Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2018
You want a review? Here's a review!
Talk about a damn good speaker for the price. You can't beat this value. I actually hear bass! I've had my speaker for a wee lil bit over 2 years now. So trust this is a proper review. If a reviewer got it, and it was broken immediately or shortly thereafter, yes, that says something about overall quality, but unfortunately, no matter the product lemons occur. Those reviews are totally helpful, but you have to weigh them against other reviews that may be more positive. And no, I'm not being paid for this review. I just feel that the more information provided on a product the best for all - consumers, manufacturers, and sellers. That being said...let's get down to the nitty gritty.
Price - done and done, son. You can beat this price. Even without looking at quality, <$30 for a portable speaker is damn proper. Usually, at this price, I'm thinking, "How much treble am I gonna have?" Yes "treble" bc for most low end speakers that's all you get - treble, and then, bass that is the equivalent to a soft unsatisfied grunt.
Charge - The charge does last a long time. However, I can now tell that the time between charges is shorter now. And in the past 2 months I've noticed that I can have it charging, not in use for a long time, but the blue light that indicates that the speaker is fully charged never goes on. This did bother me when it first started happening, but I now see that I still have a lot of play/usage time despite not having the blue light fully charged special.. Definitely 12+ hrs.
I cannot say exactly how much use time I get. I don't keep the speaker in use for more than 5ish+ hrs most days. But I do notice the frequency of charge. And now, after 2 years and many, many, many days leaving the speaker on, not plugged in, not in use (for days), I will have to charge it once during the weekend. That's the time I use it the most and when it might be in use for 8+ hrs.
Personally, it's not a bother since I can charge and use the speaker at the same time. However, if you're going on a weekend camping trip, especially if you've had the speaker for a while, definitely take a power source or an additional speaker. I'm planning on getting another for that same reason - one for home and one for travel.
Sound Quality - As I mentioned earlier, for a portable speaker, the bass is quite decent, as is the volume. I've had house parties using only this speaker and it was perfect. Now, I do only have a 2/1 apt, but on the balcony and even on the yard (if strategically placed) all guests were able to hear the music. Yet, it's not too loud to cause a disturbance. We've been hanging out till 6-7am, with the speaker on the balcony, without any complaints. Volume: Distubance = on point!
Set-up/Use - The set up is über simple. And you can easily disconnect and pair the speaker to another device. As more an more devices become simpler to pair, this is not as an important feature, but still one to note. KIS - keep it simple.
Not so short summary that is longer than the review - Hands down this is the best speaker for your money and better than many other higher priced speakers out there. I almost bought a Beats Pill, but decided against it after comparing price and reviews to Anker's portable speaker. And I decided, quite definitively, yes, Anker's portable speaker is worth it.
For a fraction of the price for Beats I encourage you to try it out. Especially make the leap if you are looking for a travel speaker. Because when you travel, things never go as planned and inevitably something goes to crap like - your trip itinerary, your luggage, shady hostels inspired by or the inspiration of an Eli Roth flick, lost chonies (look it up bc the "p" word is gross, girls wear those, and I'm a grown woman and I wear chonies/chones), lost passports, lost virginities (the plural includes one virginity for multiple individuals or multiple virginities per one individual - like if you grew a second hymen or are a born again virgin), lost souls (it happens), or even the loss of dignity. But through all of that, what really blows is the loss of a hundreds of dollars speaker that you purchased mainly for your travel.
If you get the Anker Soundcore, will you be protected from the aforementioned b.s.? Not in the slightest. But will you loathe yourself less when your bad ass portable speaker with 24hr charge is lost? Yes bc you didn't spend a few Benjamins on it.So now you can get a replacement. Or better yet, go ahead and buy 2 now and save yourself the hassle (but indulge in the Hasselhoff).
Moral of the story. Stop reading reviews right meow and get this speaker. It's good, it's a fraction of the cost of comparable speakers, the charge lasts forever (if your forever was 24 hrs or less), you can charge it and still use it, and does this look like a face that would lie to you? Exactly! Also you can use the speaker, connected to your Alexa decide to play music by the Hoff, without a hassle (you see why I did there).
Epilogue: On a side note, I'm currently debating getting this model (which I've had for two years, just reminding you in case you forgot or were distracted by to sweet tunage of the Hoff playing in your mind since you ahvent bought this speaker yet -Shame, shame, SHAME!), or the updated version. I've been pretty darn pleased with the older model. So that should also tell you something - the older model is so dope that I don't even know if I need the newer version.
