The best waterproof Bluetooth speakers

Check out our full review of the JBL Charge 5.

Who it's for:

The JBL Charge 5 is the ultimate all-rounder, offering great sound quality with deep-but-balanced bass and an impressively long battery life (up to 20 hours at a time) for a reasonable price.

Why we picked this:

The JBL Flip speakers tend to be the most popular options from the brand, but here's why we love the Charge 5. For starters, its name refers to this speaker's ability to charge other mobile devices (via USB-A) even when it's playing music, making it a fantastic travel companion. It's perfect for long days at the beach or park when you won't have an outlet. (If the price puts you off, consider the smaller JBL Flip 6, which we also tested and loved.)

The Charge 5 has an IP67 rating, meaning a waterproof and dust-proof design that's perfect for taking to the beach or to a pool party. As a bonus, it also comes in a rainbow of fun colors — grab two of them and enable their PartyBoost feature to bump your tunes throughout multiple rooms or spaces. And of course, this speaker wouldn't make our list if it didn't sound good. As Mashable contributor, RJ Andersen wrote, "It’s rich, dynamic, and surprisingly clear with a decent bass that fills the room without overpowering the rest of the audio." You'll also get access to an equalizer in the JBL companion app, though it's nothing terribly fancy.

During sales like Prime Day, markdowns on this speaker aren't always a given. We've seen them go live for day one of a sale but be gone by day two. In other words, if you're eyeing this speaker and see it drop in price ahead of or during Prime Big Deal Days, grabbing it is probably a good idea if you're dead set on getting a deal.

The fun and fashionable JBL Go 3 delivers a punchy, bass-blasting sound in a small, pocket-sized frame. It's completely waterproof, dustproof, and sandproof so you can bring along your tunes everywhere — from the beach to the hiking trail, whether rain or shine — without any worries whatsoever.

It also has a sturdy, built-in loop that makes it easy to grab-and-go as you head out the door for an active day. That allows you to hook the speaker onto a belt loop or backpack with a carabiner. It's a great travel companion.

We also love the fact it’s available in several bold colours, so you can find something to perfectly suit your style. It's a waterproof speaker that doubles up as an accessory — as good looking as it is functional. 

How could we not include Bose again? Its range of speakers is too good and diverse. The Bose SoundLink Micro might lack the stylish looks of some of its competitors, but it offers excellent sound quality. 

The Bose SoundLink Micro is also bordering on indestructible, so it's perfect for taking out and about with you. And it gets right to the point with a top-facing speaker and a micro USB charging port to the side. 

Its small stature makes it far more travel-friendly than some of the rivals on this list — easy to toss into your bag, with a bonus strap for easily clipping it to yourself or your luggage. The only real downside is it doesn't have full 360-degree sound, which is due to the placement of its front-facing speaker. And the battery life is a tad stingy at just six hours. But it's not a dealbreaker for us.

The Tribit XSound Surf is the Tribit brand's smallest, most portable speaker. With a fairly average battery life of 10 hours, it doesn't quite have the power or volume of its bigger brother, but makes up for that with impressive tech.

It uses the very latest Bluetooth tech — Bluetooth 5.0 — for an instant, secure, and continuous connection. Not to mention a generous wireless range of up to 100 feet. You can roam about your party with your phone in your pocket and the streaming won't be interrupted. That's not to mention hi-fidelity audio, which you can further boost by connecting to another XSound Surf speaker.

The speaker is fully waterproof and dustproof, so feel free to take it to the beach or campsites. It's also great for poolside parties and barbecues. Wherever — and whenever — you feel the need to party loud and hard!

Note: As of June 2024, Ultimate Ears has announced a new Wonderboom 4 speaker. We'll be testing that speaker soon, along with more new releases from the brand.

Who it's for:

The Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3 is a powerhouse for its size and price. It’s the perfect size for traveling — you can easily stick it in your bag without it taking up any real space — and it's rugged enough to endure the bumps and bruises of an active lifestyle. Plus, it's not too hard to catch on sale, making it an even better value. Ahead of Prime Day, this speaker dropped down to $65. Since it's being replaced by the Wonderboom 4, this sale is a great time to pick it up before it's gone. Or, if you're into the newer model (we're still in the process of testing, but it looks promising), it's on sale for $75 during Target Circle Week.

Why we picked this:

You can drop this small speaker from heights of up to five feet without worrying about destroying it. It’s also waterproof with an IP67 rating. If you drop it in water, it can float for up to 30 minutes and come out the other side working completely fine. On top of that, it features a healthy 14 hours of battery life, which is more than you'd expect for a speaker of its size. The fun colorways look great on a desk and stick out in the sand on beach day, merging form and function nicely.

But the mark of a good speaker isn’t just how portable it is. What matters most is the sound — and again, the Wonderboom 3 performs. Though it lacks the clear, deep bass of larger speakers, we found that it noticeably outperformed speakers like the JBL Clip 4, though you won't find a companion app. That's not too out of the ordinary at this price point, but we do wish we could make some basic adjustments to the audio settings, especially considering Ultimate Ears has companion apps for its other speakers.

On the bright side, it's very easy to plug and play. At the bottom of the speaker, you'll find an outdoor boost button that noticeably ups the volume of the speaker without distorting the sound. The battery drains a bit faster in boost mode, but if you're hosting a backyard party, the extra power is well worth it. Other host-friendly features we love include the multipoint connection that works seamlessly and the stereo sound you get by pairing two Wonderboom 3 speakers together. (Unfortunately, the Wonderboom 3 isn't backwards compatible — in our testing, it wouldn't pair with a Wonderboom 2.)

All in all, it has excellent sound for its size and plenty of useful features that come in handy when you'

If you’re looking for a tiny speaker to throw in your bag, the Sony SRS-XB10 is a perfect fit, quite literally. At just 92 x 74mm and 24 grams, it's very small indeed.

But the Sony SRS-XB10 also has serious oomph. It's designed with extra bass in mind. A passive radiator works with the internal speaker to enhance the low-end bass response, giving it a bigger boost. That means you get the kind of deep bass that’s often nonexistent with speakers of this size. 

There is a single driver that faces up for 360-degree sound, or you can turn the speaker towards you for more direct listening. It's both waterproof and dustproof — robust enough to take it almost anywhere, and you can connect the device with an extra Sony SRS-XB10 speaker for stereo sound.