Best Bluetooth speaker ever? The iClever Outdoor Wireless Speaker just might hold the title, thanks to its good sound, rugged design and insane value for money. Here’s our review.
Pros
- This thing is built like a tank
- Sealed ports for IP65 water resistance
- Excellent value for money
Cons
- Bass reproduction is a little lacking
- A bit heavier than its peers
Summary and Score
The iClever Outdoor Wireless Speaker is one of the best Bluetooth speakers I’ve ever used. Its rugged design gains major bonus points for being IP65 water resistant, and its black-and-orange colour scheme looks nice too. The sound may lack a bit of bass, but it can fill a room without distortion or complaints. Even the extras are taken care of, with a tripod mount, auxiliary output and all the cables you need in the box. At £19, this rugged outdoor speaker offers incredible value for money.
See the iClever Outdoor Bluetooth Speaker on Amazon
Features & Specifications
- 50mm speaker, 5W RMS, S/N ratio >75dB
- IP65 water and dust resistance
- Bluetooth 3.0 (+EDR, range 10m) and 3.5mm
- 2000mAh rechargeable battery (10 hours life)
- Microphone for hands-free calls
- Charges via micro USB in 3-4 hours
- 98 x 90 x 50mm, 286 grams
Design
The iClever Outdoor Wireless Speaker is sensibly constructed, with sections of hardened plastic and rubber surrounding a metal speaker grille. The speaker is coloured black with orange accents, and there are Torx screws, ridges and lines to ensure it looks and feels suitably rugged. These also add more texture to the speaker, making it easier to hold onto.
Playback buttons are on the top of the speaker. There are four in all: power, play/pause, volume up and volume down.
You can hold down a volume key to skip forward or back. You can answer a call by pressing play/pause, or reject it by holding down the key. Disconnecting from the current paired phone is done through holding down the volume up and volume down keys; this will automatically put the speaker into pairing mode.
The top of the speaker also includes a wrist strap, which can be removed with a screwdriver if you prefer.
The speaker’s left side contains its two ports, micro USB for charging and a 3.5mm port for connecting a non-Bluetooth speaker. These are hidden behind a rubber seal, ensuring that water doesn’t enter the speaker here.
The bottom of the speaker contains a tripod screw mount, which could be useful if you want to mount the iClever speaker on your bike, car, or just elevate it a bit.
Overall, a good-looking and solid-feeling speaker.
Impressions
Here are our impressions of the speaker after using it all weekend, both indoors and out.
Sound Quality
The sound quality of this device is not to be underestimated. It can’t match speakers around the £50 mark, but it sounds brilliant for a £20 speaker, much less a water resistant one. The bass is a bit lacking perhaps, but otherwise the sound is clear and bright, with little distortion even at high volumes. The speaker gets loud too, easily capable of filling the average living room or drowning out the noise of the waves.
Ruggedness
The iClever speaker feels as solid in the hand as it looks, with a substantial weight and no discernible weak points. The rubber and hard plastic surround does its job in the event of a fall too; we dropped our speaker onto wood and concrete without more than a few scratches. It’s not going to stand up to persistent abuse, but it’ll definitely survive the odd drop or knock without an issue.
Ease of use
Bluetooth speakers are pretty easy to use, but the iClever did well to stand out from the crowd. It came in pairing mode out of the box and connected quickly. The voiceover – ‘powering off’ – was informative but a bit loud.
Its buttons were logically defined, and every feature was where we expected to find them. The battery also lasted the promised 10 hours to a T, and recharged in just three hours to ensure we were ready to go again the next day.
Wrap-up
The iClever Outdoor Wireless Speaker is a tremendous choice, a Bluetooth speaker with plenty of strengths and no major weaknesses. It can take a beating or a splashing, it looks cool and of course it sounds good too. Awesome, awesome, awesome.
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