried so far. They have good bass output and don’t sound like they are overdriving the speaker during more intense hits. I don’t hear any tinniness at all like I do on cheaper helmet speakers. The volume can get loud enough to drown out any skiing background noise. The volume increase seems to jump a lot in the last few increments below full volume. At half volume they are not that loud. I find for skiing I am running them about 80% volume.

There is a sound mixer in the Aleck App that does a lot for making the sound quality sound more full. They don’t sound as good with default settings. I recommend experimenting with the app to get the best sound out of them.

3 – Battery Duration

Aleck claims a battery life of up to 18 hours on one charge. I have used to Nunchucks for 3 days of skiing without recharging. I pause them for most chair lift rides which saves some battery. There would be enough battery for someone listening non-stop all day with no pauses to get through 2 full days of skiing.

6 – Controls

Everything is controlled with a large button on each speaker. Control is done with button tap sequences from there. Play and pause are a single tap of the right speaker. On and off are long holds for the right speaker. Changing track is a double to triple tap of the right speaker.

Volume is changed by holding down the left speaker button and letting it cycle through the volume setting. It goes down in volume first before going up. This is the one control I don’t like. It would be better to have a double tap or double and triple tap sequence. It’s hard to tell when going back up through the volume scale what volume is actually set at until you hit play. If you don’t think it’s loud enough you have to go through the cycle again.

Com controls are done by single, double, and triple tapping the left button.

Holding the right button for 2 seconds brings up a voice assistant like Siri or Alexa. The one annoying thing about this command is that you hit it while holding the right button down for 4 seconds to power off. You always get a Siri activation when turning off the speakers.

Single taps and holds are very easy to do with ski gloves on through your helmet earpads. Double and triple taps are more difficult to do. I find triple taps almost impossible to do while wearing ski gloves. I can get double taps sometimes.

4 – Speaker Size and comfort

The Nunchcuks have a square shape and are about 2.25 inches on each side. They are just under 5/8″ thick. They are noticeably thinner than some other speakers that are over 3/4 inch thick. This allows them to fit comfortably in a set of hemet earpads without adding too much pressure. If your helmet has a removable chunk of foam in the earpad where speakers can go, make sure you remove it to get the best comfort from these speakers.

5 – Installation

Installation is easy. You have to insert the 2 speakers into your helmet ear pads. The 2 speakers are labeled with a big R and L to make keeping left and right easy. The wire connecting the 2 speakers is very flexible with a flat profile. You just have to then hide the wire insider your helmets earpads. These speakers have square shapes which works well with the square cutouts in Smith Optics helmets. You use the phone app for pairing.

9 – App and Com feature

Aleck has a companion phone app to go with Aleck Nunchucks and their other headphone and speaker designs. It allows them to work as an intercom using a phone connection. They do not need to be in range of each other with Bluetooth to talk. They can be any distance as long as there is phone signal. It also shows a map on the phone so you can see where everyone is in addition to talking.

Another good feature in the Aleck App is the Sound Mixer. You can use it to adjust the sound quality. I found the depth of sound much better after adjusting it with the mixer. The mixer also has several pre-set settings for different music types. None of the other ski helmet speakers have a similar feature. You’re stuck with how they sound out of the box.

9 – Charging

The Nunchucks have true USB fast charging. They can be charged in as little as 1 hour.

Recommendation – Buy or No Buy?

The Aleck Nunchucks are my favorite wireless ski helmet speakers. They have better sound quality and battery life than most other helmet speakers. They are thin enough to be comfortable in most audio compatible ski helmets.

See our guide to the best ski helmet speakers for other good options.

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