Scosche BoomBottle review

The Scosche BoomBottle is built to slot into a bicycle water bottle holder, and is rugged, water resistant and available in a wide range of colours, including a variety of bright acid tones that'll be easy to spot if the speaker accidentally rattles out into the mud. Fortunately, that's not a very likely scenario, as the BoomBottle fitted very securely into our bottle holder and comes with a karabiner to secure it in place.

Silicone covers protect the volume controls and pairing button, while a flap at the back protects the USB charging port and 3.5mm stereo input for connecting non-Bluetooth sources. The speaker drivers, protected by dust-proof covers, are positioned at either end of the tubular BoomBottle. You can position the speaker either horizontally or vertically, but it's more stable upright.

Like the majority of portable Bluetooth speakers, the BoomBottle uses the standard SBC audio codec rather than the higher-quality aptX. However, given that this is a small stereo speaker designed to be heard while rattling down mountain bike trails, SBC's sound quality is more than good enough for its intended purpose. The speaker did a good job of keeping us entertained in our test labs.

The BoomBottle is at its best with music that has a fairly compressed dynamic range, which describes most modern pop and dance. It's got a strong, if not particularly detailed, mid-range and there's even a bit of bass, thanks to a passive radiator. Our most complex metal and orchestral tracks lost some detail, particularly on high frequencies, but vocal harmonies were warm and pleasing to listen to. The only distortion we encountered, even at high volumes, affected occasional high notes in some overdriven guitar solos, but the problem cropped up rarely.