Bose SoundLink Flex Bluetooth Speaker

I bought this speaker because I wanted a way to listen to music while grilling in my backyard. I had no expectations of it being a “party” speaker or anything of the like. But my goodness. This speaker punched above the weight I expected and what reviewers claim. They say it’s good for less than 10 people. Probably true if in an enclosed space. Outside, standing in the corner of my backyard about 40+ feet away, the speaker volume is at about 60-70% and with the air conditioner droning on I can still hear this speaker, and the vocals are clear, the instruments are clear, and there’s even some punch of the bass. It’s so much more potent than I expected. I actually bought a second one (the one pictured) so I could utilize Party Mode and Stereo Mode, and then these are far better than they have any right to be. The bass shook through the house at about 40% volume, to the extent that my wife actually asked me to return one and get some noise cancelling headphones if I wanted to be blaring music all day. 😂 So (for now), I’m obliging and returning one, but honestly, I don’t want to. One of these speakers are great. Two make a great portable stereo system. Now for the feature set. Key selling points for me were: 1. Durability. It’s made of steel and silicone, is rated to withstand a dunk in water and dust. You can enjoy this in the yard, on your workbench, swimming, shower, etc. I live in high desert, and the wind blew over these speakers from a table to the ground and they didn’t have a single dent or scratch. Which leads me to… 2. The device has sensors built in that detect its positioning, so the sound quality was maintained even if it’s on its back, side, or face down. None of the other products that compete in this segment offer that function to my knowledge. 3. Unlike other products that I considered, this sounded good right out of the box. Anker (Soundcore) offers some great competition in this segment, but needs the EQ tweaked to shine. They’re not bad by any means, but I wanted things to just be simple. Power on and go without fuss. Bose delivered that. There are similar products for sure. Ultimate Ears will also let you pair two portables to create a stereo, but it lacked the intelligence that this speaker did. We already covered Soundcore. Tweak with the EQ, save some money, you’ll likely be happy. These speakers do often go on sale, and I purchased mine used (like new) and refurbished respectively. The “Used” unit was actually brand new from Amazon, broke the seals on the box and everything. Far as I could tell, the speaker just rolled around in someone’s trunk unopened before returning. The box had some cosmetic damage but no dents, broken seals, and all accessories were obviously also unopened. Refurbished unit came straight from Bose. Also came with all accessories and literature, just a box that was labeled “Refurbished”. Warranty on refurbished or new are 1 year regardless. I bring this up to encourage you to save some money, reduce some e-waste, and buy secondhand like I did. No judgments if you want to go new of course! But I got 2 speakers, one that was new in reality, essentially $100 off the set, and I didn’t miss out on anything in terms of product or warranty. $150 is pricey for a speaker, but $103 for a Bose speaker is not. Especially one that can literally go for a swim. Four criticisms I’d like y’all to know. First, compression above about 75% volume. Your bass will flatline above this point to maintain clarity of the track as a whole. In reality, that just means you go from a slightly warm tone to a very neutral tone of sound profile. No big deal unless you’re blasting EDM, Hip-Hop, the like. As I said, this little 20W speaker carries enough punch that 70% was more than enough to fill my backyard. Second criticism is no biggie for me, but worth bringing up for those shopping the competition. I didn’t want to fuss with an EQ, but competitors do have them to fine tune your sound. Consequentially, the app is basically useless beyond seeing your battery life and an option on how to do party mode (not required). Third criticism is truly a nitpick, but why do I have two apps for my Bose products? Why do I need one for headphones and one for speakers? Wish Bose would put all their portable speakers and headphones into one app. You could easily knock out criticisms 3-4 by just putting this speaker into the Bose Music app, like my QuietComfort Headphones, and this VERY speaker's big brother, the Soundlink Flex Max, is already there. Why the heck is the Soundlink Flex not in Bose Music, with a basic EQ like the others? Fourth, this uses outdated Bluetooth. No big deal. Pairs easily. But don’t expect to watch movies or game off of this. Latency is too high. Anyhow, enough of that. Go buy one. Or better yet, two. You won’t be disappointed.