Ultimate Ears Boom Wireless Bluetooth Speaker - Blue

First off, I have looked around stores and Amazon for over a week searching for a Bluetooth speaker. When I found this one, I read up on EVERYTHING. I browsed several of the reviews and saw that even the though the majority were 5 stars, the 1-2 star ones were quite abundant--which was a red flag to me. Many of those reviews said things relating to the battery life and the speaker stopped working after a few weeks of use. These reviews really hindered my decision-making process. The look and design of this speaker was everything I wanted, but I did not wan to spend $200 on a speaker that wouldn't last or hold a charge long.But I gave in! I purchased a UE Boom having read several of the negative reviews and found that I was one of the fortunate ones! This speaker is absolutely amazing. It is very loud, and the design is spectacular. It is the perfect speaker for being outdoors and moving about! Being the careful person I am, I also purchased the Molded Hardshell Case from Amazon (Surf To Summit vendor). Although I did not like the price of it, it is definitely well-built and fits the UE Boom very well and you can listen to music even with the case on without any degradation in quality. I have no regrets buying the UE Boom or the case for it! I definitely recommend both.When I first turned on the speaker, it had 50% battery life. I started playing music at about 50% volume on my iPod and had the speaker volume around 75%. I was shocked at the battery life. I played it from 9:00am until 8:00pm, and it went from 50% to 20%. After that, I charged the speaker back up to 100%, which took about 3 hours. Then I went ahead and tested it for real! I turned the volume on the speaker to full, and listened to different volume levels on my iPod. After hours of testing I've found that keeping the speaker volume at full, and your mp3 device around 50% volume, this speaker will lose 10% charge after about 70-80 minutes give or take. This is about 13 hours or so for the battery life, which I feel is great considering how loud 50% is on your device with the speaker on full blast.I took it outside to the tennis court to test the battery life with the volume turned up louder as well as testing the Bluetooth distance and quality. I had the speaker all the way up, and my iPod around 75-80% volume. This is where the battery life drained faster, as after testing it for 5 hours, the battery charge went from 90% to 30%. So if you plan on keeping the volume high and cranking the tunes, plan on losing about 12-15% of battery charge per hour. --As for the Bluetooth, the company claims 50 feet. Well, with my phone (Moto X) and my UE Boom, I stood 100+ feet from the speaker in clear sight (end of double tennis court to the other) and it was getting perfect reception. Now, that's in clear sight with nothing blocking the path. I have played games of tennis with my phone in my pocket playing music and have not had any issues with it cutting out, with the distance during play ranging from 10 feet to 60 feet away. I also tested it in my house and saw that the range was around 30ft before it started cutting out. But that was going through walls and such.So in conclusion, I am exceptionally happy with my purchase. This thing gets 2 thumbs up, 5/5 stars! I'm upset that 2 weeks after I purchased it, the price dropped $20! But what can you do... I downloaded the UE Boom app for my Android phone, and it works very well. You can name the speaker, tweak the EQ settings or choose from a couple presets, and also check the battery level.One last thing, the battery is NOT REPLACEABLE. There are instructions that come with it that shows the user how to remove the li-ion battery that is inside to dispose of it, but Logitech (Ultimate Ears) has not produced any replacement batteries for this speaker. I believe they say this battery should last about 500 charges or so they say. I sure hope it can last that long! I only charge this thing like twice a week tops, so that's years of use for me if it will last the 500 charges. Maybe down the road Logitech will get enough complaints about not having replacement batteries for this speaker and start selling them. Until then, I just hope that this battery will last me a very long time!

I'll start out by saying that I'm a 20-something male that enjoys traveling and I wanted something that I could bring with me to various places including friends' houses, the beach, the mountains, etc. Essentially, I wanted a bluetooth speaker that is rugged and can take a little moisture and a decent level of bruising (for accidents), but also sounds great at all sound levels with any genre. I've owned this for approximately 4 weeks now, so I'll address a few common concerns first among people in the same boat that I was:Battery Life:Absolutely this has the longevity that it claims. I haven't measured to exactly 15 hours at half volume because I'm not a tester. I do use it about 1 hour daily at half volume (the range is 0-15, so I used '7'), as well as about 5-6 hours/night when I sleep at a lower volume. Normally I will charge it about once every 10-14 days. Charging from < 10% takes approximately 2.5-3 hours.Volume:Half volume (7-8) is plenty, unless you plan to rig the sound system at Dallas Cowboy's stadium. This speaker produces a surprising volume. I use 7 when I'm by myself in my apartment and it pretty much fills the place (in all honesty, it's sometimes too loud, depending on what I'm listening to). In more open environments, even 8 is generally plenty, but it still performs well at louder sound levels.Sound:I split this up into volume/sound because they're different things. Let's transition this by discussing sound distortion at higher sound levels: to be honest, I only tried to max out the volume a handful of times, and during those times, no distortion was noticeable at very high volume. Otherwise, the sound seems to be very full and rich. It delivers great highs, mids, and lows. Its lower threshold is probably around 50Hz, if I had to take a guess. All-around great sound for any kind of music.Ruggedness:I've dropped it a few times on my carpeted floor and tossed it around a bit. It's been at a blazing hot worksite and at the beach twice and at the pool twice. It also was in my checked baggage on two connecting flights across the country (we all know how gentle the kind airline staff are with our luggage). Of course, I've only had it for about four weeks, but it still sounds great and there's nothing noticeably different than the first day I bought it (cosmetically, audibly, or otherwise). As much as I'd like to test the limits of this device for testing purposes, I'd still like to see this speaker last a while.Connectivity:This is something that really impressed me. First of all, it pairs in literally under 5 seconds (including the first time it paired to my phone). With a clear line-of-sight, I've walked approximately 80 feet away before the sound dropped (they claim 50 feet). I've also walked around my apartment with my phone (player) in my pocket and it still played while in another room and through walls. However, I did notice that if it goes through too many walls, it seems to drop sporadically or altogether. All-around great connectivity, though.App:The UE Boom app is basic, which is great. You have four pre-set EQ settings and that's it. I'd much rather be able to choose which frequencies to amplify; the app doesn't even show you what is changing from setting-to-setting, and I generally can't tell much of a difference between any of them. In the end, your pairing device has specific EQ settings, too, so it's probably to change it on there anyways. You can double up with another UE boom (never tried this), check your battery (more on this below), and a few other misc things like alarms, etc.Speakerphone:This is something that I actually use frequently. My apartment doesn't have the best reception for phone service except near the windows. When I'm on the phone, I will often set my phone near the window and bring my speakerphone around my apartment so that I can have conversations while I'm walking around. This is one feature I truly enjoy, because my signal will drop completely about 15 feet away from my windows. Sound quality during calls sounds better than the speaker on my phone. Logitech claims dual microphones, but I don't know where they are (this would influence where I hold the speaker).Misc:You can check the battery by pressing the + and - symbols simultaneously. Power button and bluetooth pairing button top. Charging port, audio input (cable not included), and tripod hookup on bottom. Price is a bit much, but I would truly say that it's worth the price, as long as it continues to last for a few more years.*****Conclusion:Has great volume, great sound, with a long-lasting battery, excellent build quality, and maintains connection with a reasonable distance from the paired device. In all honesty, I wasn't even considering this price range for bluetooth speakers, but I did a lot of research before purchasing this and chose this because of how well everyone had described the important factors listed above. While I haven't physically compared other devices, this speaker has met and exceeded my expectations in virtually all major areas. If you're in the market for a bluetooth speaker, and even if you've been thinking about buying a slightly less expensive one, I would definitely recommend this one. In the end, good luck with your shopping and decision!

Really fun product, east to use, great sound. So cute!

Love this. Great distance. When my phone is in range it automatically connects!

Great sound I will be buying another to complete the pair.

Turns my Apple phone into a excellent device for a conference call

I have seven EU speakers. Purchased this one due to price and tried to set it up using the Boom app. It told me I had to download a software update to do anything. Tired to download from website given to me by Amazon chat. Website did not exist. Contacted EU, had a confirmation that they received my message and never heard from them again. Contacted Amazon chat and received full credit.