Portable bluetooth speaker s/d

As with headphones, it seems that there's a huge amount of these at a variety of prices.

Recently I've found myself wanting something for the garage while fixing stuff, or for listening to a podcast in the tub, or to take camping.

A coworker had a Wonderboom when I was working in a kitchen. It sounded great, but do I really need to spend $80?

What about reliability / battery life / longevity? Any thoughts are most appreciated!

I'd like to get a new one for the van eventually, myself. The one I have is starting to die.

I love my Anker Soundcore, use it constantly, charge lasts for a long time, sounds good, costs under $30.

The Bose Soundlink Micro is a fantastic speaker, great overall sound, solid bass response, long battery life. I've had one for years, traveled extensively with it, no durability issues. Amazon currently has it listed at $95.

The JBL Charge 4 is bigger and fuller sounding, I have one on my desk but don't use it all that much. It's listed at $99.

xp i have a bose microlink and really love it. it's great for everything, camping, traveling, working outside, etc., it sounds great, it gets pretty loud, battery life is fab, i've never had to deal with any weird bullshit when trying to connect to it, range is good, i've never had it drop out, i never have to update anything, design is legitimately appealing, no bright-as-daylight led lights. but yeah it's $99. i'm not team bose or anything, but a bluetooth speaker was something that i was ok with spending some money on to not have something cheap, bad, or annoying.

oh 'bose soundlink micro' is the correct name lol

a more expensive Anker one, the soundcore motion boom is a good one. I usually have the bass turned off because it lives up to its moniker alright and I have to show some consideration for the a-hole next door. Can't comment on the battery life because it is perma plugged in.

Is there such a thing as a pair of Bluetooth speakers that you can separate for wide stereo?

you can do that with two Anker ones with the app, there are probably apps for other brands as well - just Anker have become my goto.

although I'm just basing this on a yt review I saw - if you are an audiophile it possibly might not meet your standards of what wide stereo should be

Co-signing the Anker Soundcore

the funny thing is that the secret to audiophile stuff is that it's everywhere now - shit like soft dome tweeters, passive radiators - my Anker has both, that stuff used to only be in fancy speakers but it's all filtered down to cheap consumer stuff

it's just funny cuz people say oh audiophile shit is crazy, this Bluetooth speaker sounds great but don't think about why it does

Before I moved to a Sonos Roam, I used to have a Tribit Stormbox, which is well thought of and maybe a bit cheaper. If you want something smaller there's the Tribit Stormbox Micro 2:

https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/tribit-stormbox-micro-2

I bought my parents a JBL Flip 6 after research on sound quality etc and they are delighted. It sounds great to me (and I’m fussy), looks unobtrusive, only needs to be charged every few days. It can be paired for bigger stereo separation I believe.
Buyer beware, there are many counterfeits on eBay etc.

xp @ ums that's interesting!

thanks for the responses so far

another vote for the JBL Flip 6 here, it sounds great to me.

i've been a very very happy JBL user for years now, size, sound, convenience all work for me - bunch of friends (music people) all got theirs after hearing mine so it sold itself

have friends with anker who are big fans, the bose is good as well, know both the anker and jbl can be paired with additional speakers - assume bose would do that as well

ppl seem to like the Sonos a lot but never heard it

think basically price and design is what will determine for you, the three discussed most all solid options

After having (and really liking) the Anker Soundcore for 3 years I bought an Oontz Ultra, and from the get-go was hearing things in music I'd never heard via the Anker (and likewise wasn't hearing through my crappy headphones until I upgraded to $150 Audio Technicas). Battery life seems to be slightly inferior to the Anker but it's one of those weird deals where it lasts longer during both charge and discharge around the 40-50% area while going faster everywhere else.

Apparently there's an Anker Soundcore 2 now which is around the same price as the Oontz, 40, while the original Anker Soundcore is 30ish. The Ankers both have instant coupon deals on Amazon at the moment (2 off the original, 8 off the Soundcore 2).

I do not know if "oontz" is some kind of onomatopoeia.

I've had a UE Boom 2 for 7+ years, battery life is still good, and the sound is great - significantly better than the smaller Wonderboom. I take it all the time when travelling and try to take care of it because unlike a lot of Bluetooth speakers, the Boom 2 also has a aux-in jack which is a huge deal for me because sometimes I need a portable speaker for a non-bluetooth device like a VLF receiver or some Raspberry PI based SDR. The Boom 3 doesn't have aux in.

I was thinking of getting the JBL Flip 5/6 to replace my dead UE Megaboom (loved it, lasted 8 years, RIP) but got swayed into getting the Anker Soundcore Boost instead, thanks in part to this thread. Cheers y’all - too soon to judge reliability but pretty great price-wise and sounds good, loud af for such a little thing

We have the Wonderboom 2. I wouldn't look to it for anything like audiophile quality, but it puts out a nice big sound for something very small, portable, and most importantly waterproof. Great for the shower and the beach. The sound is pretty bass-heavy, and there's no EQ, just an "outdoors mode" that boosts the highs and mids instead. Supposedly if you buy two you can link them for stereo (or more expensive mono, if you want), but I've never tried that. Pleasant little unit all around.