XLEADERMini Bluetooth Speaker (Travel Case Provided) HD Sound&Rich Bass, Touch Design, 12-15H Playtime, Support Aux Input, Micro SD, Mic, for iPhone Laptop Shower Office, Ideal Gifts, Pink Rose Gold

I just received this little speaker. I ordered it even though it didn't get the highest ratings because I liked the size, the looks and the carrying case. It did not disappoint.It hooked up quickly and has a really good sound for such a little speaker. It comes with the necessary cords and was charged when I opened it so I could try it right away. The directions for use are clearly written and make it easy to figure out how to connect it to any device.I like that I can put an SD card in it if I like. It's easy to answer the phone and speak through the microphone.This little speaker offers it all for such a reasonable price, I don't know why it doesn't get 5 stars from everybody.

This is my second one. The first one lasted about 4 years. The sound is awesome for a little speaker. The battery life lasted 4 years + and the charge will last a few days depending on how often you use it.

Update #3 from 08/03/21:Wasn't aware that company refunded my full purchase amount due to the issues I ran into. I didn't request a refund or return, so this was unexpected, and I missed it when it came through a couple of months ago.Amended my review to 4 stars since I was sincerely impressed with the item until it failed. Proactive refunds and assistance from the company definitely impressed me, as I wasn't looking to try formal complaints or start the refund process for an item that was priced so low to begin with.Update #2 from 05/02/21:Disassembled speaker out of curiosity, confirmed that a transistor on the board indeed blew out and melted, causing the strong electronic burning smell. Didn't want to bother with the return process on a less than $20 item, but still extremely disappointed. Will likely steer clear of this brand/case in the future for safety reasons.Update #1 from 05/02/21:Item's charging port or battery has failed. Red light comes on for charging, tried multiple cables, but item doesn't power on. Held it up to a fan for a moment and could immediately smell the ozone of burning electronics. Something has shorted out, and I've been very careful and gentle with this item (even using a breakaway USB adapter).Item has lasted less than a month, and I'm extremely sad and disappointed since it's functionality this whole time has been absolutely fantastic. Lowered to two stars because no matter how good an item's function, if it lasts less than a month due to QC issues, then it's clearly not going to merit 5 stars.ORIGINAL REVIEW:PROS- Small form factor- Nice, sleek design; "touchscreen" buttons are a nice extra, and LED auto-off saves battery life- Good Bluetooth connectivity- Great sound quality considering size (5W rating is legit)- Instant connectivity, swaps between aux and BT seamlesslyCONS- Battery life might not be as long as some larger wireless speakers due to size restrictions. Still gets a pretty decent lifespan, even under constant usage (15hr music rating probably based off of aux port usage, not BT).- Touch-activated buttons can cause issues if holding the speaker and accidentally touching any of the buttons. Kids grabbed the speaker and managed to skip songs and max the volume on some YouTube videos, which really tested the maximum volume capabilities of the speaker.- Downward-facing speaker placement is interesting for acoustics, but can cause issues depending on what the speaker is placed on top of. Hard surfaces clearly reflect the sound much better than soft ones (carpet, couch arm, etc.). Facing the speaker towards the listener also has a very significant volume impact, but placing the speaker on its side is slightly difficult due to round shape.Originally purchased specifically because of the form factor (was looking for something like a hockey pick to fit in a cup holder on my desk). Saw the 5W notation in the details, wasn't entirely sure I could trust that rating having worked with many a crappy speakers (wired, wireless, powered, automotive, etc.). Pleasantly surprised when I found that the sound was actually fantastic, and easily matches that of the Bose Soundlink Color that my wife used to use.The bass isn't anything to be ecstatic over, but with such a small size it's surprising that it delivers the volume that it does. Connectivity is fantastic, haven't had any issues with bluetooth pairing on the side of the speakers (issues with my PC/phone have occurred, but reboots fixed them). Range seems pretty good despite being bluetooth, I've carried it throughout the house with minimal drops (even through walls).Currently have it with a magnetic USB dongle, so I can break it away from it's charging cable whenever I want with almost no effort. Also keeps the kids from destroying anymore of my charging cables since they have been running over to steal the speaker off my desk and run around with it (whenever I'm listening to music). I HAVE learned the hard way not to keep the aux cable plugged into my Nintendo Switch, however, since they've yanked it off my shelf trying to run away with it.Hot swapping between bluetooth and the aux cable is seamless, so I'm able to swap between output from my PC to my Switch easily, which was a necessity since the monitor I'm tying each to doesn't have speakers or an aux-out. Definitely would purchase another, especially at the amazing price they're offering, and even read in the instructions that you can link two speakers together, so I might get another just to try that.Considering 3d printing a backhorn setup to take advantage of downward-facing speaker setup to redirect and amplify sound towards me vs reflecting from the tabletop.

I bought this to be a pillow BT speaker. It's not loud and bassy, but it didn't need to be to do what I wanted. It's loud enough. The voice confirmation prompts sounds like a Chinese woman, incidentally.***Note: I'm amending this review with another review of the second generation of the device, as I just got it, and have done a side by side comparison with its first generation cousin.Five watts on the new version, compared to three on the older one. Of course the sound is louder, but it's better not just because it's 1.6666... times more powerful. It's also more accurate and less tangy than the 1G. And for a speaker that can't have that much bass, for the obvious reason, it's pretty good on bass, considering.One other change on 2G compared to 1G is that the artificial Chinese woman voice prompts are gone, replaced with typical boops and beeps. To me, that's a wash factor, I can think of situations where I liked the wordy prompts over boops/beeps, and can also see how I don't.***Note: I'm amending again because I got the third generation. It's the same wattage (5W) as the 2G, but touted with overall better sound quality. And from what I've heard, that is true. The sound quality of the 3G is significantly better than that of the 2G, and, like I wrote in the first amendment, the 2G was a noticeable upgrade over the 1G for power and to a lesser extent sound quality. In fact, If you put the speaker firing side on a soft surface that doesn't totally smother it, like a thin light blanket, you've got sort of a sound effect that will leave you thinking that you have a "larger" speaker, akin to the original Anker Soundcore, and it's close to tolerable to listen to it for long stretches of time. Keep in mind that, at the end of the day, it's still a small form factor, so you'll never be fooled into thinking it's a boombox.Once again, the confirmation noises are the typical boops and beeps that are de rigueur in the BT speaker world. I was hoping that 3G would return the Chinese woman sounding simulated voice prompts, but, alas, no. But it's why I'm hanging on to my 1G version of this device, because the 1G makes a better pillow speaker than the later generations for that reason. That and I don't need the increased power or better sound quality for a speaker that's stuffed under a pillow and whose speech and/or music I'll be listening to with low attention levels as I'm falling off to sleep, or hope I do.Unfortunately one thing the 3G introduces that I wish it wouldn't have is that it starts in the low battery audible booping and beeping at 10% power, which means you'll have maybe an hour of booping and beeping interrupting your listening. If you're going to do audible, start at 1%, as the earlier two generations of this device did. Otherwise, my ideal is only flashing indications, and preferably that start at 1%. One other thing this needs to fix for the next generation is that when you turn the volume all the way up, it interrupts your audio with a warning beep that you're topped off on volume, and it should not do that. It just shouldn't do anything, maybe the warning indication should be lights.I've also noticed that the manual claims 1200 mah battery and 0.5 A charging. But it only takes 1 hour 40 minutes to charge from empty to full. 1.6666 hours x 0.5 A = 833 mah. So either the battery isn't as big as claimed, or the charging current is faster than claimed. I bet it's the latter, because if the battery weren't as big, I wouldn't get the total battery life that I do. So I'm thinking it really charges at or near 1 A.