Philips SB7200 Series ShoqBox Wireless Portable Speaker

Pleasantly surprised with the sound quality and ease of operation. The design is durable, the motion activated commands work great, audio is balanced and overall the unit is a portable speaker done right. …More

49 of 52 people found this useful

But this is pretty darn close to getting 5!

Portable speakers are such a crap-shoot... They almost always have that annoying "tinny" sound to them. I was planning to buy the JamBox speaker, but an Apple Store employee pointed this one out to me when I said that I was looking for good sounding speakers that would specifically be used while traveling. She pointed out that it was drop/ shock/ splash proof, and it seemed that it would be rugged enough for my needs. She also mentioned that a store employee bought one a few days before, and he seemed very pleased with it. I took the bait, and decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did.

When I first got it out of the box, I had a terrible time getting it to sync via bluetooth. I soon found out that my computer was running as slow as molasses, and after I reset my internet connections, it seemed to pair up quickly. I've been using it for about 1.5 hours now (it came 1/2 charged), and it sounds great. I have played some Rush (great distinction between Geddy Lee's high voice and low bass), Andy McKee (his acoustic guitar sounds crisp and clear), Skrillex (the bass sounds very good... wub wub wub....), Pink Floyd (plenty of depth in their complex sounds), and Social Distortion (good old fashioned guitar rock and roll). For a portable travel speaker, I'm very impressed with the variety of sounds it has handled already. It is currently sitting on a shelf 8-10 feet from me, playing music from iTunes Match on my iPad (3rd gen.). It has plenty of volume to fill the room, for sure.

I bought the green version, which looks very much like a military "olive drab" on the box... but in actuality it is so dark that it looks nearly black. No big deal. I only bought the green thinking it would be more identifiable if I lost it. If you are really craving that military green color, be forewarned that it isn't quite like what is shown on the box.

The lack of decent instructions can be pretty frustrating at first. I'm not sure why they put the "motion detecting" technology into it for changing tracks, etc.. Until I figured out how to shut it off, it was annoying.

It has a loop that can be attached so you can hang it from a carabiner or something similar if you want to. Size-wise it is about as big around as a standard pop can, but a little bit taller. This was a concern for me, because I have very little room left in my electronics carry-on bag. I was relieved when I opened the box and found that there is a lot of packaging material around it.

Construction seems very solid, the bass sounds better than the most other similar speakers, and it doesn't have a ton of that "tinny" sound that seems to be the norm in other travel speakers. I'm keeping it. Let's see how it handles the mean streets of Bangkok next month. Now go buy one and tell me if you agree. :) …More

29 of 29 people found this useful