How to Choose the Best Bluetooth Speaker for Summer Fun

There’s no better season than summer to be out and about, hitting the beach, pool, or campground, and there’s no better way to amp up your enjoyment of these lovely locales than with some music.

A great Bluetooth speaker should be in everyone’s tech quiver (along with excellent earbuds). Still, when choosing the best for outdoor summer situations, you want one that sounds great, is rugged enough to withstand a few knocks and a dip in the pool, has excellent battery life, and is portable enough for your needs.

It Has to Sound Good Outside

Call me Captain Obvious, but when choosing a Bluetooth speaker, it has to sound great. However, it stands to reason that a speaker on a shelf in your living room with walls, furniture, and other surfaces to bounce and absorb sound is going to sound different than one outside surrounded by open air.

The trouble is, bass frequencies tend to get lost outdoors, and can take away some of the full, impactful sound you want. To combat that, we recommend looking for a Bluetooth speaker that offers more in the bass department. A great way to ensure this is to choose a speaker that has either a bass boost feature (most do these days) or a companion app that you can use to adjust the EQ of the speaker to give it some extra bottom-end thump. Sony’s latest Field ULT lineup comes to mind with their dedicated ULT bass boost buttons.

Additionally, another great way to get the outdoor bass you want is with a speaker that packs enough power to get loud enough for the open space you’re in, be it by the pool or on the beach. Smaller, super-compact speakers might not do the job if a bigger, bassier sound is your priority, so we recommend choosing at least a mid-sized speaker.

Alternatively, compact speakers that can be linked together for a larger array (more on this later) can also sound big and cover larger areas, too.

Connectivity

Bluetooth 5.3 with Auracast

Weight

4.6lbs

The JBL Xtreme 4 pumps out impressive bass and clear mids and highs, with enough volume to not get lost in the open air of your camping or beach day.

Make Sure It’s Water and Dust Proof

Nothing can grind a great pool party to a halt like a rogue cannonball washing the Bluetooth speaker clear off the deck. To ensure the party keeps going rain or shine, sand or swim, you need a Bluetooth speaker with an IP rating to suit your needs.

“Ingress Protection” ratings are an internationally recognized and standardized code that identifies the levels at which everyday electronics such as speakers and headphones can repel water and/or dust and debris.

To understand what you’re reading with an IP rating—let’s say “IP67”— the first number after the “IP” represents the device’s level of protection from dust and debris (including insects), and it ranges from zero to six. The second number represents its water resistance, from light splashes to full immersion, represented by a current range of zero to nine. You may see an IP rating with an X, such as “IPX5.” This just means that the product either has no protection or it hasn’t been tested yet.

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With regards to Bluetooth speakers suitable for outdoors, the one you choose is going to depend on how you plan to use it. On one end of the spectrum, for outdoor use I don’t recommend a speaker with anything less than an IPX5 rating—it’s only going to fend off light splashes, rain, and “low pressure water jets,” (read: you can rinse it off under the tap) but it might suit your purposes.

Next, a Bluetooth speaker with an IPX7 or higher will be great poolside, and most other places, and can actually be submerged in up to one meter of water for up to 30 minutes. IPX8 goes one step further, with up to three meters of immersion for longer periods, but this is rare with Bluetooth speakers. Many of these speakers are also buoyant; if you’re worried about a speaker, say, falling off your stand-up paddleboard.

Lastly, for sandy beaches, salt water, and dusty trails, I recommend no less than a dust/foreign object rating of 6—IP67, for example, which provides “dust-tight” protection and can also be submerged in water.

Consider Size, Weight, and Portability to Suit Your Needs

Bluetooth speakers come in all shapes and sizes these days, but it all depends on what your definition of portable is. It’s also worth keeping in mind that typically, the bigger the speaker, the more powerful and better sounding it will be. Smaller speakers are great, but you should expect less from them in the sound department.

For big family picnics and backyard parties that may or may not end in sing-alongs or karaoke, you might consider a party speaker that can pump out hundreds of watts of power. Sure, some of them (like the JBL PartyBox Stage 320) are big, but many are surprisingly movable, with sturdy wheels and retractable telescopic handles making them easy to fit in a trunk and roll to the festivities. Loads of them, like the Soundcore Rave 3S, also have fun features like karaoke and LED lights.

If you don’t need quite that level of power, a great mid-sized boombox-style Bluetooth speaker like the Soundcore Boom 2 Plus is a good option. If you’re not going too far from home or the car, like to the beach or car camping, these speakers often have sturdy handles and/or shoulder straps that make them manageable when toting around. Their bigger size means more power and volume, and they can often be used as a power bank to charge your devices.

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Campers, hikers, cyclists, and those generally on the go are probably going to get the most out of a compact Bluetooth speaker. Not only are they lightweight, but they’re available in several shapes, from flat to cylindrical, to easily pack in suitcases or backpacks.

Often designed with outdoorsy types in mind, compact Bluetooth speakers are among the most rugged on the market, able to take a beating and withstand the elements. Many, like the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4, JBL Clip 5, and Tribit StormBox Micro 2 also come with sturdy clips and straps for hanging off trees, inside tents, or mounting on your handlebars.

Battery Life to Go As Long As You Do

When you’re gone all day or even all weekend, battery life is key to making sure you keep the soundtrack going. If all-day use is your jam, like a beach day or trip to the local pool, a Bluetooth speaker with at least 10 to 14 hours of playback time should do the trick. A couple of options I recommend include the compact Sonos Roam 2 (10 hrs), JBL Flip 7 (14 hours), Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4, and the Bose SoundLink Flex (12 hours).

For extended parties that rage into the night or even weekend camping trips, you’re going to want to look at speakers in the 18-hour plus range, such as the compact JBL Charge 6 (24 hours), the mid-sized Soundcore Boom 2 (24 hours), and the new Sony ULT Field 3 and Field 5 speakers, that boast 24- and 25-hour batteries, respectively.

Dimensions

320 x 144 x 125mm

Connectivity

Bluetooth 5.2, aux in

The Sony ULT Field 5 offers clean, clear sound, big bass to spare, and most importantly, a battery that lasts up to 24 hours.

I’ve gone through all the main things to consider when looking for a Bluetooth speaker, but with there being so many to choose from, it could come down to one or two unique or premium features to nudge you towards one or another.

As I mentioned briefly above, many Bluetooth speakers can connect wirelessly to other speakers, either to create a stereo pair for a more traditional-like left-and-right profile for a more dynamic soundstage, or to link up several to simply expand the sound over a larger area. Some manufacturers do this with their own branded linking tech (with names like Party Link, Stack Mode, and Party Connect), while more companies are starting to use the newer Bluetooth-LE-based tech called Auracast to connect an almost limitless number of speakers together.

Most Bluetooth speakers also include companion apps that you can install on your smartphone to give you access and control over useful features like EQing, EQ presets, karaoke effects and AI-vocal removal from songs, speaker linking, lighting effects, firmware/software updates, and more. If you’re a tweaker and like things just-so, a speaker with an app is a must-have.

One of the more useful battery-related features to arrive over the years has been the ability of a speaker to double as a power bank. Charge up phones, tablets, and other devices over a USB cable to keep them powered up. This feature has come in handy more times than I can count while on camping trips when my phone has died. Of course, it means less music, but in a pinch, it’s good to know your phone will be good to go in an emergency

Input Type

Quarter-inch

Power

200W

The Soundcore Rave 3S is a karaoke-lovers dream. It comes with two wireless mics and uses AI to strip the vocals from just about any song.

Choosing the right Bluetooth speaker can up the fun and enjoyment level of any summer situation with great-sounding music. From top-tier manufacturers such as JBL, Bose, Soundcore, Sony, Klipsch, Marshall, and more, there’s certainly a long list of speakers to comb through, so keeping key criteria like sound quality, battery life, and ruggedness in mind will serve you well on your hunt. Happy summer and good luck!