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Review: Nomad’s Base Station Mini is a slick and clean MagSafe-compatible homebase for iPhone

This fall Nomad has launched a variety of premium iPhone accessories including the updated Base Station Mini with MagSafe compatibility. We’ve been testing out the leather and aluminum magnetic wireless charger along with some of Nomad’s new iPhone 13 cases, check out all the details below.

Base Station Mini with MagSafe compatiblity

Materials and build

No surprise here as the new Base Station Mini nails it with top-notch materials and build construction.

You’ve got the supple padded leather on top with the clean matte black aluminum serving as the sturdy base. Two rubber feet run the width of the underside for grip.

The front features an intelligent status LED that dims based on the ambient light sensor in low light. The Base Station Mini is powered via USB-C (cable included, power brick separate).

This charger offers up to 7.5W for iPhones and up to 15W to other smartphones. Nomad includes a two-year warranty with its products.

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In use

I really love the overall design and feel of the Base Station Mini. It’s clean, minimal, and unobtrusive. The compact design means you can use it in pretty much any space from your desk, bedroom, to the kitchen, or easily pack it with you on the go.

I see Nomad’s quality and attention to detail on the same level as Apple. Some examples: the high-quality leather is very soft out of the box (as well as being padded), it uses a solid aluminum base, there’s a handy ambient light sensor so the LED status light doesn’t disturb you at night, and the 2m (6.56 foot) cable has a durable braided nylon exterior to stand the test of time.

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The MagSafe-compatible magnets offer a valuable upgrade to the older version of the Base Station Mini and it certainly makes it easy to place your iPhone 12 or 13 exactly where it needs to be.

My one critique of the Base Station is that the magnetic connection is easier to make with an iPhone 12 than the iPhone 13 lineup. That’s because the larger camera bump creates a little bit of interference with the iPhone 13. Here’s a look at that with my iPhone 13 Pro.

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If you have an iPhone 13 Pro Max, this won’t be an issue. But for the 13 mini, 13, and 13 Pro it will be. Nomad does also note that the magnets used in the Base Station Mini are weaker than official MagSafe on purpose.

One more thing to keep in mind, you’ll need to provide your own 20 or 30W USB-C power adapter as you don’t get one in the box.

Overall, I’ve found this to be a classy, and high-quality wireless charger. The Base Station Mini with Magnetic Alignment is available direct from Nomad priced at $69.99.

Nomad’s latest iPhone 13 accesories

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We also got our hands on the newest Nomad cases for iPhone 13 with MagSafe including the Modern Leather Case and Sport Case.

The Modern Leather Cases look sharp and are very well made, but I may prefer the Sport Case with indented rubber sides, metal buttons, and a clean design.

All of the new Nomad MagSafe cases also feature a neat integrated Digital Business Card powered by popl.

Other new accessories include the Leather Skin for those who want to keep things super minimal and the Nomad iPhone tempered glass Screen Protector.

Check out a closer look at Nomad’s Leather Skin and Screen Protector available for iPhone 12 and 13 in our full review here:

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Author

Avatar for Michael Potuck Michael Potuck

Michael is an editor for 9to5Mac. Since joining in 2016 he has written more than 3,000 articles including breaking news, reviews, and detailed comparisons and tutorials.


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