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Summer is upon us, and with summer comes all those outdoor hangouts. Music makes any outdoor gathering better, so you want to use aportable speakerthat can project sound far enough and sound good enough while being durable. Thankfully, lots ofBluetooth speakersfit the bill for this, ranging from more affordable ones to premium ones.
Whatever your price range, there’s a speaker there to take with you all summer to the beach, the park, the pool, or wherever else you want to take it. Read on to see some of the bestBluetooth speakersfor your summer hangouts and to see which fits your needs the best.
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Best outdoor Bluetooth speaker overall
Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3
Durable and loud enough to take anywhere
An ideal combination of size, style, sound and waterproof design makes this speaker very hard to beat.
As far as Bluetooth speakers go, theUE Wonderboom 3makes for an incredible outdoor companion. This speaker has a long 14-hour battery life, so it’ll last the whole day outside with you and your friends, and it’s durable withIP67water- and dust-resistance.
The UE Wonderboom 3 can get really loud, with great sounding bass too, making it great for the outdoors, since sound disperses outdoors a lot differently than indoors. You need that extra little bit of bass to make music sound better outdoors, and this speaker has certainly got that. you’re able to also pair the UE Wonderboom 3 with other UE speakers for stereo pairing, increasing your listening options.
UE’s Wonderboom 3 is my summer party essential
The Wonderboom 3 is a solid entry into UE’s lineup.
Best ultra-portable Bluetooth speaker for outdoors
An ultra-portable powerhouse
The JBL Go 6 is JBL’s most portable and most affordable option.
TheJBL Go 3is a really solid Bluetooth speaker to carry around, especially with the handy carrying strap on the side. It’s IP67, making it fully dust-tight and able to withstand full immersion in water one meter deep for up to 30 minutes. So if you’re looking for an ultra-durable speaker, the JBL Go 3 is a winner.
The speaker gets really loud, especially for how compact it is, making it perfect for outdoor summer hangouts. Sound has a lot more room to travel outdoors, so you want something that can really project.
The JBL Go 3 is also equipped with a really great battery life. JBL claims 5 hours, but in my experience, it far exceeds that, lasting closer to 10 hours. This speaker will easily take you through a day outside with friends, and it charges really fast via USB-C if you need a top-up.
Why this JBL speaker is my go-to beach companion this summer
Affordable, dust-proof and water-resistant, and loud, the JBL Go 3 is a sound choice for portable summer sound.
Best budget Bluetooth speaker for outdoors
Anker Soundcore Bluetooth Speaker
Save some money with Soundcore
The Anker Soundcore Bluetooth speaker is a great affordable option for anyone looking for a speaker to take outdoors. It has a very long 24-hour battery life, so you can use it all you want without worrying about the battery dying.
If you’re looking for a very affordable and compact speaker to take with you for an outing, theAnker Soundcore Bluetooth speakeris a reliable choice. It has a long 24-hour battery life, so you may take it out multiple times before you even have to charge it. And while it’s a Bluetooth speaker, you can also use it wired with a 3.5mm connection, if you want to save some battery life on your phone.
The Anker Soundcore Bluetooth speaker isn’t quite as durable as some of the other speakers on this list, being only IPX5. This means it can withstand low pressure water streams from any angle, but it doesn’t have any dust-resistance. While a little bit of dust certainly won’t hurt it, this isn’t a speaker I’d place directly in the sand at the beach.
This speaker is really lightweight, weighing about 380 grams, and it can easily fit inside your bag on your way to the park or the beach. The design is a bit plain, but that’s a worthy sacrifice for a speaker this cheap.
This budget, waterproof Anker speaker is my perfect audio companion
At under $40, Soundcore’s original Bluetooth speaker delivers clear audio come rain or shine – and even in the shower.
Best premium outdoor Bluetooth speaker
Bose SoundLink Flex
A more premium option for your outings
This is a tremendously capable portable speaker that use Bose’s Position Qtechnology to detect its location in a room and modulate audio output for the crispest, clearest sound. It’s also durable, rated to IP67 waterproof speaker standards, so you can take it anywhere with no fear.
If you’re looking to spend a bit more on a speaker with better audio quality, theBose SoundLink Flexhas you covered. This speaker has PositionIQ Technology that automatically adjusts the speaker balance for whichever orientation it’s in, so no matter what, you almost always have a clear sound from this speaker, whether it’s sitting up, laying down, or anything else on your picnic blanket.
The SoundLink Flex is IP67, so like the first two speakers on this list, it’s fully dust-proof and can be immersed in one meter of water for up to 30 minutes. It also floats, which is very useful if you accidentally kick it into a pool or the ocean.
This speaker has a 12-hour battery life, making it long-lasting enough to get you through one or two hangouts in a week without having to charge it.
Why this older Bose speaker has become my new portable go-to
After a month with the BoseSoundLink Flex, I realized it walked so the newest SoundLink Max Portable Speaker could run.
Best outdoor Bluetooth speaker with easy EQ control
JBL Flip 6
An adjustable EQ
The JBL Flip 6 offers a great rugged design and a punchy, powerful performance. It’s not the most feature-packed speaker you’ll find, but it does pretty much everything you would want it to at this price.
The JBL Flip 6 is a lot like some of the other speakers on this list – but what really sets it apart from the others on the list is that it has adjustable EQ. With the JBL Portable app, you may adjust the EQ to get whichever custom sound you want from the speaker, so if you need a bit of a bass boost or a treble boost or anything in between, you can do that easily from your phone.
Apart from that key feature, this speaker has a lot of other great aspects. Similar to many others on this list, the JBL Flip 6 is IP67 dust- and water-resistant, so you’re able to take it to the beach or on a hike without worrying about it breaking. It also has a long 12-hour battery life, making it great for a day or two of outdoor hangouts.
The speaker is also a great size for fitting in a bag, and it has a wrist strap so you can easily carry it around or clip it to a backpack. It also sounds really good, with passive bass radiators at either end to make sure you can hear all that wonderful bass from your music.
A year later and the JBL Flip 6 still packs the perfect portable punch
The JBL Flip 6 thinks harder about sound rather than turning to smarter features, and it makes for an ideal everyday speaker.
Best outdoor Bluetooth speaker for iOS users
Beats Pill (2024)
One for the Apple users
The Beats Pill has seamless Apple integration, unique among this list of speakers. It also has a great battery life, it can be paired with other Beats Pills in stereo mode, and most importantly, it sounds great too.
The newBeats Pillis an excellent choice for iPhone users, since it’s the only one that integrates seamlessly with iOS, making for really easy pairing and controls, as well as Siri and FindMy support. It also integrates with Google Assistant, for the Android users out there. And for your outdoor activities, like a lot of other speakers on this list, it has an IP67 rating, so you don’t have to worry about dust and water while you use it outside.
The speaker also, thankfully, sounds great on top of that all. It has crisp highs and deep, full lows, making for an all-around great listening experience. The 2024 Beats Pill has come a long way since its predecessor models, so you can be assured that Apple has improved on it quite a bit. You can listen to it using Bluetooth or wired over USB-C, allowing you to listen to lossless audio if you so please. Pair all of that with a 24-hour battery life, and what’s not to love?
Beats' new Pill effortlessly converted my picnic blanket setup into the ultimate private party
The Beats Pill makes its 2024 comeback loud and clear.
Best easily attachable outdoor Bluetooth speaker
JBL Clip 5
A speaker without attachment issues
Being able to easily clip the JBL Clip 5 on to various things makes it uniquely portable and interesting as a speaker. It’s an improvement on its predecessor, the Clip 4, with great sound and a long battery life.
TheJBL Clip 5lends itself well to being attached to things, it’s just built different. This ultra-portable speaker with a unique design is great for outdoor settings, especially ones where you can make use of the design, clipping it to an awning, a tree, you get the picture. Plus, with its IP67 rating, if you clip it up somewhere in the rain, it won’t suffer one bit.
In terms of sound quality, the Clip 5 is an improvement on its predecessor, theClip 4, in that it has a much better driver, making for better sound quality overall. Instrumentation is easier to hear individually, bass is improved, and voices sound great if you’re listening to a podcast too. It also has an adjustable EQ through its companion app, with several sound profiles to choose from for different use cases.
With the JBL Clip 5, I’ve finally found the perfect shower speaker
JBL’s Clip 5 speaker carries over the best parts of the JBL Clip 4 and improves everywhere it was lacking.
Bottom line: Which is the best outdoor Bluetooth speaker?
The Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3 is my pick due to its durability, impressive sound quality, and waterproof capabilities, making it tough to beat for outdoor use.
How did I choose these outdoor Bluetooth speakers?
These selections were based on thorough testing and reviews by Pocket-lint, ensuring that all recommended products are tried and tested for optimal performance in various outdoor settings.
Q: What is an outdoor Bluetooth speaker?
An outdoor Bluetooth speaker is a portable audio device designed to be used outside, providing wireless sound playback via Bluetooth connectivity. These speakers are typically built with durable features like water, dust, and impact resistance to withstand outdoor elements and activities, making them ideal for beaches, parks, poolside, and more. They often come with a long battery life to last through extended use without frequent recharging.
Q: How important is water resistance for an outdoor Bluetooth speaker?
Water resistance is crucial for outdoor Bluetooth speakers, as it ensures the speaker can handle splashes, rain, or even submersion, which are common during outdoor activities. Look for ratings like IP67 for the best protection.
Q: How long should the battery last in an outdoor Bluetooth speaker?
For outdoor use, a Bluetooth speaker should have a battery that lasts at least 10 to 12 hours on a single charge so it can provide music throughout an entire day of activities without needing a recharge.
