Thinking of buying a portable speaker? With all the selections in the market, which do you think would be the best possible portable speaker that suits your personality and your needs? Do you often go to the beach, go hiking, or go biking? Are you the active and sporty person who wants music with them while doing all these activities? What about taking your music with you while surfing? Or you just want to have a small speaker with quality sound in your living room?
Depending on your needs there are different types of portable speakers that are available in the market. One of which is the BeatBlock WET wireless Bluetooth speaker. Couple of notable features of this speaker is that it has great bass sound as compared to other small speakers this size. It is not waterproof but can resist rain, water and splashes.
Technical Specifications
Size (LWH): 165 x 52 x 63.5mm
Weight: 346g
Color Schemes: Black, Orange, Red
Connectivity: Standard 3.5mm audio input and Bluetooth
Battery Life: up to 10 hours with its 1500mAH lithium ion battery
Frequency Response: 80Hz-20KHz
Warranty: 1 year limited warranty (Warranty will be void if submerged in water)
Pros
- Durability – Even if the unit falls from the table several times it still sounds great. The music even never skips at the moment of impact. It looks like a brick when it falls like a brick, it doesn’t break.
- Quick Pairing – You do not any problem with pairing your device to the speaker. With other devices, pairing takes quite some time but with the BeatBlock, Bluetooth pairing is almost an instant. It takes less than 1 minute to turn on the device and pair your phone with it. Pairing with your phone is never an issue. Connectivity with almost all devices with Bluetooth is the best feature of this speaker.
- Better Bass – Surprisingly enough the device has great thump in the bass. The bass sounds great on this small device at about 80% volume.
- Connectivity Distance – The distance of connectivity from your phone to the speaker can reach about 10 meters. Great distance for Bluetooth connection.
- Weather Proof – One of the best features which almost all active people who love the outdoors need. This speaker is rainproof, splash proof and weatherproof. It is not Waterproof though! You cannot take it with you while surfing. You cannot submerge it in water.
- Avant Garde Design – It has that unique rubber coating material and honeycomb design which makes it a greatly designed speaker.
Cons
- Not loud enough – Although it gives great sound it cannot go loud enough to fill the room with music. If you are about 7 feet away from the speaker, the sound is not that clear anymore even at high volumes.
- Unstable at max volume – The bass is good but the size of the speaker can’t take the bass at it will fall of the counter if it’s near the edge. At maximum volume the speaker will literally move.
Recommendations:
With a speaker like this, it is best for people who love to go to the beach, have pool parties and barbeques in their lawn. This speaker can be easily paired with a phone or any device with Bluetooth. Connection is quite stable at long range.
It is recommended for people who love to hear that bass. You can take it with you outside because it is weather proof. Not recommended to be used directly on water because it is not waterproof. It is definitely durable and recommended for the active individual.
Bottomline
Compared to other speakers of this size, this is a fairly great buy. With the price and the comparison of its features to other speakers it is of quality. It is not a perfect speaker. It has great bass but will bounce off the table if maxed out. So, where should the manufacturers strike the balance, putting more weight in the speaker because of the bass quality or lessening the bass power? One has to be compromised; nonetheless, it is a great speaker for people with an active lifestyle.
The connectivity cannot be matched. It easily connects with almost any device. The speakers design is simple and yet unique. It is notable in its size and portability with its rubber coating and honey comb design. It has that flat black look that makes it look rugged and has that dark characteristic. The feel on your hand of the device is quite nice.
Best feature of the device is its connectivity which is the major selling point of this speaker! You can easily connect it with any device. You can switch from using an iPhone to a Samsung phone or even a tablet that has Bluetooth pairing capabilities.
All jokes aside this is one durable block for music. The sound is impeccable and full of range. While pressure washing a deck one day and my son’s friends asked me if it was really water proof.. well I sprayed it, and my waterproof Kyocera a cross to the other side of the deck and they never skipped a beat. It still took calls in an out and at the end of the day it was still playing my classic rock ready for the next day of torture at work.
I have three of these units, there are some that sound better, some that are smaller, but the BeatBlocks are the best fit for my needs, and definitely the best size to sound ratio I have found. Great battery life as well. I had a issue with one of my units developing distortion after a few months. I wrote the seller, and they immediately sent out a replacement, and had me return the original AFTER I got the new one. Issues happen, but you can’t beat customer service like that.
I received a BeatBlock as a gift in 2012, and I have been extremely happy with the product. The sound quality is excellent. At higher volumes there is little to no loss of quality; the same can’t be said for higher priced competitors that I sampled at a local electronics store. The speaker does lack some low end range, but I honestly never missed it. The speaker is well made, durable and aesthetically pleasing. The 2 year warranty is exceptional for an electronic device, and I have been pleased with my interactions with costumer service. Overall, I think this is the best speaker on the market.
I gave these as gifts to my groomsmen in addition to picking one up for myself. I had researched many brands and models before deciding on this one and I am extremely satisfied with the sound quality, battery runtime, functional design, and ease of setup. It is a great speaker for indoor and outdoor use, and one I would recommend to anyone in the market for a portable Bluetooth speaker.
Have had my beat block for about 6 months and have loved it. Sound is powerful and crisp, Bluetooth has good range. Unfortunately the input for charging completely broke off inside the unit and it is unusable. Going to contact the company for a replacement and I’ll come back to post my customer service experience. Overall I think this is a good little speaker and I’m hoping this was just a fluke and not a design flaw.