this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2024
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Buy it for Life

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I was looking at my little speaker the other day and thinking to myself about how well it has done. My husband bought it for me about 10 years ago when we were just dating and had moved halfway across the world together with little money. It seemed like a big splurge at the time and we were using it to watch tv shows on our laptop without relying on the tinny laptop speakers (we didn’t have a tv). Fast forward to now and that speaker has traveled all over the place, been to the beach, been camping, been on sailing trips etc. and it still holds a charge really well and has pretty decent audio quality for its size. It even still looks good. I think ten years is pretty good for a little Bluetooth speaker, personally (maybe that's a normal amount of time?). Hopefully I can get many more years out of it. Anyway it feels strange to bring up older items and recommend them as BIFL because you never know if manufacturers have kept up their quality over the years. If these speakers are still being made with the same quality i definitely recommend them.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Not sure if this was the case when you got yours, but UE is now owned by Logitech. While they made some great stuff in the past a lot of their recent products have fallen victim to extreme cost-cutting. Just something for anyone thinking about buying one to consider.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Oh no! Yeah that’s why I put the comment at the end. It’s such a shame but the cost cutting is definitely a reality. I got mine when they were fairly new to the market but a quick Google search says Logitech already owned them before they even started making the UE Boom speakers. It’s nice to see that others on here have had similar experiences with them but I guess maybe they are not something to buy new these days.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

My mega from 8 years ago is a tank! Basically my shower speaker now and lasts over 4-6 months per charge doing that

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I have two MegaBoom 2’s—one is a complete champ, the other has very short battery life at this point.

They both work for my needs—the short battery one is in my bathroom and I leave it plugged in now.

The other one just floats around the house and gets a decent amount of use from my kids, who may or may not be slightly older than the speakers themselves.

The fact that they both work and only one has noticeably degraded battery life is surprising.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Awesome! From other comments it seems like the good battery life one is more fitting of the trend so far, which is pretty surprising. It’s cool that the next generation is getting some good use out of one of them too!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I’m just impressed that the battery is still good!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Me too! Looking at the other comments my experience doesn’t seem to be unique either.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Hell yeah. I got a mega and a small one. Still use it from time to time. Little fuckers just won’t die. I do my best to take care of them, but still, at this age, they’ve seen some wear. They’ve got the patina.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Yay! Yeah we have definitely put our one through some abuse. It’s nice to see ours wasn’t a one off and they were just making good quality products back then!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

If the battery isn't in a commodity form factor that you can easily change yourself, it's not BIFL, sorry.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Minirig would be my vote.