Ultimate Ears BOOM 3 Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker - Waterproof, 360° Sound, 15-Hour Battery (Black) - Perfect for Outdoor Adventures, Pool Parties & Travel

Lots of reviews on this thing, with everyone focusing on some aspect (usually sound quality). So this review is for the people out there looking for a portable speaker for bike riding purposes.I own 2 of these. I use them as speakers for my bicycle. I use these every time I ride to provide music for myself and my friends. Headphones are dangerous on a bike, this lets me still enjoy my music, share it with my friends, and hear traffic / other ambient sounds.First, since everyone else focuses on this:SOUND:Highest quality out there? Beats every other speaker on the market? Who knows and who cares! For bike riders, we want sound that is clear, of good quality, and loud to overcome other ambient noise or city noises. That being said, yes the quality is very good, and except for audiophiles who obsess over these things, just know it's better than many other speakers, and great for bikers. The number one issue bikers will encounter is not the speaker itself, but the quality of the files you are playing if you use downloaded music. Some songs are quiet, some are loud, depends on your source and the quality of the music files themselves much more than the speaker.PORTABILITY:This things fits perfect in 95%+ of water bottle cages that come standard on many bikes. Even the fancy carbon ones. This works on my mountain bike with a cheap metal cage, on my fixie with a slightly fancier bottle cage, and on my road bike with a partial carbon cage. For metal cages, you can just flex/bend the cage if it's too loose or tight, however, I just use a tiny S shaped slide lock to hook it to the cage. Even better, I've started using a bendable Nite Ize Gear Tie set up (search on that term here on Amazon) to hold the speaker in place. Again, no need for these really, but some rides are bumpy and I like the extra security.DURABILITY:No problem! This thing is a little brick. I've ridden with them in a pouring rain, still pumping out the tunes. I've dropped one a couple of times, no issues.FEATURES:Here's where the UE Boom seriously disappoints us bikers...1. The UE Boom has a mobile app! Awesome! It even lets you remotely power on and off the device. For a biker, fantastic! It also shows your remaining battery life on the app, yes, yes, we're on a streak now! And the most important feature, remote volume control! Oh, no wait, they left that last one out... What the heck man?!? You can power this thing on an off without having to reach down and do it while riding, but you can't change the much more important volume remotely while riding? Shame on you logitech, like seriously shame on you, that's a major 'D'oh' and minus one star for you. I turn it on when I first get on the bike, remote power on is not even that useful. I turn it off when done riding, remote power off also not super useful. (Both features still appreciated though). But volume needs to be constantly adjusted while riding!!! Side story: I called Logitech about this since their website, user guide, and mobile app store page clearly advertise remote volume control as well. Man I tore them a new one over the phone about false advertising claims about this. Result of that call? They removed the feature highlight from their website, guide, and app page. Haha! So they listened to me, just not in the way I wanted. ADD THIS FEATURE LOGITECH!!!2. You can press the up/down volume buttons together to get an accurate statement on remaining battery life, or use the app. Awesome. Now let me just reach down here and press the volume up button and it will tell me what % of total volume I am playing at... Oh wait, now it doesn't. What the heck?!? There is no way to know what % of total volume you are currently listening to! So for bikers, here is what you have to do every single time you ride with one of these. Turn it on, start playing a song, then press the volume up over and over to get to the max volume (beeps when you hit it), then press the volume down the correct number of times you have calculated so that you hit the sweet spot of loud enough but not battery draining super fast (for me that is 4 - 6 times pressing down after hitting max). Sure you can find your sweet spot and just leave it there, but then you end up riding with friends and they want it louder, and then later you're riding alone through a neighborhood at night and know that grumpy gramps on the corner doesn't like to listen to the Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mos Def, Daft Punk, or Snoop Dogg/Lion at a high volume after 10pm and you need to turn it down some.3. Volume controls on the device are big and I can press them while riding without looking at the device. Perfect, thanks! However, a >> and << button on the device for forward and back would be a nice improvement for anyone not using the device with the app. It's like they can't decide to make the device fully remote or not. I can't do volume control with the app, but I can't control the track being played from the device. I've done QA and SD work before, c'mon logitech, you're better than this.4. The last feature I will touch on is the ability to sync 2 of these speakers via the mobile app. Love this feature. As I stated above, I have 2 of these, and 2 bottle cages on my road bike. I double up these bad boys to really crank out the music for my larger social cycling night rides and it works perfect. Sometimes it's a little clunky getting them to double up properly, but I just pair each speaker with my phone individually first, then power them both down. Then turn on 1 and wait for it to connect to my phone, open the app, go to double up, then turn on the second. It works most of the time. Sometimes it has trouble for whatever reason, but I use these with 2 phones, a laptop, a tablet, etc, so it's a mess to begin with based on my use. Once it does double up once, it usually never forgets for subsequent needs.BATTERY LIFE:Ugh... not so great. 15 hours? Ha! No way, not possible unless you have the volume at 1%. However, all companies inflate their battery numbers, and yes Logitech you are inflating, as I do not care that you can get 15 hours with volume at 1%, no one would ever use it that way, and you know that you and every other company out there should be required to state total life at 1%, 50%, and 100% at a minimum, so consumers have the true info on real life usage of these products! Anyway, at 100% volume on the speaker and the cell phone, you're lucky to get an hour or two out of these. However, that's some loud music. Now, here's my solution. I double up my speakers usually, but it works single use also. I power them up, get the music going, and then adjust the volume to usually around 75% (guessing since logitech doesn't include a volume readout... see above). That volume will usually last for normal rides, but I do a lot of longer rides (multiple times per week I ride for 3 - 6 hours at a time). So, I use a Ravpower or Anker external battery to keep the speakers going as long as I need. I put the speakers in their cages on the bike, and connect a cable to the power port on the bottom of each. I wrap that cable around the frame of the bike and connect it to the external battery that I keep in a saddle bag under the seat of the bike, and then I have music that lasts as long as I need.Other notes:My road bike is 90% black with some red and white accents, so I have the dull black with red accents version of the speaker (seriously, please buy a colored version unless you are trying to be invisible with your setup like mine). My USB cables (for power) are also black, my saddle bag under my seat is black, etc. Also my RevoLights on my wheels are black and shine white or red light (front / back). So for me this whole setup is virtually invisible, especially at night. I've been stopped well over a hundred times now (use these daily for the past year) by people who are like, where is the music coming from, there's no way your cell phone (mounted to the front of the bike using a Koomus mount) is that loud. It sounds great, and with your light setup, man that's awesome!90%+ of people love the setup, the music, etc. Again, I ride daily and frequently in groups. Also in weekly open to the public city rides with 1000's and 1000's of people around riding. I get stopped so often because people want to know what brand speaker I use and where I got it (also, I use like 10 different lights on my bike at night, so many times it's for my light setup as well, check out Nori lights, RevoLights, Monkey lights, etc). The best part is, my setup is minimal in size and look. Many people I ride with have louder music, but they have to use a hitch and trailer for their full size speakers, or a rack on the back to carry a large speaker, with my setup, you don't even see where the sound comes from because at night it's invisible, and even during the day when I come to a stop, my legs block the view of the speakers in their cages.Occassionally (less than a dozen times so far in a year) you get the Debbie Downers, Negative Nancy's, and Grumpy Gramps who don't like that the music is contributing to overall ambient noise (yeah my other option is headphones and not going to kill myself because you get upset that you hear my music for the less than 2 seconds that it takes me to fly by you like a blur). I pause my music when stopped at a red light with people around, because I get it, no one likes the stereotypical late teen / early 20's wannabe in the modified car with all 4 windows down and music blasting, etc... I try to fit in with my surroundings, but at the same time, screw you overly negative people, life is short, I'm on a bike not contributing to the pollution problem, while also getting exercise, and arriving at my destination frequently before car users even. I am a educated and polite cyclist (stop for people, lights, stop signs, signal my turns, follow rules of road, don't go on sidewalks, use bike lane if one exists), but I also am aggressive and defend my rights as a road vehicle (own the full lane when I have a right to, don't let you come over on top of me or turn in front of me from another lane or tailgate me, etc; don't do something illegal or dangerous around me, because I will confront you on it immediately, not in a road rage way, but I won't let you get away with endangering me, and you probably will be on video). Ok done with the soapbox speech!Ride smart bikers, but enjoy your rides and be aware of your surroundings (and polite to the people our there), this speaker is a great add-on for a bike!Final rating: 5 stars for general use; 3.5 stars for bike riders (Add remote volume control logitech!!! And add a volume readout, be more honest on battery life, and for V.2 of the speaker, add track controls to the device.)