Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsImpressive - Small but great Sound
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2013
This was an area I studied before purchasing....bluetooth portable speaker. After much research and listening to different speakers, it came down to more of, "What am I wanting to really do and use this speaker for"?
For myself, I wanted a speaker to use at the river where sand and/or dirt is obviously an issue, so it had to have some sort of protection from these elements. I wanted something small, inexpensive (due to possible theft, the elements, etc..) but it had to sound decent. It also had to be compact enough to fit in a small back pack for getting to and from the river as well as ability to possibly be exposed to hot sun since the shaded areas fluctuate so much where I go. OK, I am asking alot in a speaker i know, but was willing to give up in an area or two if I had to. Well, this Eton Rugged Rukus made it so I did not have to give up very much, if anything at all.
I used to use a pair of plastic, non powered Sony speakers I bought many years ago and they worked well. Not very loud but were pretty rugged and used for many years with no problems but I cannot find them now, so I needed new speaker(s) and decided to spend a little more than $20 but did not want to spend more than $100 if I could avoid it. I felt that since these would be used outdoors at a river, alot could happen to them.
Being a guy, instructions are for backup only and maybe to learn a thing or two on enhanced features and such. I figure most things out pretty easily, especially electronics. I unpacked the speaker, turned it on and looked at the buttons on the unit. I found the bluetooth insignia and pressed it and also went to the settings on my iPod for bluetooth. This speaker was found very quickly and I synced it with no problems. I played a song to see how the sound quality was on such a small speaker. I was impressed.
Of course, the first thing anyone does is crank them up. I read from many reviews on how you can crank up this speaker system with little or no distortion. This is very true. I was quite surprised. As far as loudness, this is hard to compare due to different elements and what 'loudness' may mean to me, may not mean to someone else. Inside the house, I could easily hear the sound from room to another. Outside, I placed in the grass and walked around at about 30-40 feet out, the sound was loud enough to hear but not a dance party loud. When in front of speakers, it was definitely louder than being off to the sides or behind it, which is expected. It is great for louder background music at full volume but you could easily talk to someone. If you set the speaker off the ground a foot or two or say, on a table, the sound is louder since the grass is not blocking or muffling the sound.
So, in essence, the sound is loud enough for a group of people laying in the grass or at a beach, river or camping if you are in a 50 foot vicinity and want to listen to music as background music. If you are within about 20 feet, it sounds a bit louder and better as you can hear the bass more. This brings me to the actual sound clarity. The clarity is very good, even at high levels. The highs are crisp and the lows are low but do not expect booms or feeling the lows. I mean, this is not a bass system, but the lows are not bad considering the size of this system.
I truly was not expecting alot of sound or very good quality, but after reading the many reviews, I guess I was hoping for a better sound than what I was thinking the size of these speakers (2 speakers within this system) could produce. The quality of sound not only met my expectations, but surpassed it. this is why I am impressed with this. The loudness is satisfying for what i need it for as i stated above. The sound quality is very good where the lows are there and the highs are crisp. Very little distortion overall but i noticed a little on some songs, but other factors could contribute to this and not just the speakers since other songs sounded great with no distortion.
The size of this speaker is tiny. As dimensions state, it is only about 6" across and 6" deep and very thin. This is more than small, it is close to tiny. It is very light, but heavier than it looks. Seems to be very solidly built and does not feel cheap. I did charge it fully using the USB cable but it came almost fully charged out of the box.
Now as far as the USB charging cable vs. AC cord.... this is where I debated on buying from Eton which states an AC cord is included and Amazon does not state either way but states a USB cable is included for charging. I cannot say what kind of AC cord is included from Eton itself, but I can say that the cable included when buying from Amazon works well. The included cable is a full sized USB on one end and a micro or mini USB on the other end. The micro or mini plugs are simply plugged into the speaker and the full sized USB can be plugged into your computer or a phone AC plug that has USB inputs on it. I own a Motorola phone and it came with an AC plug with two inputs for USB cables. This is how my phone is charged. if you do not have an AC plug with USB inputs, you can buy on Amazon for under $10 and I got one that was a genuine Motorola with a USB/Mini USB for about $5, so they are inexpensive but I would go with a brand name plug.
The solar aspect of the speakers or charging my cell phone/Ipad/Ipod have not been used yet and may only use for emergencies but a very nice feature to have if it works like they say. I do like the fact that you place this unit in the sun and will basically play all day and up to 8 hours after the solar power stops. This will work nice for camping where AC outlets are not available.
This is a quality product and USB charging works well, it delivers great sound, very portable, bluetooth works great and easy to set up, ability to charge other USB devices, an 8 hour battery plus solar charging/playing and for under $100.....what else can a person ask for? Oh, maybe protection or ruggedness? I can say that there are rubber protectors covering the input holes on the back of uint to keep dust/sand/splashes of water out. It states that it is water resistant so splashes of water should be ok, but I would not scuba dive with it or immerse it in water. The solar panel ruggedness i am not real sure on but i will trust that they are resistant to most elements too. As far as a handle that some wish it had, yes it would be nice, but not a big deal. The size and weight really do not make this an issue, but if your hands have suntan oil/lotion and such on them, a handle would be a nice barrier from the device to transport outdoors. Overall, a great speaker system and it does seem to sound better than the comparably priced speakers on the market and they do not have the solar aspect which really makes this speaker stand out.
I will update as time goes on.
7/22/13 UPDATE: After using the Eton Rugged for a short time, I have concluded that I really like it. We just got back from camping and I put it to heavy use and tests this past week. Here are the results:
The Bluetooth worked very well but not flawless. It dropped the music for a few seconds at a time periodically, but could be from various factors such as a low battery or distance of iPod to Eton Speaker. It happened just a few times during our week of camping, so don't let this scare you.
Charging of cell phone and iPod: Ok, this actually worked rather well. In fact, better than expected. The first time I did it, nothing seemed to work but I was just playing with it. I then tried it the next day and still nothing but found a button near the inputs to connect your device to charge and a light lit up. (Now remember, i am not one to read instructions - LOL). My phone was charged fully in a few hours which was nice. The down side though was it sucked up my battery from the Eaton and this was in direct sunlight. So i had to charge the Eton by turning it off and it charged back up. A couple of days later i had to charge my iPod and this time I only charged it for about an hour and both devices were charged nicely. In other words, I was taught a lesson in which you simply charge a phone or other device in little increments and not try to do it all at once.
Battery life was never an issue once I learned how to charge other devices correctly. When the battery gets low, it does not turn off until i am sure it is close to dead. What it does is get lower in volume. I actually like that better than a sudden loss of music.
How much do I like this speaker? Amazon had a Gold Box sale on the Green Eton (My original is black) when I was camping and I had to get another one. Yes, cell service was tough on Mt. Hood, but I was able to get enough network for 1G service to buy it.... That's roughing it outdoors. On that note though, you cannot hook up 2 Etons via Bluetooth to best of my knowledge. I have not been able to do it and think it is because they use exact same frequencies so when it connects to one, it disconnects the other. Hope this helps more on your decision.
