Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Review Tuesday: Bluetooth Speakers

Ever since I got my first Bluetooth device I have been trying to find a decent speaker that wouldn't break the bank. Today I will tell you about my experiences with four devices.


ONVO
AJ-66 Blue 
This mighty wee speaker works as nicely as it looks. It's small stature is the direct inverse of its sound, quality and features. The fist give-away that this little guy means business is the surprising heaviness. It has various controls on the side for sound and tracking, so it ends up being much louder and well-sounding then you'd ever suspect. Plus it sets up very easily. Excellent battery life. I would definitely say that it was well worth the $10 sale price I got it for! A very impressive Bluetooth speaker.  On a side note, I never tested the microphone on this device.
Amazon 


Philips
BT50B/37
This was the first Bluetooth speaker I got. It was on sale for $10, so why not? It's simple, conveniently small and light. Sets up easily and the sound is clear, loud, and sounds good. Great battery life. An excellent inexpensive Bluetooth speaker. 
Amazon

R2D2
(Star Wars R2-D2 Bluetooth Speakerphone)
THINKGEEK had this novelty speaker on sale for only $10 (msrp $50!) so I got it for the BPMS STAR WARS 40th Anniversary Theme Contest display. Well, it did the job. It sets up on Bluetooth fairly easily, which is a plus. It looks very cool, another plus! However it's not very loud and the sounds is rather tinny and muffled. I didn't even try to use the microphone. I was more than a little disappointed with this speaker.
ThinkGeek 

Mushroom
This was the biggest disappointment. A friend got this device for me last year as a gift. He sent it in with a bunch of things for his mother for her to relay to me, so I have no idea where he got it from or even how long before it had previously been purchased. But this was before I had owned any Bluetooth speaker and I was very excited with this one. I had previously missed a sale on it that was less than $10 with shipping and now it appears in my hands for FREE? NICE!

So I followed the instructions and immediately started charging it up. The directions stated that it should light up while charging, which mine didn't. So I left it overnight and went about trying to set it up. Nothing. Maybe some more charge? I googled it and found out that this thing was made in China and packaged for many companies with different names and different prices but were all exactly the same. DEFECTIVE. There was some flaw and they just didn't work. So I tried to set up a return, but the company wouldn't honor it. I tried to order a replacement on Amazon, but after more than SIX MONTHS they never restocked on this supposedly waterproof Bluetooth speaker designed for vacations and fun times! 

This model wasn't the Mini-Mushroom. I don't know if that one performs better, but the big one was so bad that I wouldn't consider anything in the same family for a long time.  DO NOT RECOMMEND

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