Portable Bluetooth speakers - thinking of bose soundlink II

[p1tse]

Not the newest in design bose soundlink II as the III is out
So some offers at near £200

I like the size of it , mains and portable

Thoughts on this or others I should consider?

[bigandclever]

I've got a SoundLink Mini and, if being portable is the key, as a package it's great.

[p1tse]

Thanks

What's the battery and range of Bluetooth like?

[bigandclever]

Battery is easily good for 5 hours (Bose say 'up to 7 hours'). BT range is probably a few metres, but not really tested that. It is heavy for a little thing.

[FuzzyLogic]

I've just spent a lot of time comparing recommended portable bluetooth speakers.. For me it came down to the UE Boom by a whisker over the Bose soundlink mini. I found the output had a better 'surround', very good quality and it coped better with louder volumes. Battery life well over 10hours at a decent volume and bluetooth range excellent. The problem I had was testing a UE boom since the stores that had on on display were almost all out of battery.

You can buy them from Dixons travel at a big discount to the online stores if you are travelling

[rfsteel]

I had a similar quandary when looking for speakers in the US last year, I ended up getting a pair of UE mini booms, mainly as, like the previous poster, they sounded better than the Bose, with the added bonus, via the Android/Apple app you can pair the speakers together to either run the in stereo or doubled up, you can also alter the EQ via the apps as well.

For battery life, I get around 7-8 hrs per speaker without issue

[kazste]

Another vote for the soundlink mini here, I have a fairly decent stereo (arcam and b&w) mate brought his bose round without telling me placed it between my speakers and put some music on.
I could tell that it wasnt my system but it took me turning the bose off to believe the sound was coming from something so small, not to mention from a bose system which I never rated before.

went to the shops the next weekend and got one for holiday and garden use.

go and have a listen they are good if a little surface dependant.

[Du1point8]

I got 2 of these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/UGO-VS-4-0-Portable-Blueto...

Excellent bits of kit.

Does not seem its ever been officially released here.

Wont be as good as a bose noise wise... but then I didn't even pay a 1/3rd of the price of a bose for both, small enough for us to take on holiday/picnic/etc...

[FuzzyLogic]

One of the downsides I forgot to mention regarding the soundlink mini is that it comes with a charging 'dock' which itself is about the size of the bose footprint. If you are looking at portable, it is something else you need to carry. The UE boom comes in a plastic cylinder case complete with a USB cable & power supply (similar size to the Ipad charger) so in my mind is more portable.

[bigandclever]

FuzzyLogic said:

One of the downsides I forgot to mention regarding the soundlink mini is that it comes with a charging 'dock' which itself is about the size of the bose footprint. If you are looking at portable, it is something else you need to carry. The UE boom comes in a plastic cylinder case complete with a USB cable & power supply (similar size to the Ipad charger) so in my mind is more portable.

You can charge it with just the charger, you don't need the cradle.

[FuzzyLogic]

Ah, fair enough I didn't realise that

[StuH]

I bought a soundlink II for travel - it's excellent for the money IMO.

[kingston12]

p1tse said:

Not the newest in design bose soundlink II as the III is out
So some offers at near £200

I like the size of it , mains and portable

Thoughts on this or others I should consider?

I'd take the Soundlink Mini as it is still slightly cheaper and sounds almost as good whilst being much smaller. If portability is not key, the SLII is a good choice.

[Ionkontrol]

If you can live without battery sucking bluetooth, get one of these.....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/MINIRIG-MR115-Portable-rec...

[henrycrun]

Is there anything similar available with built in FM or DAB radio ?

[kazste]

I'm sure you've thought of it and it's not appropriate, but is the source capable of internet radio? If so you would save having to pay for extra features.

[thehawk]

I have a Bose Soundlink 1, has been with me everywhere and I travel 180 nights a year. Can't recommend it highly enough.

Nothing else comes close in sound quality for a genuinely portable BT speaker. I use it with Spotify and TuneIn Radio apps.

Edited by thehawk on Monday 25th August 05:39