Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsDissapointed….. less than 6 months of life
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2023
I’m sad to say this is my first time with Jbl ( I’m actually a bit of a Bose brat ) especially since in the beginning I loved this little guy. I wanted a small but loud speaker to use specifically for my outdoor excursions, primarily hiking. Taking the chance, I ordered this just in time for hiking trip in Arizona at the end of February.
Boy did I love this so much! I use it if not dang near daily, it’s definitely weekly, so I get frequent use out of it. Mind you I already own the Bose sound clip mini (BSCM) so this is what I’ll be comparing it to.
The clip:
One of the reasons I decided to not make my BSCM permanent trip speaker is the clip. Unlike JBL the clip their clip is this kind of stretchy material that inserts in a whole so once the tension is released it automatically tightens into the spot. Tbh I hated this and ended up overstretching bc the places I decided to put it. Totally user error bc if you used it to only clip on things like your belt loop there would be no issues.
I absolutely loved the clip of the JBL. Typically I use carabiners to add extras to the outside of my bags like keys on my purse or hammock in my backpack and doing this to my Bose did not make me feel that it was secure. The Jbl however was a very secure clip and usually would go on my Fanny pack (completely unrelated but it’s a Naruto leaf village Fanny pack and it looked so good clipped on to this!)
The color:
for something like a small speaker I like it to be lighter or bighter colors so that I can easily find it compared to my usual go to black. Bose does not have the largest selection of colors for the BSCM, I chose the light blue color which is nice but I loved the red on the JBL.
The sound:
the JBL packed quite a punch especially considering I’m using it on hiking trips so I don’t need it to be obnoxiously loud( which is honestly my preference) since I like to still be aware of my surroundings and what not. I could have it on the loudest and feel satisfied with the sound abd the loudness. Comparing it to my BSCM, the Bose sounded even clearer and it’s idk maybe 50-60% high was the highest setting on the JBL. However for me this wasn’t an issue bc I wouldn’t really want it louder than what it gave me
…
However toward this last month, I’m not certain but I felt like the volume wasn’t getting as loud as it once did. Like I said I’m not certain since it’s not a night and day difference listening it as much I found myself making sure the speaker was clipped in a way that it was facing outward and not directly against me making it sound “lighter “ that I’d expected.
The product quality:
overall fairly durable… at first. Now like I mentioned before I basically 99.95% of the time had this clipped on to my Fanny pack or occasional my crossbody purse which always end up being about waist height or my backpack. Even if it had fallen, I’m 5’1” so it’s not falling from some giant and the clip was pretty sturdy so it didn’t get much rough and tumble. However within the first month of owning I dropped my bag and speaker with it off my desk ( so what maybe 3/4ft from the ground) and the face of the speaker came rolling off. It was an easy fix and I popped it back on. As time passed I found myself popping that stupid thing on more often especially within the last 2 months and all of this week, multiple times in one day.
At first it rarely popped off, typically from setting my bag to hard on the counter. Maybe around may I noticed that the fabric that is tucked around the edges were starting to unravel until it finally most of it didn’t even tuck in much any more when I popped the face back on. Super glue however made it work although not a noticeable change on keeping the face to stay on.
This week I was in Yosemite and of course this was the week repeatedly I would look down and see the face of the speaker gone. Meaning I’d have to back track in high 90 degree weather and in some cases back tracking the steepest trails to find the damn thing to pop it back in. I have to tell you I was damn tempted to leave it but since I wanted to be respectful to the national park and nature blah blah blah. After the 5th time in one day / my second day in Yosemite (I am not exaggerating and may even be under counting!) I finally just left the face of the speaker in my Fanny. Day 4(I.e. yesterday), my last day in Yosemite I’m on a trail that requires a bit more climbing up a clutter of rocks and boy was I struggling and focused. So much so in fact that I didn’t realize I was doing a lot of climbing in silence. Thinking my music must have paused or my playlist finished I look at my found to press play and I was surprised to hear my music coming from my phone instead of my speaker. My next thought is maybe the speaker turned off or died….when I looked down there was no speaker. At this point I had climbed and been trailing through shallow creeks and forest and it was getting dark. There was absolutely no way I was turning back especially since I had no idea how long ago I dropped it. I’d end up getting lost trying to find it and considering i didn’t even know if it rolled off the side of one the cliffs or hills or whatever, no thanks.
I was planning on doing a customer service call about my issues once I got back from my Yosemite trip but now I’ve lost the speaker and have no serial number it’s kind of pointless.
Overall:
It sucks since there are so many things I liked about this JBL but idk if I just received a dud or it’s the JBL itself which I know people will go to bat for. I was never very rough with it and honestly never took advantage of the waterproof thing since the closest it would be would be at the edge of the water or dry on top of floater with me.
I’ve bought the “cheap” speakers and have been satisfied with them but I liked the overall look, style, loved that damn clip, user friendly, Bluetooth connectivity, and loud crispness of the music. Since it only lasted me less than 6 months I’m not sure if that really is worth $50 bucks. I’m back to searching but overall it’s a great little adventure speaker just wish it didn’t fall apart so quickly
