Sandberg Active Bluetooth Speaker

Today’s review is for this waterproof Sandberg Active Bluetooth Speaker. This brand is a first for the My Helpful Hints website and I’m very happy to be reviewing for Sandberg.

The roots of Sandberg can be traced back 1985, every year more than 500,000 products find themselves into people homes in over 65 different countries.

This speaker is advertised as being IPX7 Waterproof (Immersion, up to 1 m depth and for upto 30 minutes), so should be fine for outdoor use.

A powerful twin 10W speaker system produces 20W of power and all with a strong Bluetooth V4.2 connection.

But is this speaker any good? What is the sound like? Time to test it out!

Packaging and Contents.

The Sandberg Active Bluetooth Speaker comes packaged in a cardboard box which features product images and product specifications. The packaging measures 29.5cm x 12.0cm x 5.5cm and weighs 695G.

Upon opening the box you’ll find the following; 1x Speaker, 1x Micro USB Cable, 1x AUX Cable, 1x English User Guide.

Sandberg Active Bluetooth Speaker.

The Sandberg Active Bluetooth Speaker is Green in colour and measures 21.0cm x 9.5cm x 4.0cm and weighs 560G. You get a hanging hook on the top which measures 6.0cm.

On the side of the speaker you get a selection of user controls that can control things like volume, track selection and power, there’s also a special ‘Extra Bass’ boost button, which will increase the bass output.

Charging and Setting Up.

The Sandberg Active Bluetooth Speaker comes with a pre-installed 5200mAh Lithium-ion battery and will require a charge using the supplied Micro USB Cable (Which measures 55.0cm). You need to hook the USB end of the cable up to any 5V DC power source. The Micro USB charging port is located underneath the protective cover on the top of the speaker. You’ll also see the AUX port located next to the charging port too, this is so you can use a wired connection if required using a standard 3.5mm audio cable. A USB output port is located so you can use the speaker as a powerbank too! Great for quick mobile phone charging.

The charging time takes around 2 hours to fully and will last for around 7-8 hours on a single charge.

Once charged you’ll need to pair this speaker to your device via a Bluetooth connection. To do this power on the speaker by pressing and holding the power button on the side of the speaker. An audible tone will alert you that the speaker is on. Now go to your Bluetooth menu on your device and connect to ‘Sandberg Active’, you’ll now be paired and ready to play your music library.

Controls.

You’re also able to control your music library using the speaker itself, you can do the following actions using the buttons located on the side of the speaker.

Power On/Off: Press and hold the power button.

Play/Pause: Press the middle button and your music will pause/play.

Increase Volume/Skip Track: Press the + button once to increase volume, if you press and hold the same button, you’re able to skip to the next track.

Decrease Volume/Go Back a Track: Press the – button once to decrease volume, if you press and hold the same button, you’re able to go back to the previous track.

Answer/End a Call: Press the middle play/pause button to answer/end a call

Bluetooth Dis-Connect: Press the dis-connect button to disable the Bluetooth connection.

Extra Bass: Press and hold to increase the bass tones of the speaker, a White LED will be lit up to show activity.

Waterproof Test.

The Sandberg Active Bluetooth Speaker is rated to IPX7 Waterproof rating, which means it should survive being in water for 30 minutes, in a 1M depth with no issues. Obviously, I will need to test this out.

One thing to make sure if you’re going to use near to water is to ensure the protective seal to the AUX/Charging port is completely closed as water could ingress into these ports.

So, I filled my bathroom sink up and chucked in the speaker. It sank and then started to take in water and air bubbles started escaping from all over the speaker and eventually the music stopped. This all happened in 30 seconds!

When I removed the speaker, water poured out from every hole, panel and even the top hanging loop section.

The sound although starting to work again after drying out is very poor and has become muffled. Basically, it’s knackered!

So, I so believe the speaker is not waterproof, test done!

Sound Quality.

The sound quality was very good, until I broke the speaker with water. The speaker had a nice balanced sound with the additional bass boost if required. But using this bass boost will affect battery life.

The Bluetooth signal can achieve 10M of stable connection and I tested this out.

I was unable to perform any more sound testing as at this point the speaker had completely malfunctioned and no longer works.

Technical Specifications.

• Brand: Sandberg
• Model: Active Bluetooth Speaker
• Manufacturer Code: 450-10
• EAN: 5705730450105
• ASIN: B079KFGV29
• Bluetooth Version: V4.2
• Bluetooth Distance: 10M
• Working Voltage: 3.5-3.8V
• Power Input: 5V/1A
• Power Output: 5V/2A
• Speaker Output: 2x 10W
• Speaker Driver: 45mm ? Inner Magnetic
• S/N: ? 75dB
• Battery: Built-In 5300mAh
• Charge Time: 2 Hours
• Playtime: 7-8 Hours
• Microphone: Yes
• Certification: IPX7
• Compliance: CE, FCC, RoHS

Conclusion.

I was enjoying using the Sandberg Active Bluetooth Speaker, until it malfunctioned on me. I don’t know whether my speaker was poorly manufactured or not, but still it didn’t cope with a sink of water for 30 seconds.

The rugged look and the promise of a waterproof Bluetooth speaker is targeted towards the outdoor traveller type, but from my findings the speaker is rugged but splash proof, at best!

The control buttons were easy to use and the whole design of the speaker are the biggest plus marks. But for me the way is stopped working after being put in water will stop me from suggesting a purchase of the speaker.

For that reason, I cannot recommend the Sandberg Active Bluetooth Speaker.

If you want the Sandberg Active Bluetooth Speaker for yourself, it’s available for purchase only on Amazon. The RRP for this product is £59.95.

Product sample provided by Sandberg in exchange for a detailed, unbiased review.

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