JBL Charge 3 Waterproof Portable Bluetooth Speaker (Black), 1

Wow, the reviews were right. This is an outstanding portable Bluetooth speaker, with great sound that seems to outperform its size. Its a tad heavy, but not terribly so, and that is part of the reason that you get the sound performance that you do from the speaker. The unit is very ruggedly built, has clearly marked controls, and has a five-stage lighting area to shows battery charge. There are bass ports on each side of the speaker, with the mid-range speakers positioned in the forward-center location of the unit. There is even a connection on the bottom front under a flap for charging a cell phone. I have to say, I was impressed the moment I opened this up. The speaker comes packaged in a very, very nice box that takes its queues from Apple and Sony, but employs color in the design. There is a heavy, photographically imprinted outer box, which is quite thick and sturdy, and inside, folded boxes for each section. In addition, the inside top of the main box has a layer of padded foam attached to the top cover (removable from the box). The speaker itself, as does the charger, come individually wrapped in plastic, and the whole packaging array just speaks of someone who took the time to think about how people want to receive their products. This is one of the nicest packaging jobs Ive seen on a device. Then there is, of course, the speaker itself. As soon as you pick it up, you feel not only its weight but also its build quality. This thing feels very solid, and you can tell the first time you handle it. It took a couple of hours to charge using the included charger and cable, and--must I say it--the blue model with the orange charger and cord is just visually gorgeous. The most important thing is the sound, and I was not disappointed at all with the speakers performance in this regard. In fact, this being my third Bluetooth speaker, I have been impressed with how the unit reproduces sound, with a full range and some decent bass from the side ports. (Be realistic in your expectations: this is not a $600 speaker.) I have to say that the sound is surprisingly full-bodied, particularly for a speaker in its price range, and so I have to agree with most of the reviews I have read that this is among the very best of Bluetooth speakers in the price range, maybe even those in a higher price range. It is definitely putting out sound that one might only expect with a much higher price tag. Another cool thing is that the unit makes use of a lithium-ion battery which should hold back the memory effect, but more than that, you can actually use it to charge your cell phone in an emergency via a cable that connects between the speaker and your phone! The device is also water resistant. Combined with the quality feel and the beautiful packaging, this is simply an EASY five-star item!

Great quality speaker! Sounds good/loud and is still going strong after years! I definitely recommend it!

While I am seasoned in writing Amazon reviews to help my fellow millennial shoppers and older alike... I dont know where to start with this bad mamajama. So Im going to give you an unbiased review of this awesome speaker from this point on... OK. Overview- I got the JBL Charge 3 in black. It is a bulky design for your more extravagant consumer. The red JBL plate on the front is almost reflective, making it look like it lights up under indirect light. The Charge 3 is 100% water submersible and the bass subs on either side are able to house water which bounces to the tunes when your particularly bassy hip-hop starts booming. Has a stand built in on the bottom made of rubber to prevent rolling. 6 buttons on the top, four protruding to make it easier to know what youre pressing while not looking, and two flush. Behind the rubber tab on the back (built for waterproofing) houses an auxiliary port, probably 3.5mm, a micro USB port for charging the speaker itself, and a USB port for charging your mobile device (can be used as a power bank). There are 5 LED indicators for battery on the bottom of the frontal side. They are covered by rubber so they provide a very matte, non intense light. Same goes for the dual connect (read later) and the power indicator. A non voice activated pairing system uses various pulses, light coloring and sine waves to notify you when it is searching, pairing, and paired. It does not have NFC. The dual pairing feature allows you to pair two JBL speakers together. It has a built in speaker phone, I havent tested it myself, but uve heard from many people theres no difference in sound quality from a normal phone microphone. Specs- The loudest read I got on the Charge 3 (using the app Sound Meter not an SLM) was around 88 dB while playing Congratulations by Post Malone (see pictures). A step up on the 75 dB from the original Charge. With a 6,000 mAh power bank and a 13 hour battery life at full and 25 hours at half (measurement I took myself), the playtime is above most available speakers on the market today. The Charge 3 has a rated power of 2 x 10W and a frequency response of 65Hz-20kHz. Application- Amazing outdoor/pool speaker. Great for rain or shine because you dont have to worry about splash damage. However, if you want a travel speaker, Id go with the JBL Flip 4 ($100) or the Bose Soundlink Mini II ($180, an oldie but a damn goodie). Or if youre just that guy, Id recommend the JBL Extreme or the JBL Pulse... theyre for the flashier of people. Biased- For the price, it cant be beat. For the partying, rock n roll, hip-hop, rap, EDM listener. The bass cannot be beat in a speaker this size if you like your music bassy (part of us all do). For a relatable example of the bass, at full volume, if you cup your hands around the subs while playing the song Feel the Bass by DJ MagicMike, you can feel the vibrations in your legs... crazy power. I hope that this review has made an impression on your choice of what speaker to purchase. If not, I highly recommend Jims Review Room on YouTube for highly professional, unbiased reviews! Have a wonderful day.

JBL Charge 3 adds new dimension to old favorites. Awesome sound and power in our convertible and our boat, utilizing Sirius XM app from my I phone. When we are home, it is connected to Alexa, as the sound in our Echo 8 is greatly improved. Great value and eliminated the need to update our older audio systems. Extended battery life allows for playing all weekend between recharges. I would definitely buy another one.

even after my kid dropped it its still working

I am using an iphone 8 and tried the bluetooth and other things. First, the bluetooth reception is very good for my uses. I tried other items and signals would stop. I had the phone in the house and took this easily 50 plus feet and put in a vehicle and could hear a phone and music no issue. Sound quality; I am picky (like most are) and Id say it quite good but not stupendous. It is really difficult to get good mids and highs and the bass is fairly clear and okay too. However, sometimes playing Chet Atkins (newest material) fusion base sometimes splashes apart, ... not really a distortion. Comparing it to a find set of Senhieiser SD 280 PRO it is about 80-90% ... is fine. To hear the stereo separation you have to hold it really close but the clarity and separation is very good. It doesnt goes as loud as Id think Id want but it is plenty loud. Youd have to turn it down to talk with someone ... but I am into it for attentive listening. Back to stereo, I ordered this one to see how I like it and ordering a second. Then will try the set up for two; one of left channel and one for right. ... and report on that. It is a little muddy on the dash board while driving it home but changes a lot based on placement. ...... It is good, clean sound and not distorting. Id order a second one... wait, I already did ... :-) ... I buy 2 minimum ... Gray is very nice and looks high end. Also some about of solid feel for it. Oh, tube and other information says this is the last dual driver true stereo units of this size. I dont know about their big boxes but read the data. I expect to be very happy with These...

Nice piece of equipment. But I didnt like the sound, which is the entire point, so I sent it back.

Bought the JBL Charge 3 for our college daughter because she wanted speakers that rocked . . . as she says. She already had some other type of speakers that just wasnt doing the job. She wanted the whole house to be able to hear the music and the JBL Charge 3 did the trick. She is very happy with these speakers.

Had a friend say it had a better quality sound than her Bose speaker. Very happy. Got it because my son got one and I was so impressed by the sound I had to get one too.

Two of us did listening comparison tests between the following models: Sony SRS-X55 30W $149.99 JBL Charge 3 $124.18 Anker Soundcore Boost 20W $79 To break in the units, we ran pink noise (from mynoise.net) @85dB measured at 1m on each unit for ~9,11, and 9 hours on the Anker, Sony, and JBL respectively All but one of the recordings used in the test .aiff form. These were converted to 24 bit FLAC recordings before transferring to a Nexus 5x source device. The one remaining recording was directly recorded to a 96/24 .wav file before transferring to the Nexus 5x. Recordings used for comparison were as follows: Familiar voices: Direct to digital recording of a voice one of the listeners knows well. A Zoom H4N with built in condenser microphones was used for the recording Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon, Time looking for clear echo and clearly separate percussion instruments Vivaldi - Le Quattro Stagioni. Concerto Italiano. Naive OP30363 Track 6 - Tempo Impetuoso D Estate43-117: speed test AC/DC Its a Long Way to the Top... about ~1:25 in: bagpipes: how clean? Vivaldi - Vespri per l Assunzione di Maria Vergine. Concerto Italiano. Naive OP30383 Track 5 of CD 2 - Cum dederit: Vocals Should sound smooth, with no harsh resonances Frank Sinatra, Moon River... Track 2 Moon river guitar ~40 before the end YoYo Ma Obrigado Brazil Track six 2:30+? Beethoven - Die 5 Klavierkonzerte - Pollini, Abbado/BPO. DG 439770-2 Deutsche Grammophon 439770-2. 3. Rondo (Allegro) Dynamic test, especially between 2.5 and 5 To make comparisons easier, we listened to these units in pairs. First off was to compare the two most expensive units: the Sony and the JBL. After comparing five different recordings, the difference was clear, so we didnt go any further. The results were as follows: Familiar voices: Sony: distorted the sound like the voice was coming from a box JBL: cleaner. Time: Both: The bass was crushed at 2:12 in the recording JBL: The Toms were more forward Sony: Sounded like something was in the way of the toms Op 30636 @~1:00: Both: Not even close to following this recording. AC/DC: JBL: Missing fullness in bagpipes, but there was no harshness. Sony: Harsh Bagpipes OP30383 (1:07+): JBL: Some finger on chalk board harshness Sony: harshness was worse. --- with the Sony eliminated, we went on to compare the Anker to the JBL: OP30383: Anker: Less harsh than the JBL, but still had the problem. AC/DC: Anker: Cleaner than the JBL Sinatra: JBL: The sometimes hidden guitar was clear and the vocals were full Anker: Guitar not as clear, but still audible Familiar voices: JBL: fuller, but more muffled Anker: clear, but not as full Yo Yo Ma: JBL: Bass has character Anker: missing character in Bass Beethoven turned all the way up: JBL: ~3dB louder than Anker, and any muffling is gone at higher levels. Anker: No obvious clipping, but sound not as pleasant --- Summary: For its price, the Anker was very competitive, but considering we are likely to use these units close to their maximum level a fair amount of time, the JBL was the clear winner overall. The IPX7 waterproof rating of the JBL over the IPX5 of the Anker further confirmed that decision, since these units were likely to be used in uncontrolled environments. The Sony was not only the highest price of the three, but the sound was generally worse than the others, so it was not even considered for the final purchase.