I know what you’re thinking. Why the hell would I be posting about my favorite
tech purchase of 2016 in February of 2017? For that matter, why didn’t I
include this nugget of information in my 2016 recap post?
Glad you asked!
The reason I waited so long is because the item in question has a battery and I
wanted to see how long the battery lasted between charges.
It took over a month to figure that out.
The item I am talking about is the JBL Clip 2 Waterproof Bluetooth
Speaker. The teal and orange model to be specific.
I picked this up last year to solve a problem in my life. The problem was that
it was a pain in the ass for me to listen to audiobooks in our shower.
Part of the issue is that our shower has a door. It locks up good and tight so
when I wanted to listen to something, I’d have to crank it to 11 and still not
be able to hear things too clearly.
I had tried a variety of speaker placements and nothing improved conditions.
That was until I picked up the JBL Clip 2. At only 50 bucks, it was a
steal considering it can be fully submerged in water!
Armed with some fishing line and a fully charged battery, I hung the speaker
right in the shower. It’s waterproof so nothing to worry about.
The carabiner was a bit too small to go over the shower head by itself, hence
the fishing line. Could have probably swapped it out, but I was working with
what I had.
So mission accomplished, problem solved! I can now listen to audiobooks or music
in the shower at a reasonable volume. The kicker was the day the wife called me
and I took the call from the shower.
Yeah, it even works as a speaker phone.
The built-in rechargeable battery is supposed to go for 8 hours of playtime
between charges. That said, I received the speaker and charged it on December
15th and the battery finally ran out on February 1st.
My typical usage is 25 to 30 minutes per day for 5 to 7 days per week. Mostly
audiobooks, but occasionally listening to music.
Definitely seems like I had logged more than 8 hours before I had to charge her
back up. No complaints there!
Only real complaint has been with pairing it to multiple devices. From time to
time the wife pairs to the speaker to listen to music in the bathroom. No big
deal but the speaker lets us both stay connected to it and our phones end up
fighting to use the speaker.
Frustrating when I’m listening to something in the shower and the next thing I
know I’m hearing the person my wife is talking to on the phone in the shower.
And I assume they can hear me O_O
Hasn’t been a major issue, so I haven’t explored any ways to solve the situation
outside of just re-pairing my phone and hoping it takes priority.
I assume the multiple device pairing issues is because of the daisy chaining
functionality that the speaker has. Not something I’ve used, but you’re supposed
to be able to chain two speakers together to pump up the volume.
Last year saw some great tech purchases like my first pair of noise cancelling
headphones and my first modern mechanical keyboard. What sets the JBL Clip
2 apart from my other purchases is that it actually helps me get closer
to my goal of consuming 50 books this year.
Showering is something I love to do, but I am admittent that it’s a waste of my
time. Being able to knock out an additional 30 minutes a day on whatever
audiobook I’m rocking at the time is a major win!
