This JBL Portable Bluetooth Speaker Is Now on Sale for Over 20% Off.
Portable Bluetooth speakers usually require a compromise. The smallest ones are easy to carry but have weak sound; larger ones sound better but take up more space in your bag. The JBL Grip Bluetooth speaker , currently on sale on Amazon for $77.36 (previously $99.95), falls somewhere in the middle. According to price tracking, it’s just a dollar above the lowest recorded price, and Amazon is also offering a 90-day Amazon Music subscription, letting you start playing right away. It’s compact enough to fit in a backpack pocket where you might keep a water bottle, and a nylon loop on the back lets you attach it to a carabiner or hang it from a hook. It’s also IP68 -rated, so it’s dustproof and can even withstand submersion in nearly 1.5 meters of water for about 30 minutes. JBL also claims it can withstand a 3-foot drop onto concrete, so throwing it in a backpack or beach bag is unlikely to do any harm.
In everyday use, the Grip is more focused on portability and durability than powerful sound. Inside is a 43 x 80 mm full-range driver, covering frequencies from 70 Hz to 20 kHz, connected via Bluetooth 5.4. It’s a mono speaker, so it doesn’t produce stereo sound on its own, but it can be paired with another JBL speaker if you need a wider frequency range. In practice, it handles podcasts, playlists, and general listening well. Voices are clear, and the midrange remains balanced, although the bass lacks the deeper rumble you get from larger speakers like the JBL Flip series, and high-frequency detail can sound somewhat muffled, according toa PCMag review . Nevertheless, the sound is quite rich for a speaker of this size.
JBL offers several ways to customize the sound through the JBL Portable app, including four preset equalizers and a simple seven-band EQ. Controls on the speaker itself are simple: the power, Bluetooth, and Auracast buttons are located on the top, while the volume and playback controls are on the front. There’s also a small LED strip on the back that cycles through different lighting effects and can serve as a soft light source in a dark room or tent. As for battery life, it’s claimed to last up to 14 hours at moderate volume, which should be enough for a full day outdoors without recharging. When the battery runs low, the speaker charges via the USB-C port, and a full charge takes about three hours. Just keep in mind that JBL doesn’t include a USB-C cable, so you’ll need to use one you already own.