Portable Bluetooth Speakers

emulous74

Well-known member
Let's face it, the majority of us enjoy listening to some tunes when we are out of our vehicles and parked at camp or taking a break.

I've been through many of bluetooth speaker used for camping and have heard many other's speakers and while most get loud enough, the majority of them fail on sound quality. The introduction of the Sonos Roam peaked my interest, (I do have a full Sonos set up in my living room), it didn't seam like something I would want to take on a trip as it would have to be charged daily and didn't look like it could take the abuse it would most likely see. I read an article about B&O's latest offering and thought I'd give it a try.

Here's my initial review of the B&O Beosound Explore:


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The new B&O Beosound Explore outdoor bluetooth speaker is very promising in my initial listening to it. At $199.00 US it is expensive for a bluetooth speaker, with the closest competitor being the Sonos Roam. But to me the Sonos Roam was designed and intended for back patio listening or a day at the beach, not for extended camping trips. I say this as the Roam has maximum 10 hours of listening (reports are it's much less than that when you have Alexa or the like enabled) and the Explore has 27 hours. I personally don't want to be able to order something from Amazon when I'm out in the woods and an 8 hour drive to my home, I guess you could turn the lights off w/Alexa in your tent, but I digress.

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At 1.39 pounds (the roam is a little under a lb) it's a bit heavy to attach to your backpack, but the included carabiner and specific heavy duty carabiner attachment, says that it's up to the task, and the build quality of the Explore has been designed and implemented to take the abuse of being knocked around, dropped in the mud or the sand. It has IP67 water/dust proof certification, so won't last a day at the bottom of the ocean, but should be fine if dropped out of boat and retrieved quickly. You definitely can feel the heft in your hand and the anodized casing feels high quality and the included color matched carabiner is a nice touch. The webbing on the hand strap feels very stout. The design is typical B&O gorgeous, but it strays drastically in that you won't be worried if you drop this thing, let's just hope that the anti-scratch Type 2 anodization/coloring lives up to it's promise. Another nice touch the buttons on the top are designed to be used while wearing gloves. The heft also means it won't get blown over by the wind when sitting on a table. It's 4.8" tall and 3.1" diameter it does fit nicely in the hand.

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I'm writing this because I have very picky ears and throughout my life I have invested in both expensive and inexpensive speakers, but have always strived for quality. I can hear the difference in compressed and loss-less music and connecting to the Explore the first time and playing loss-less music from imported from a CD into my phones itunes player, I was blown away at the clarity and the clean bass just with it sitting on my patio's coffee table. B&O says it's designed with 360 degree sound up to 300ft away, can play 59db SPL bass (which blows away any other portable bluetooth speaker) has 2 x 30 watt Class D amplifiers, and 2 x 1.8" drivers. Frequency range is an impressive 56-22.700 Hz. What was impressive was it sounding really good no matter what type of music I played from Bob Mould's guitar to Michael Nyman's piano work, being able to hear nuisance and fidelity through a bluetooth speaker I haven't experienced before. I wish I had a Sonos Roam to compare, but when I read the reviews and looked at the specs, I thought it would only be worth while as a patio speaker, and I'd much rather have permanent speakers on my patio as recharging a speaker doesn't seem appealing for a constant setup.

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B&O's app is a bit underwhelming and it took me a few tries to get it connected to the speaker, but once it connected there haven't been any problems, you can adjust the bass, volume, and choose from preset eq settings. The only downside is it doesn't connect over wi-fi like Sonos Roam does, you can connect it to one other B&O speaker for stereo sound, but with the way this thing initial sounds outside, I don't think that would be necessary. It truly is designed as an outdoor speaker, because it doesn't sound as good when I brought it indoors. So I'm really impressed with my initial listen to this speaker, the real test will be taking it out on a camping trip, if it really can last 27 hours at 77db, it will be worth it alone, but if the sound quality holds up in the true outdoors, it might just end up being a great companion.

What bluetooth speakers do you prefer to take on camping trips and why?
 

kdeleon

Observer
I have a sony xrs5, sounds great with long batt life. Loud enough, i can throw a camp dance party with a decent bass. It's my patio sound system.

A friend gifted me a morimori old school lantern bt speaker. At first i didn't think so much of it but it turned out to be my goto chill time light source while playing some tunes. I retired my coleman lantern. Decent sound for some ambient music to set the mood in the backcounty.



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emulous74

Well-known member
The Beosound Explore will replace my old Kicker Bull Frog 400, it's a great sounding speaker, but it's really large, great for a backyard party or at the beach, but it's something you can just leave in your vehicle all the time, the Explore will fit in my glovebox and it sounds a bit better.

 

bear100

Member
I have a few.....kind of quirky like that!

The Jambox is really good with lots of decent bass and good sound but the Bose Revolve is fantastic all round, excellent sound, 360 degree sound, great bass, excellent battery life, and all the usual other features ;)
 

ripperj

Explorer
Wonderboom2- sounds pretty nice and decent battery life, I think 15 hours


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Nailhead

Well-known member
My UE Megaboom goes everywhere with me because it sounds great, is waterproof (within reason), and has surprisingly good battery life. When it craps out, I'll probably have to enter therapy. It's that important.
 

Mfitz

Active member
I agree with Nailhead, except I have the smaller Boom 3. I am not really sure why manufacturers put built in audio systems in trailers and truck campers any more, I guess some people are still using CD's- which is fine. I take my bluetooth speaker everywhere, couldn't be easier and more simple, control it all from a phone. Want better sound, more battery life, or more features? Spend a little bit more money. Built in speakers or head units? No thanks.
 

BritKLR

Kapitis Indagatoris
Been looking for something small and rugged for my next moto/camping trip and ran across the Muzen Wild Mini blue tooth speaker. Amazon had it on sale for $79.00 versus $109.00. Just got it and really pleased so far......kinda cool looking aswell. Solid metal construction.Don't need the flashlight feature but, ok to have it.

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4000lbsOfGoat

Well-known member
We use a JBL Charge 3. It's a good size, waterproof, pretty durable, sound quality is great, and only needs to be charged every few days when it's used a few hours per day.
 

DirtWhiskey

Western Dirt Rat
I've owned dozens of these. Doss Traveler has done the best job for me. Its been dropped in a fire, accidentally floated on the Colorado river. Sounds is great. If you need louder than this it's probably too loud for outside. 30 bux. I own 2. For backpacking or dayhiking I bring an Altec Lansing H20 Mini. Best of the tiny ones. True stereo. Very durable. Pairing can be fun but not too bad.

I've had the hot dog or "log" shaped ones. I prefer two speakers facing the direction I choose. Better stereo field and more efficient.
 

VanWaLife

Active member
It probably won't win any awards for sound quality, but I like my Milwaukee speaker, which is my truck stereo in addition to my camp tunes. Batteries are swappable, dovetails with the rest of the Milwaukee gear in my truck, pretty rugged. Most electric tool manufacturers make something similar.
 

NevetsG

Active member
Been looking for something small and rugged for my next moto/camping trip and ran across the Muzen Wild Mini blue tooth speaker. Amazon had it on sale for $79.00 versus $109.00. Just got it and really pleased so far......kinda cool looking aswell. Solid metal construction.Don't need the flashlight feature but, ok to have it.

View attachment 663512View attachment 663513

I got one of these, love it, and they are better then built-in cellphone speaker, but the bass response is limited.
 

NevetsG

Active member
The Anker Soundcore has completely blown me away, and I now have 3 (they are that cheap). I have one on my fishing boat, one for my computer, and gave one to the kid.

The sound quality is not as good as my Bose Soundlink mini, since it is not as punchy, but it does give the Bose a run for the money. The case is compact at 6.5 x 2.1 x 1.9 in, weighs in at 0.78lbs, and comes in 3 colors. The construction is amazing since it is IPX7 rated with a rubberized case, sealed buttons, and covers for the ports. Ease of use is normal, and version 2 has a built-in mic so you can take speaker calls (haven't used this feature yet).

THE HUGE kicker is the price at - $40 - . I sorry, but, IMHO, there is not any other speaker in this price range that can compete with it. I'm still scratching my head at the price point, and how can they make any money on it.

It has over 67,000 reviews on Amazon with a 4.7 rating.

Anker | Soundcore 2 Portable Bluetooth Speaker

Nuff said... Mic Drop...


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Outlaw ABQ

New member
The Anker Soundcore has completely blown me away, and I now have 3 (they are that cheap). I have one on my fishing boat, one for my computer, and gave one to the kid.

The sound quality is not as good as my Bose Soundlink mini, since it is not as punchy, but it does give the Bose a run for the money. The case is compact at 6.5 x 2.1 x 1.9 in, weighs in at 0.78lbs, and comes in 3 colors. The construction is amazing since it is IPX7 rated with a rubberized case, sealed buttons, and covers for the ports. Ease of use is normal, and version 2 has a built-in mic so you can take speaker calls (haven't used this feature yet).

THE HUGE kicker is the price at - $40 - . I sorry, but, IMHO, there is not any other speaker in this price range that can compete with it. I'm still scratching my head at the price point, and how can they make any money on it.

It has over 67,000 reviews on Amazon with a 4.7 rating.

Anker | Soundcore 2 Portable Bluetooth Speaker

Nuff said... Mic Drop...


View attachment 669040

I second this. I have one I bought 6 years ago with the intention of trying out portable speakers and upgrading to a mini soundlink when it died. Well it’s still going strong despite countless nights in the rain and living in an unconditioned garage. Honestly surprised at the quality for the price point.


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lugueto

Adventurer
UE Booms are popular around here. They have great sound quality, water resistant and are linkable if the group has a couple of them. Battery life is also very very good.
 

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