Anker Soundcore Flare+ Bluetooth Speaker with Strong 360° All Round Sound Fantastic Bass Mood LED Light IPX7 Waterproof 20 Hours playtime for Parties (Black)

Believe it or not this has replaced my Bose Revolve Plus.I had the Bose for a while but I was always disappointed with the bass. Whilst Bose have made a good product, there is only so much sound a single driver can produce. I felt a bit short changed with the Bose so I looked at other cheaper options that could provide descent sound quality.I saw the Flare had been released but I waited for this Flare + for the extra oomph it had. I’m glad I did wait. Overall I’m extremely happy with this purchase. The sound stage can be strange, as it’s not a ‘proper’ 360 degree speaker. Whilst placement of the speaker is important, it’s not the be all and end all as it manages to provide room filling sound at higher volumes. The bass button works well and does provide an extra boost. I leave mine on all the time as it sounds quite flat without it on.The app is useful and easy to navigate and it enables any updates to be pushed to the speaker. I use the default EQ setting as this provides a good balance of highs and lows. You can also control the ‘lightshow’ from the app which has a remarkable amount of settings to choose from.Sound wise, the Flare + can hold its own against speakers much higher in price. To my non-audiophile ears it can certainly get loud, easily as loud as my Bose. There’s also no distortion at max volume.The battery has been excellent, seems to hold a charge forever at 50% volume. The lights aren’t just a gimmick either, put them in the bedtime setting and some music on at low volume and you’ve got a nice chilled setting.Build quality is excellent. Compared to the Bose, it does lose out here. It doesn’t feel as premium but it’s 2.5 times cheaper! The build feels compatible to something like the JBL range. So if you’re happy with the build of them you’ll be happy with this.If this speaker had a different badge on, it’d cost twice as much. The fact Anker can make something as decent as this at this price point makes you question other manufacturers pricing.

After trying out a JBL Charge 3 (a knock-off bought on the cheap in Phuket), I decided to try a genuine bluetooth speaker with the option for stereo. During my research I was impressed by the the specifications and positive reviews for the Flare+ so I bought one in April 2019.The sound quality and solid, sturdy construction, battery life and ease of use lived up to the hype, and it performed well with my Amazon and Spotify playlists, as well as all the old CDs I've ripped to my smartphone.So I was very pleased when in December a reconditioned Flare+ came up on Amazon. Taking advantage of a money-off promotion on the Amazon credit card, I got my second one - for almost half the price of a new one. It's indistinguishable from the first in terms of packaging, condition on arrival and performance.Now they're a core part of my everyday life. I usually have them both in my home office, playing low volume chill lounge while I work. I take one downstairs with me when I have breakfast and it also comes outside with me when I fancy a spot of gardening or reading in the sun. They both even come on holiday with me - so far Thailand, Abu Dhabi, France, London, Mexico. They get much more use than the hotel TVs and I pack my original one for the beach, where my friends love listening to my 70s, 80s, 90s, pop, rock and indie playlists while they soak up the sun, sea, sand and drinks (I'm surprised they haven't bought their own yet!). It's now a little faded from exposure to the sun but there have been no other adverse effects.Highly recommended.

For it's price you can't go wrong: I put it through its paces with various music genres. Classical, EDM, pop etc, no distortion at high volumes, strings, percussion, brass and winds were clear and on point. No latency over bluetooth as I noticed. Also the build quality is excellent, feels heavy and solid in the hand. Very well put together and no fear or anything breaking.Update: Eight months on this speaker received a bunch of firmware and app updates. Battery lasts for ages on a full charge, powers off itself if left idle, and the many light modes it offers make it pleasantly relaxing to look at in the dark, especially to soothing music. Overall I will never buy any speaker again, apart from this one. Love my Soundcore Flare to bits: it will serve me well for a very long time. This will not disapoint.

Speaker is excellent. Pity about the App! It connected easily to my Bluetooth and has a good range but I have been unable to get the App to link with it. That is currently not a problem but might mean no access to updates or features.

Spent an annoying hour trying to get the Soundcore Flare app on my iPhone 8 working and connected but all efforts failed. It will not make a bluetooth connection with the speaker. It will make the Bluetooth connection sufficient to play music from iTunes but the app won't connect. There is no Anker support at the weekend and by phone to a UK number on weekdays its only 6am to 11am.Will update review if I get a result.Update 1 day later....Had a helpful reply to my Saturday emailed support question on a Sunday and connection problem was solved. Deleted then reinstalled the app. Needed to make sure that the Flare+ was selected on the app as it won't work with just the Flare selected (no +)Sound quality is great and better than the MegaBoom another family member has. Bass boost useful with some rock music. There are equaliser pre-sets for Default; Flat; Chill; Voice but there didn't seem to be much difference .Sounds good for my selection of Rock, Classical; Jazz on iTunes and particularly good playing Steely Dan's Goucho, my go to piece for checking sound quality as it has a superb recording quality.Just got off to a false start. I like Anker stuff. Their power bank and leads have been my favourites.

Excelente producto, buen sonido y excelente duración de batería!

Pour un prix très correct vous aurez une petite enceinte Bluetooth donc le son est satisfaisant si vous ne le poussez pas trop. Bon autonomie. Les jeux de lumière LED sont corrects mais ce n'était pas mon critère de choix premier. Je la commanderai de nouveau (ou la version plus récente) sans aucun regret.

The media could not be loaded.  These have a nice feel to them and look like they are made nice. But the most important thing in a speaker is its sound then its features. The highs and mids are good. The bass is ok but if you use Dolby Atmos and E.Q. it then produces nice deep booming bass. It just does not have a deep rich bass out of the box. It's a low sounding thump and gives a full sounding thumpy bass not booming bass.It pairs and syncs with no issues. There is some delay with videos it's better with one speaker but there is latency. It's less using 1 than paired TWS. The light show is an appeal its subtle being on the bottom but provides a bright light show. Battery life is good takes a bit to fully charge.Mine came with scratches on the USB cord and someone's hair. 🤨 See pic. I believe this is a used product or a returned one. I like these speakers they are good but I paid for brand new ones. Not returned ones. But I'm a cool guy so i don't care about a USB wire or a hair. There's always the possibility that it happened at the manufacturing end. ... Maybe I'll win the lottery. Same chance.These are $100 each $80 with the coupon which is a ok price but i feel for the performance $60 is a better pricepoint. The sound isn't great it's ok until you use an EQ then its really good. The EQ on their app doesn't work. There are better sounding speakers that cost less but you don't get the pretty lights. I'll bump this up to 5 stars because I like the way it works. Pair them together and you're set. Turn on and off and it does the same for the other. Once you turn off the light show you don't have to do it every time you turn it on.I wasn't initially impressed but after playing around with them and you gotta get 2 of them these sound great and are easy to use. No fuss with connections. 😎👍

PLEASE READ WHOLE REVIEW BEFORE JUDGING!What a great bluetooth speaker ! Only had it a few days now but bass response is so much better than another (much cheaper) make had. The light show, well I can take it or leave it. I'm not into that sort of thing (it can be switched off).The weight, well it's portable but not something I'd take on a trip (out of country) paired with my cell.I am really pleased so far.UPDATE AUG 20 2020- still performing flawlessly. Discovered there is an app in playstore (android) (and I assume for apple) that prompted me to get a firmware update. Takes a minute or two to dl/install.This unit performs above my expectations!Update Aug 30 2020 --Well, this is not a good update. Ever since I updated the firmware, the battery life is really bad. Before the update, it would last at least a week if not 2 weeks. AFTER the update, I have to charge it every day. I don't believe it's 20 hr battery life after the update. To be honest, I have not timed it but I have never had to charge every day.Downgraded to 3 star because of this.UPDATE SEPT 4 2020Well, I've upgraded this review back to a 5 due to the EXCELLENT customer service received from Anker. I wrote them regarding the suddenly degraded battery life (after I did a firmware update, battery life went from 100% to 30% over 6 hours.They responded by sending me a replacement unit IMMEIDATELY. Now, I don't know if it was because of the firmware update but I know that cell phones can experience that sort of issue after firmware updates.The only issue: I still need to receive a shipping label from them to return the now-deficient speaker.Way to go Anker!UPDATE SEPT 8 2020 First of all, I received a replacement speaker (no mailing label so you have to make your own when returning the defective speaker-Anker will refund shipping charges) .SO, I did a battery test on both units:Original speaker : because of a firmware update (notified by the android app), the battery life was really bad (mid volume level and strobe):9 am 100%11.10 am 80%3.17 pm 30%and now that I received the replacement speaker ( I did NOT do the firmware update):10 am 100%12 pm 100%2.30 pm 100%4.0 pm 80%5.30 pm 80% and off11 am (next day) 80%1.20 pm 80%3.20pm 80%Both of the above tests done at an easy-listening level (40%?) and light show "on".My suggestion is : don't do the firmware update at this time.Overall: customer service is great. I still love this speaker.Sept 9 2020Received email from Amazon my c.c. will be credited (Anker's instructions to them) for shipping unit back to Anker. They told me their engineer will look into the firmware update issue I told them about. It's for loss of bluetooth signal so if you don't experience that, don't do the update. They also said that if it is the firmware, it will be fixed.This is a great speaker IMO and Anker CSR stay with you if you have any issues with this product.

Pros:-Punchy sound for such a compact speaker-Full waterproofing mitigates poolside disasters-Well-designed, easy to use smartphone appCons:-Priced a little on the high side-Clunky voice control compared to smart speakersAnker's Soundcore Flare is a portable waterproof speaker — fully submergible in water, no less, so you’re safe if some idiot kicks it into your swimming pool at one of your many pool parties. Lucky you.That aside, this is a Bluetooth enabled, wireless, rechargeable speaker whose key features include relatively rich sound, a ‘soundstage’ mode and its ‘beat-driven light show’. That’s basically a multi-colour ring of light at the bottom of the cylinder that can be programmed, via a smartphone app, between a calming single-colour glow and a technicolour flash dance. It’s a nice touch, albeit a novelty.There’s a good chance you’re looking at this simply because you want a reasonably priced and compact external speaker for your phone or MP3 player, with decent sound quality and battery life. If that is the case, this is a satisfying little unit whose build quality, portability, battery life, ease of use and surprisingly punchy sound make it easy to recommend.The waterproofing is an excellent feature for peace of mind too. Being able to take calls feels more like a bonus feature than a deal breaker.I really wish there was a USB type-C charging port here. We’re already towards the end of 2019 and the USB type-C standard has been popular for nearly three years. It’s time to adapt.