Rated 1 out of
5
by
Helnmart from
JBL portable. Faulty charging base
Wish I had listened to the reviews. The charging base is rubbish and keeps loosing connection, so without warning the battery will go flat. JBL will not simply send out a replacement base, they want the complete unit sending back for repair. JBL you have lost yet another customer.
Date published: 2020-08-29
Rated 5 out of
5
by
rolioli from
Sounds Amazing
Love this speaker, it sounds better than my Apple Homepod Mini. It's probably not worth $180 but at $89 during Black Friday nothing else comes close in terms of price for performance. The microphone is amazing and has never missed me saying hey google once.
Date published: 2020-11-17
Rated 5 out of
5
by
w0by from
Excellent!
I bought this so when I'm sitting outside in my hot tub I can just speak to it without having to get up and touch the buttons to move songs or change channels/change the volume or whatever else. It's great with the hands-free google assistant built in, it's exactly what I was looking for and the JBL sound quality of course is amazing. I'm actually finding myself walking around in the house with this in my hand sometimes even. This really is an excellent speaker with the voice-activate assistant it's PERFECT!
Date published: 2020-01-02
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Rainmanone from
Great sound, not so good mic
Bought this guy to replace my original Google Home speaker in the living room (and get some portability).
Sound quality is much better than the GH, but the mic sensitivity is bad, with the original GH I'd just speak naturally. with the JBL I need to shout "Hey Google" (and odds out that the GH that is in 3 rooms away) will answer before the JBL that is 3 meters from me will.
Other than that, connecting to 5GHz (40 cm from the WIF router) is clunky, so switched to 2.4GHz.
oh... and why volume voice commands effect the playback volume, but not the actual assistant responses ?!?
Date published: 2020-10-19
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Chris in Portland from
Great sound, great charging cradle, great speaker!
I've had the JBL Smartlink Portable for a few weeks now. I'd recommend it to anyone. The sound is great and it can easily be picked up and carried around the house.
The charging cradle that it sits in is one of the best features. I didn't pay attention to that when purchasing, but it turns out that is a standout feature I wouldn't want to live without. I don't have to plug the speaker in and out whenever I move it, you see. I can just grab the speaker without fiddling with cords and plugs.
Fantastic!
Date published: 2020-12-12
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Ratman79 from
Man this thing ROCKS!!!
I got this speaker a couple weeks ago, and man this thing is awesome. I have it setup in the kitchen and listen to it when we are cooking breakfast on the weekends and supper every night. I took it to work one day and my wife said I hope you dont plan on leaving it there. JBL never lets me down! The Bluetooth function is great to use anywhere and the kids love the Google Home, It tells jokes to my daughter, and history to my son. I just love the crystal clear tunes coming out of this little masterpiece!
Date published: 2020-03-19
Rated 1 out of
5
by
Anonymous from
Very frustrating
I did a ton of research to find a waterproof Airplay-compatible speaker to use in my bathroom, after a $50 one that plugged into an Apple Airport Remote audio jack which I purchased at J&R 20 years ago finally gave up the ghost. The only two I found were this and a $400 Sonos. Now Sonos may be the only option.
First the documentation is awful - just a "Startup Guide" with no explanation for what most of the different flashing light messages mean. And yes I looked online and there is only a pdf of the same Startup - the Crutchfield customer support who are letting me return this (kudos to them) agreed there is nothing else from JBL.
I was able to set it up on Airplay using Apple Home. But out of the six mornings I went to pick it up out of its charging cradle and take it to the bathroom (we are very short on wall outlets in bathroom) it only worked once. Twice it had disappeared from Airplay. Once the battery level light was flashing red - I assume this means dead battery, and that is how it acted when I picked it up from cradle, but again no docs to tell me what it meant. Once the battery level was flashing low after being on cradle all night, and I had to redo the Setup. This morning the power light was flashing, and all my attempts to reset, press, press & hold, etc. on all buttons yielded nothing. Time to return. This thing sucks.
BTW I agree with others here who say there seems to be an issue with power as it comes with no USB power 'cube'. I tried plugging the USB Power cable into both the port on the back of an Airport Remote, and also used an old iphone 'cube' plugged into AC. While both seemed to work at first, they both also resulted in what appeared to be dead or low battery.
Date published: 2020-10-06
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Greh from
Excellent addition to link system and google home.
This speaker is a really nice addition to my google home. I now have 3 jbl link speakers and the system works very well. I can play music on all speakers throughout my home, or play different music in each room. Hooks up to WiFi easily. Added to google home to control lights, thermostat, and music. The sound on the speaker is excellent for its size. Even at max volume is is very clear, even outside. The charging pad makes it super easy to grab a speaker and bring it anywhere. Really cool speaker.
Date published: 2020-03-25
Rated 1 out of
5
by
LarryC_Denver from
Don't buy EVEN if on sale!!
Constant issues from the very first day I purchased. Here it is a short time later (< year) and it can't hold a charge. Also Airplay 2 is spotty meaning it plays then just stops (yet no other speakers I have in my home have this issue). And bluetooth??!! forget about it.
Date published: 2023-01-27
Rated 1 out of
5
by
Matt23C from
Don't use outside!
Portable speaker that can't handle the heat. Got this as a bday gift and after a year it died. Found out it was probably because I was using it outside while in my pool when it was hot out and it overheated thus screwing up the speaker. Do not buy!
Date published: 2022-03-21
Rated 1 out of
5
by
MrBojangles from
Died just after warranty expired
I have bought JBL audio gear for over 20 years and this is the first one that let me down. The audio is tinny and hollow with no low end bass like the Flip or Charge series have. I bought this in June of 2019. Dec 2020 saw it go haywire with blinking lights and no response. JBL said no to repairing it, but did offer me a coupon for a new purchase so I guess that is better than nothing. Overall, I would not recommend buying this speaker.
Date published: 2021-01-08
Rated 2 out of
5
by
MGriffith from
Great features, unreliable
The Pros - the sound is very good. The feature set is great (in theory).
Cons - I have about 10 devices that work with Chromecast. This is hands-down the most unreliable. Because it implements the protocol so poorly, I often find myself using bluetooth. The wireless charging never worked consistently for me. When you see "wireless charging" you're expecting a widely adopted standard, like Qi. No - the base has contacts that need physical contact with the bottom of the speaker. My success rate is probably under 50% getting it to work. I've had the speaker for just over a year, and more recently it's been connecting to devices, but no sound comes out. It requires a hard reboot to work, but even then will just stop after a few minutes. Hard reboots take about a minute. I'm guessing it needs a firmware update, but support from JBL has been terrible.
Date published: 2021-04-06
Rated 1 out of
5
by
JBarr from
Needs much improvement to be a $180 speaker
Have these about a week and they don't stay. charged on the dock I used the new usb cable that came with, weird thing they charged up on the dock then died then after messing with them they charged again and die now I'm jut plugging them directly into the speaker, I have them set up as a pair and they do sound great but they act up they will just stop playing music or not play after saying playing music on YouTube music after that they should start playing and they with just go silent. How is it that JBL can't get this right I've got Google devices all over my house and don't have any issues with them I've got great internet and wifi is strong, firmware has got to be part of the problem fix it. 1 start is for JBL releasing a product that bad at this price
Date published: 2022-01-08
Rated 4 out of
5
by
DJRBravo from
En god produkt for at nyde dagen
Jeg har brugt højtaler for ca 3 uger nu. Jeg har i forvejen Amazon- Alexa stemme højtaler. Jeg har sammenlignet JBL Link Portable med Alexa. Der er ikke særligt forskel mellem de to højtaler, som fordel vil jeg sige med JBL er at den er potable, den har batteri som kan bruges i ca 8 timer. Som ulempe er der ikke nok materiale til at læse på om produktet, derfor skal man selv finde ud af, hvordan den skal virke.Dens stemme indikator ligger i modsat side til knappen til On-off.
Man skal bruge google-home app til instalere højtaleren. Men efter opsætningen fungerer med stemme.
Men den har et gud lyd og musik, synes jeg. Dens mikrofon er meget følsom i forhold til Amazon Alexa Echo højtaler. Det er også en fordel, at den er vandtæt.
Date published: 2019-12-17
Rated 3 out of
5
by
JohanSR95 from
Skuffende kvalitet
Den spiller god og rummelig lyd, den ligger godt i hånden, hvis man vil transportere den rundt, og den er ikke for klodset. Det er dejligt, at man kan tage den med sig, eller at den kan stå og lade mens den spiller. Dog er jeg skuffet over lydkvaliteten. Jeg forventede nok for meget, da det er JBL, som ellers normalt leverer rigtig god kvalitet, men selvom klangen er rigtig fin, så mangler den virkelig noget bas. Det er så ærgerligt, at man ikke kan justere den, så bassen fylder mere. Det er desværre nok til at trække den helt ned til 3 stjerner.
Date published: 2022-07-31
Rated 4 out of
5
by
admtang from
Fantastic Flexibility with Portable Google Home
Overall, I'm pretty pleased with this speaker as it packs tremendous volume and functionality with the Google Home integration. From a sound perspective, its not as powerful as the JBL Link 300, but at higher volumes, the speaker performs as well. Really love that the speaker can easily integrate with the rest of my smart home speaker system. Great for outdoors, sporting events, or just moving around the house.
Date published: 2020-03-18
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Happy_dad from
Great smart speaker, but sound is better on Flip 4
I own a Flip 4 (in camo color scheme), and got this one to try out the smart speaker features. I dislike the idea of Amazon listening to my conversations, and since Google controls all of my emails already, I don't have much to hide from them. And since I'm a diehard JBL fan, I figured I'd go with a JBL smart speaker.
Well, unfortunately, this one doesn't hit the sweet spot.
The smart speaker functionality is great. It did take me a long while to set it up: actually, I never succeeded in setting it up through the Google app. Every time I tried, the process timed out when connecting to the speaker from my phone. Eventually, I gave up, but one day just decided to say "Ok Google", and it started working. Weird setup process takes off a star, but it did get set up, so no stars docked here.
The speaker hears "Ok Google" from across the living room and the kitchen, so the microphone sensitivity is great. I have an accent, as English is my second language, but the smart system recognizes my requests on the first try every time. It tells you time, weather, sets up timers, even plays some disney-sponsored games with my 5 year old (basically a step by step narrated adventure game). I am fully satisfied with the smart speaker aspect of this Link.
However, when I played my favorite tracks (many of them rely on good reproduction of base notes to capture your attention), this speaker wasn't as good as the Flip 4. Maybe because Link has "360 degrees sound", it makes it uniform all around it, but lacking details. Bass is not that good, treble is not that good, mids are ok. It's not a bad speaker, and I'm sure it's much better than any Alexa or whatever other smart speakers there are. It's enough to enjoy a meme song like Jingle Bells, or maybe something uncritical like anything by Katy Perry, but it's definitely not enough to enjoy carefully crafted and produced music (anything Ofdream, good vocals by Colors Youtube channel, anything Nigel Stanford, Bonobo).
I hoped the Link Portable would be my one speaker that would do it all, but it just does the smart speaker well. For listening to my favorite tunes, I'll stick to Flip 4.
Date published: 2020-04-18
Rated 3 out of
5
by
MikeyB from
I want to give this 5 stars but no bluetooth
Love the look, sound, and flexibility of this speaker. That being said, when I tell Google Assistant to enter pairing mode, and the speaker seems to think it is discoverable, it doesn't show up as an available bluetooth option on any of my devices (2 phones, 1 iPad), so I can't pair it for BT use. Defeats about half of why I bought it. Can't seem to find an answer on the support page, or even on YouTube.
Date published: 2020-02-06
Rated 2 out of
5
by
Rjd14 from
Does Not Work with Google Home
Speaker works great through Bluetooth but that’s about it. Bought the speaker to pair through Google Home speaker groups with other Google Home speakers but found they can’t be used in the same group due to different chrome cast versions and no way to update the speaker.
If you’re looking to use this with Google Home speakers look for other options. Support has been unable to give any advice on how to fix
Date published: 2023-01-19
Rated 3 out of
5
by
DJ Hazmat from
Works in Google Group, not in Airplay 2 grouping
I really love the long battery life, the look and feel, as well as the sound of the new Link Portable. Bass is not as pronounced, but still present, and appropriate for a speaker this size. I am not into the spotify or google music services, but am into using iTunes airplay since I have a large music collection. This speaker sounds great indoors and out and has really good WiFi radio so I have not experienced dropouts when moving around my house or going outside. Google streaming works great(even in a multispeaker group mode) and Airplay 2(not v1) to the single Link Portable speaker works great as well. However, my issue comes when I am using multiple Airplay speakers (yes on the same network SSID, even with a few feet of each other) because the Link Portable "laggs" behind the other speakers. I have verified that I am using Airplay 2 certified speakers and have no issues with any other speakers lagging including the new JBL Link Music that I have as well. I have submitted a support ticket, and am awaiting a response from JBL support. If this lag is fixable, then I would give this speaker a 5 star, as it would be doing what it was intended to do for a reasonable price.
Date published: 2020-01-08
Rated 2 out of
5
by
J1thu from
It's ok, just ok.
Having owned a Bose portable smart speaker, which sounded amazing, but returned due to it being agoraphobic, which defeated the object, the JBL is certainly a step down. Sound quality is ok, there's no dedicated app, Google is a bit laggy, streaming Spotify is hit and mis. The speaker just does the job. Unfortunately, the choice for portable smart speakes is very small and so I settled for this.
Date published: 2022-05-27
Rated 1 out of
5
by
Anonymous from
Great functionality, poor sound
I loved that this device (the JBL Link Portable) was wi-fi compatible, so I could control spotify form out of bluetooth range, but frankly, I expected more out of the sound, given its size. The lows and low-mids are pretty week, leaving mostly just glaring treble. For comparison, our first generation Google Home packs a much fuller punch. We decided to return it for something else.
Date published: 2020-10-27
Rated 2 out of
5
by
TyneBridges from
Fairly good sound, very poor connectivity
I think JBL has a dismissive attitude towards its customers. When I complained that my Link Portable disconnects from wifi at -67dB, JBL support told me "our specialists...advised that when our devices are around -45 to -50 we would deem this to be satisfactory but anything below this (i.e the -67 dB), this is a bad connection".
This conflicts with every web description of wifi signal strength I've read. They have all said that -67dB is a satisfactory level and reliability should only fall noticeably below -70dB.
Having had the speaker for a few weeks, I noticed that the battery life seemed way below the advertised 7 hours and, when it hasn't cut out, it's reluctant to stop playing on command. I see the firmware hasn't had an upgrade for a long time, so it's not going to be up to date with Google Home. I'd give it 7 out of 10 for sound quality (clarity could be better) but only 3 for connectivity!
Date published: 2021-09-22
Rated 4 out of
5
by
ingersollwe from
Good sound, but charging is a pain
Great sound quality for a smaller speaker. I did notice it had trouble charging after we first bought it, specifically when I put the speaker on the base or plugged it in directly it wouldn't charge at all. Then I read some of the instructions and it says you need to use a charging brick with at least 2 amp output. standard iphone bricks are only like 1 amp. I put our iPad brick on (2.4 amp) and it seemed to charge. Time will tell, but Why on earth would such an expensive (rechargeable) speaker that requires a more powerful than standard charging brick not include one in the box? I was surprised when I opened the package and it wasn't included, just the charging cable. I think this is a mistake especially if it requires a more powerful amperage output than a standard cell phone brick. Of course maybe there is something actually wrong with my speaker and if that's the case I will contact customer support.
Date published: 2020-05-04
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Malou from
Flot højtaler med fin lyd
En lækker højtaler med fin lyd, som dog er lidt højdesensitiv og overfladesensitiv - når højtaleren står lavere end den lyttende eller på en eftergivende/ujævn overflade, så toner bassen ret meget ud.
Der mangler hjælp til opsætning, hvis man ikke ønsker at bruge google assistent. Jeg endte med at måtte installere google assistent, før jeg kunne forbinde med bluetooth.
Derudover er det lidt irriterende, at den tænder af sig selv når den sættes i docking stationen og at den siger højt at mikrofonen er slukket hver gang den tænder.
Date published: 2021-11-11
Rated 3 out of
5
by
Hatch from
Packed with Connectivity, Bass isn't good, A2 Bugs
This speaker has everything, Airplay, Google Assistant, and bluetooth. It's seemed perfect but, I'll have to say this speaker lacks in two major areas which has me leaning towards returning the product. The portable form factor has definitely had an impact on the types of drivers they can include. Notably bass performance. My 3 year old Charge sounds better than this speaker. But that can be excused by the convenience it offers.
Secondly, Airplay 2 implementation from JBL on this speaker sucks. The magic of Airplay 2 is that all speakers in the home are synced to < 1s of each other. This creates the illusion they are all one system. This speaker just doesn't work in that regard. It is always over 1 second apart from the other speakers in the house which sounds terrible and renders this main feature useless unless it's the only speaker playing nearby. I am very disappointed in the performance.
All that said, the design on this product is 10/10. Sleek and blends into almost any contemporary room's design. The docking station is sleek too with gold coils on the bottom of the speaker providing a very nice contrast. The pick up and play nature is great, if only it sounded and performed better when using it.
All in all, it's the most affordable, well designed(visually) airplay 2 speaker that offers assistant and bluetooth for when friends need to connect.
Date published: 2019-12-16
Rated 5 out of
5
by
greenative from
Great Portable speaker with Android Assistant
Super great product, I was searching for my UE BOOM 2 alternative with possibility to connect with my Google home, with the bluetooth connect possibility... most of the wifi connected Speakers are not able to connect by direct bluetooth, but JBL Link Portable is.. we love it!!!! It has better bass than my UE Boom 2 that are also portable speakers.... really great product, we love it and at the SALE price it's incredible... To configure with Wifi you need Google Home or Apple Airplay, but you can use it only with Bluetooth
Date published: 2023-02-08
Rated 3 out of
5
by
chubbie from
Good feature but faulty charging mechanism
It works as advertised. It sounds good considering the size of the speaker. JBL tunes down the bass when the volume is too high to avoid cracking sound. Clever!
On the feature side Google Home and AirPlay2 without a problem as well as the bare bone Bluetooth. However, Google Home set up is a must. It does not work at all, No AirPlay, no bluetooth, no nothing unless it is set up with Google Home. I can accept that.
However, the charging leaves a lot to desire. It does charge the speaker. However the speaker drains the battery flat even while the speaker stands on the pod all day. I have reseat it again in order for it to start charging again every time. It is pretty strange. I don't know whether it is the faulty pod or the speaker. Otherwise it earns 5 stars.
Date published: 2021-12-14
Rated 1 out of
5
by
JPZt from
Canned sound and weak WIFI reception
Bought 3 of these to place in different rooms. For a kitchen speaker they are just passable, but what really annoys, is that if you move them around the house, they will lose connection, and a restart is required. I have google WIFI mesh with 3 pucks in a fairly small house, and no problems with other devices. Super frustrating
Date published: 2020-12-18
Rated 5 out of
5
by
burkhac1124 from
Great Sound and PORTABLE
I have a few of the JBL Link smart speakers and love them. This one being portable is fantastic. I can take it to the garage or out on the porch and enjoy the JBL sound everyone loves. I would highly recommend buying this portable unit and all the other Link Speakers in the line for every room in your house.
Date published: 2020-03-24