I’ve narrowed it down to these two Bluetooth speakers. The Bose sounds better, but the UE is more rugged and I like the idea of the 360 degree sound. Any (informed) opinions? I’m open to new suggestions but please in this case size IS important- it’s gotta be small!! 😉 I’ve already ruled out the Braven BRV-1 on account of the sound quality.

Ps sound quality is a big issue- so barring any miracle I’m looking in the £125+ bracket….

lots of money there for small speakers, i wouldnt be expecting too much from them although ive not heard them.

hmm cant recommend anything i just use some wired linked xmini2 speakers for super cheapness and portability.

Yep, I might be falling for the marketing gumpf on that one dobo. I’ll be heading out to Bartletts HiFi tomorrow so I’ll be able to test the Bose for myself, so far I have been going on the reviews alone!

Have a look at the londonbeatbox- looks a great bit of kit- heard one in action ilast weekend and although I’m no audiophile sounded pretty damn good

It may not be quite what you’re after but I’m delighted with my Minirig. See this thread.

pop larkin they look good- can’t find the dimensions on the website. Can you remember how big they were?

Thanks for that BigJohn. I’ll look into the Minirig. How ‘big’ is the sound? Will it fill a room? And how about in the garden? How quickly does it drop off as you start to walk away? Thanks!!

Very small- a similar size to the mini rig

Minirigs turn out some serious sound but I didn’t think they were bluetoothable- if that’s a proper word

Saying that minirigs seem to be hard to get hold of- one of the Godiva trail riders was cycling with one up at the runandride race at Cannock recently and you could hear him before you saw him!!

Wow! That sounds good! Yep, Minirigs are both cable only AND unavailable- I guess that means they are popular at least!

There’s always the Jawbone Jambox, which is about the same price. Ignore the Dr Dre Pill, I compared one to the Jambox, using the same music, and the Jambox pwned the Pill, which was £50 dearer. There’s the Big Jambox, but that’s £260, probably well outside your budget.

Minirigs are cable only, but on the other hand they keep getting released onto Amazon a few at a time so just be a bit patient and in a few days they’ll be back.

I have one of the below, which I don’t use enough, but is flippin’ brilliant. I’d recommend testing one out.

http://www.johnlewis.com/bose-soundlink-ii-wireless-mobile-speaker/p231699877?kpid=231699877&s_kenid=001bfa38-84a5-2c48-8b3b-000033634dfe&s_kwcid=ppc_pla&tmad=c&tmcampid=73

I was on a job last month and one of the guys had a UE Boom. It filled a good area of the deck with sound, this is with some background noise as well. I was extremely impressed by it, it’s not the same as a “proper” hi fi but it is very “360” and for a BBQ type scenario is perfect.
It is also very robust, I think it is IP 57 or 67?
You can pair 2 of them up as well.
I have not heard the Bose, so if you say it has better sound then it must pretty amazing.

Recieved my Minirig today BigJohn. Very happy, thanks for the advice!! 🙂

I was listening to the bose soundlink ii and the UE boombox at gatwick a couple of weeks ago.

The bose soundlink ii was next to their soundlink airplay product, which is a little bigger.

I thought the soundlink ii was very average, and that the boombox sounded better, although neither were startling, just acceptable (bose less so).

The soundlink airplay was actually a fair bit better.

I haven’t heard them but the JBL flip and the large JBL charge get good reviews – if cabling a splitter and a couple of flips would be interesting possibly.

Wasn’t watching this thread but glad you like the MiniRig.