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People always ask me to recommend a portable Bluetooth speaker, and I reflexively mention the same one every time: the UE Boom. The latest version of this portable powerhouse, the UE Boom 2, provides damn near everything most people want in a speaker. It sounds great, the battery lasts half a day, and you can bring it anywhere. It's even waterproof and mudproof, so you can take it rafting. All that for $200.
But that's still too much bitcoin for most people. Ultimate Ears has a smart solution: The Wonderboom, a smaller Boom that ticks many of the same boxes as its big brother but costs half as much.
The $100 Wonderboom is waterproof (IPX7), features a 100-foot Bluetooth range, and moves quite a bit of air given its diminutive size. Like its larger Boom brethren, the cylindrical Wonderboom shoots rich, full sound in a wide arc. The chunky rubber buttons are dead-easy to manipulate. The battery provides 10 hours of tunes compared to the 15 of the Boom 2, but then, it isn't much bigger than a navel orange. A stretchy loop on top makes it easy to carabiner it to your backpack or notch it onto the coat-rack nub in your car.
Now, the app controls lack the sophistication of the Boom 2's, and sound snobs will find the Boom 2 more agreeable. But just look at how cute it is! Plus, the Wonderboom floats---no more worrying about knocking it into the hot tub---and you can pair two of them with a long-press of the button on the top of each speaker.
The Wonderboom ships next month in a variety of garish colors, joining the $100 UE Roll 2 and of course, the larger UE Boom and even larger Megaboom.
