I bought a Gogrove OR3 Portable Bluetooth Wireless Speaker to use with my Tecsun PL-398BT shortwave radio and so far I am very impressed. There are several options out there when it comes to rechargeable Bluetooth speakers but after reading several reviews I settled on the OR3. I really like the Tecsun PL-398BT shortwave radio but I have to say the small speakers are not the best so sound quality suffers somewhat as it will with a lot of small radios. When I am at home I use the Tecsun PL-398BT to connect my phone which has about 500 MP3s on it to a pair of Bose Companion 2.0 speakers VIA Bluetooth and the sound is incredible but the Bose Companion 2.0 speakers require AC power so portability is not really an option. The Gogrove OR3 is very flexible, it can connect directly to my phone VIA Bluetooth or to my Tecsun PL-398BT VIA the auxiliary jack but the best feature the Gogrove OR3 has is an incredible 16 hour runtime on a single charge. The sound is amazing and can easily fill a room. If you are looking for something portable to enhance your small radios sound or a rechargeable speaker to listen to your phones MP3s on the go then this is one option you may want to consider. For only $39.99 from Amazon it is hard to go wrong.
I'm not trying to be a cynic here and please excuse my ignorance but what are the uses for these portable Bluetooth speakers and what good are they except for using fairly close to an audio device or desktop or laptop computer?
I have a 20 year old Recoton wireless speaker that works fabulous and has a range of 200 feet or more and will receive a signal through walls or around corners. It is heavy though, weighing close to 7 lbs. and as it's power source it contains a rechargeable but heavy SLA, (sealed lead acid), battery.
I like listening to talk radio and living very rural I have no talk radio here on either AM or FM so I listen to it through my desktop using iHeart internet radio which is a blessing for me. I like listening to it outside while I'm working and noticed these portable Bluetooth speakers and thought it would be nice to have a small and light speaker to listen to outside instead of hauling around my heavy Recoton wireless.
I ordered a a small Bluetooth speaker that was highly recommended on some internet tech sites and imagine my surprise upon receiving it that it only had a 30 foot, (or less), range and the signal wouldn't go through walls or even round corners. Needless to say, I returned it and just deal with my old faithful but heavy Recoton wireless.
So other than using a Bluetooth speaker with a crappy sounding portable or whatever and don't want a wire, why are they so popular with their limited range when you can get a wired portable speaker that sounds great and costs less? Just wondering.
