Loved it until it EXPLODED - I'm not kidding. This speaker sounded great, worked great . . . For 2 weeks or so. Then it EXPLODED. Seriously. Around 1am my wife heard an explosion and came to get me. When I came in the room the speaker was on fire and had exploded throwing pieces all around the room. The speaker was literally BURNING, FLAMES COMING OUT OF IT. If we had not been home it would have burnt the house down. The speaker was NOT in use and was NOT plugged in. It was simply sitting in the windowsill. I would look somewhere else for a speaker to purchase. See my photos.
Wow. I've had a couple of fairly expensive and a couple of inexpensive Bluetooth speakers. This one is the best, and priced in the middle. I'd say that makes it a great deal.
First, let's remember the limitations of Bluetooth speakers:
1. The music source is usually your phone, which has used very "lossy" compression to be stored on your device. So it's not particularly crisp and much of the subtlety has been permanently lost.
2. It requires a digital-to-analog converter to turn the electronic signal into sound. I spent more than the cost of this Fugoo for just the converter in my home stereo (it's a Schitt Bifrost, by the way, also a steal for audiophiles).
3. Bluetooth itself loses a lot of fidelity - compare using a wire and using Bluetooth in your car, if you have the music Bluetooth connection in your vehicle.
Given these significant limitations, the sound from this little thing is amazing! If you need something louder than this, use headphones or wire up some real speakers. I've played opera, hard rock, acoustic, jazz and classical music through it in the first hours, and all are represented quite faithfully.
It has good tonal balance and delivers sound that is as good as anyone could expect from such a tiny box. If you don't think it delivers bass, put it in the corner of a room (this will reinforce the bass for any speaker). I can hear cymbals, sibilance and snares (yeah, I'm a drummer).
Buy it. You won't be disappointed.
This speaker is just awesome. Great sound, easy to use, durable, and the battery life is just incredible. When I bought this it was $200 and I still consider it money well spent.
A lot of people dont like that the speaker is not very loud.... I'm pretty confident in saying it's loud enough for 1,000 square feet of space if not more. I think people expect a Bluetooth speaker to perform like an amplified home entertainment unit. That's not the intention of these devices.
The BOOM speakers are much louder, but when my buddy's BOOM runs it's battery out in 4 hours the FUGOO is still going, and going, and going. Realistically, this speaker will last about 8-10 hours with the volume all the way up. Obviously much longer the lower the volume is.
Anyway, I have had this for 2 years and the sport case that came with it did get beat up. I use the speaker a lot!! But, I ordered a new case for $15 and the thing is just like new.
Can't say enough.... oh wait! The mounting pack is awesome! Bikes, trees, v-ball poles, golf bags, and carabeinered off bags. This speaker goes everywhere! And yes, it's completely waterproof. Sweet shower singing symphonies!
If your not looking for massive, loud party sound you're not gunna be disappointed. Great job FUGOO!!
So I'm gonna begin by saying I'm a speaker snob and am also a huge fan of bass. It's difficult to find the right balance of bass and treble in a small speaker like this. Usually, in order to actually hear it while in shower, I have to turn it up so high that either the treble Makes my ears wanna bleed and /or the bass distorts everything else. I have a small bose Bluetooth non waterproof speaker that is decent. I mean it's a bose so if course it isn't bad. However, it tends to have muffled, drowned out vocals due to imbalanced bass when turned loud and in order to hear it over normal outdoor sounds while in the pool or from the counter while showering, it basically has to be at max volume so it's quite distorted with some heavier bass songs. Sorry... The point..
This speaker has, in the last 12 hours that I've owned it, impressed me beyond anything else in its class and that includes my bose. My bose dies quite regularly when new out of box it would drain quickly and its not waterproof or even water resistant and was over 200 bucks 2 years ago. So, I'm thinking I've found myself a more affordable and certainly equally if not maybe even a superior sounding brand to start using around the house. Of course, it's only been 12 hours... Entire thing could crap out tomorrow or something... Updates will come if so but I've used it in shower as well as have hooked it to a television that had bad sound due to crap TV speakers and it was as good as some of the 200 dollar soundbars.
So far worth it and then some
Came charged out of box with nice, long auxiliary cord and long micr USB charger cord and charging box. This is high quality for sure
Don't need to rehash what others have already said: The Fugoo Tough has GREAT full 360 degree sound from such a small box, it's almost shocking to hear such quality sound from such a small little box. However, overall, it's just not loud enough to please more than an intimate gathering.
No, you won't be able to use this to pump music for an outdoor party. Yes, you will be able to use this for you and a few friends hanging at the beach, or sitting around a campfire. I played it at the highest volume while vacuuming my car out, and I could still hear the music, albeit, not very well.
After receiving this, I went online to download the upgrade, and after about an hour of attempts (because I'm a computer retard probably lol), figured out that I had to turn off my firewall in order to download the upgrade, which comes in some retarded file format that I've never heard of before...and this ultimately still didn't make that much of a difference in sound volume.
I bought this for the versatility and durability, because I love the outdoors, so I'll take this hiking and cycling. But then again, I'm older. If I was young college student and hanging out with a lot of friends, I probably should not be purchasing this, and should be considering a stereo system instead. Having said that, I'm not an electronics or musical genius, so maybe they elected to keep quality sound knowing that the may have to sacrifice volume to let it be so??? I'll take quality sound any day!
8 out of 10 stars from me.
Feature Product
- World's most rugged bluetooth speaker. 100% waterproof, mud-proof, snow-proof and shockproof.
- 40 hours battery life
- Built-in microphone for full-duplex speakerphone, Siri, and Google Now capability
- Six drivers on four sides for a 360-degree sweet spot and incredible 95dB SPL-A volume
Description
I spent a lot of time fretting over which speaker I wanted to spend my money on. Fugoo? Ultimate Ears? JBL? At the end of the day, I chose this one because the sound quality was reviewed as pretty good and the battery life is supposed to reach upwards of 40 hours.
I received this just in time to take it camping for the weekend. I tested it out briefly and it sounded surprisingly good for the size. It is as solid-built as it looks. In fact, there are videos of people running this speaker over on pavement and in mud with their land rovers if you search youtube. Anyways, I let it charge overnight to make sure it had a full charge and threw it in my bag.
I arrived at my campsite at 8pm. This speaker played at mid to loud volume all waking hours of the camping trip along with the drive home and additional use when I got home and was doing chores and cleaning up all the camping gear. I am confident that I got at least 30 hours, probably a lot closer to 36-40 hours. Pretty amazing.
Sound quality is better than I hoped for. You aren't going to *feel* the bass - it's not big enough - but the notes are there and not distorted. I did detect some light "womping" on heavy bass hits at maxed out volume, but max volume is VERY LOUD. We never had the speaker anywhere near that volume level. I would suggest getting the XL version of this speaker if you want something that you cannot have a conversation over.
Is it tough? Yes. I dropped it while walking across some rocks. No big deal. When I got home it was dusty and grimey so I just threw it on the floor of the shower and hosed it down. No big deal. The tough has two metal anchor points that you could run a strap or bungee or carabiner through to secure it to things. I like to kayak, so I am going to probably strap this down to the nose of my kayak the next time I go out since it doesn't matter if it gets wet :)
The fact that you can replace the tough outer shell/jacket is awesome. I also bought the "style" jacket - but honestly I'm going to return that and just leave it in the tough jacket because I really like the look.
Also, it's worth mentioning that all the buttons have a nice "click" to them. You can also disable the voice prompts (thank you for this, Fugoo). I honestly don't have a single complaint about this speaker whatsoever.
I wasn't sure what to expect. I have read every review here and accross the internet for the Fugoo, UE Boom, Creative Roar, TDK A33, Libratone Zipp, both Bose, three Klipsch, Nyne Bass, Big Jambox and G-Boom. So many to choose from and no store nearby to hear them all. It really came down to the Boom and the Fugoo because of reviewed sound quality, size, and splash proofedness.
I really wanted to buy the Roar, but its not really a beach/camping/travel type speaker.
The Nyne Bass was simply too big. Maybe if it were just going to sit on a mantle, but I have a receiver and speakers in that case.
The TDK was in the running till the end, but appeared to be a notch or two below the Fugoo and The Boom. Battery tech/life specifically.
I think the Mini Bose is ugly. The Big Bose lacked battery life and sportyness. And honestly not a fan of bose.
I was so concerned about sound, I really considered the Zipp. I really believe it has the best sound quality from my "research", but no bluetooth, 4 hour battery, and its too delicate to toss around in a bag or cooler or have kids play with it.
The G-Boom seems too big also, but such a great price and such good reviews. If it was jobsite only, pretty sure this one would be a no-brainer, but I work in an office.
For the Klipsch 3 its too big. Andrew Luck is a big guy and it still looks huge in his arms. D batteries . . . really?
Klipsch 1 had several bad reviews here on amazon that I believed. One compares it unfavorably to the Boom. If its even in the same sound neighborhood and over $100 more than the Boom . . .
Klipsch Gig, too many bad reviews.
The Big Jambox has been out for like 3 years. They should rev it yearly and call it the Big Jambox III or something, like Bose does, to make me at least feel like they updated the tech. If they had, I probably wouldn't have even done the research and just bought that one right of the bat.
UE Boom and Fugoo checked all the boxes. The only complaint I heard about the Fugoo was loudness which it sounded like it was addressed in several firmware updates. It had the best battery, most water proof, and maybe eensy bit better fidelity. So I bought it. The few days it took to receive, I was concerned that I should have bought the Boom.
I opened the box, paired, put on some pink floyd. It sounded fantastic but definitely played way too quiet. I had it turned up all the way, 3 feet from my wife and she didn't even yell at me to turn it down. From someone who gets angry when I chew too loud, that is saying something. I went to the website, downloaded firmware and put it on there. Painless 5 minutes. I could probably piss her off from the next room now.
I'm very happy. Its impressive engineering that they get the bass and sound quality from something so relatively small. It meets all my needs. I can't say if its better than the Boom, but I'm not really worried about it.
Hope this helps.
This is a good speaker. Excellent packaging. I give it 5 stars for packaging. I was completely blown away when I received this item. It's not the loudest but it's reasonable for what I wanted. It looks great, has some nice features like the built in voice that speaks. It sounds very smooth. It has an aux cable, charger and carry case to hold them. The battery lasts forever! I've been playing it straight out the box for at min 5 hours a day for the past 3 days. I received it with 3/4 battery and I still have half battery left. The range is amazing. I got about 50ft and going through two walls and down stairs and it still played perfectly with no hiccups. Wayy better range than the UE boom that cracks up through walls. I didn't test the water proof yet so I don't know how good it works. But I bought this speaker for indoor use. Outdoors, the sound gets lost easily. So far so good with this one. It's a mid range speaker so don't expect top volume like a UE boom but it's great for the price and still tops it in the range field. Def worth it.
I wanted to buy a portable bluetooth speaker for my son who is away at college, so I did quite a bit of research looking at review articles as well as online comments on Amazon and other sites. I also went into stores like Best Buy and Target to listen to as many brands as possible.
I had never heard of this Fugoo speaker, but it kept coming up in some of the review articles, many of which picked it as one of the top brands. This is pretty amazing considering the $80 list price is about a third the price of most other brands' speakers of the same class.
After my research and listening to most other brands I decided to take a chance and order a Fugoo. I was not disappointed! The sound on this little speaker is GREAT, the lows sound deep and full, and one review even tested frequency response and the Fugoo's lower end was better than all brands except for Bose. But what really stood out was how full the midrange and crisp the high frequencies sounded, even at high volumes. I also love the features on this speaker, including the very rugged design of the Tough model. The controls and features are self-explanatory, it has a good bluetooth range and battery life, and they are very resistant to water and weather. There are 4 active drivers, two on each side so it will really fill a room, and a passive radiator at each end which really adds power to the lower frequencies.
We need to be realistic and realize the limitations of this speaker, since it is roughly 1/3 or 1/2 the price of other brands' speakers in the same class. While the Fugoo can get pretty darn loud without distortion, it is not as loud as the Bose Soundlink II or Resolve, or the Altec Lansing SuperLifejacket. That is the only negative thing I can say about this speaker...but it is definitely loud enough and I like loud music!
Here is why I did not buy some of the other brands commonly mentioned in the reviews:
Bose Soundlink II or Bose Resolve:
These speakers sound great, I think overall Bose has the best sound quality even at very high volumes. But these cost a lot more than the Fugoo, and honestly I think the high frequencies are actually crisper on the Fugoo. I also didn't like the design of any of the Bose speakers, they are fine for desktop but not for a portable speaker that you would take to the beach or camping. To be complete, I actually own a Bose Soundlink Mini II and I absolutely love it, great sound especially the bass, but expect to pay close to twice the price of the Fugoo. The Soundlink Mini II is also great for desktop but not so much for the outdoors. Bose speakers have great sound but they are really misreading the market in my untrained opinion.
UE (Ultimate Ears) Boom 2 or Boom 3 or MegaBoom:
I kept getting the feeling the reviewers were getting some sort of kick back from the makers of these speakers. They were commonly listed at or near the top of the reviews, yet when I listened to them I was not at all impressed. Very lacking in low frequency, even the larger Boom 3 and even larger MegaBoom which is much more expensive. But even the midrange and especially the high frequencies were flat. The best way for me to describe all these models is it is like the sound is coming out of an aluminum can. Also, I hate the design of these, they are cylindrical and I guess are supposed to sit on one end. They do have good three dimensional sound so there is that, but they are very unstable unless you were to hang them up somehow. If you took them outdoors they would constantly be falling over and rolling down the hill!
JBL:
I was surprised that the JBL speakers sounded as good as they do. I like lots of bass, and the JBL speakers have good bass, especially the Charge 3 (which is quite expensive). But the overall sound quality did not match the Fugoo, not even close for the upper range.
Altec Lansing Lifejacket 3 or SuperLifejacket :
The Lifejacket 3 is near the same price point as the Fugoo, but its sound quality is nowhere near as good, lacking bass. The SuperLifejacket sounds much better than the LifeJacket3 and the bass is good, but now you're talking over $200 for sound which for me is comparable to the Fugoo. This speaker can get pretty loud so if loud is what you want it might be a good option, if you can afford it. Be aware that these are quite a bit larger and heavier than the Fugoo. I really like the design of these, they are very rugged and in this respect very similar to the Fugoo.
Personally I was looking for good rich quality sound less the hollowness you tend to get with options at this size level. I had a JBL Charge for 3 years that died because the port for the mini USB charger broke. I was happy but was not that rich at the higher levels....I purchased this due to reviews from a few audiophiles I read online specifically cuz it was good quality (has individually 2 tweet /2mid/ and 2 Bass on sides)
I was more than pleased......great rich sound for a small unit......battery was great as well......only downside is that this does not get LOUD and is not made for loudness....it's made for small rooms / areas or connected to iPad to watch videos....
I bought the sport case/ sleeve as well and take to beach...if you appreciate rich quality sound for small size unit at reasonable price ..the amateur audiophile would approve
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