I've reviewed a few Lumsing products over the past few months, but there appears to be no shortage of new products from the company.

I recently received the Lumsing Portable Waterproof Bluetooth 4.0 Speaker for test and review and thought I'd write up a few notes. With the holidays coming up its always good to have some good gifting options. From a business perspective, this speaker is pretty rugged and portable, and also supports pairing with your smartphone for a speaker phone. With the IP64 protection rating (protects against liquid, dust, and falls) you can move your con-calls outside.

In the Box

The box contains the speaker, a 3.5mm audio cable (when not using Bluetooth), a very, very short USB cable, and a user manual. As with all other Lumsing products, it does not include a power adapter (for charging). Instead, you'll need to use an existing charger or a powered USB port to charge the speaker. And really, the USB cable is so short you'll probably want to opt to use one you already use for your other devices.

Construction

The MM526 is a solidly built speaker. It's small (about the size of Red Delicious Apple), but it's heavy in your hand. Again, it feels very solid. The IP64 rating means you can drop it a few times and it will continue to work just fine. It's also entirely wrapped in a rubberized, non-slip material, giving it protection from spills, rain, dust, or any other environmental hazard. Lumsing promotes the speaker as splash-proof, shock-proof, and dust-proof and I can attest that's the case.

There are two accessible ports on the back of the speaker, also covered rubber to protect. Pulling the rubber door down you get access to the USB and audio ports.

On the front of the speaker, there's the normal buttons you'd expect to find on a device like this. There's buttons for pause/play, volume up and down, and a button to answer and hang-up phone calls. All of these are also covered in protective rubber. The on/off button is on the bottom of the speaker (shown in the video below).

Bluetooth

The Bluetooth 4.0 implementation is fantastic. In fact, I've never had a better Bluetooth experience. If you work with Bluetooth devices often, you know how iffy connections can be, and particularly when you try to pair a single Bluetooth-enabled item with multiple devices. The MM526 just connects – with everything. I was so surprised by how this works I jumped around the house last night pairing it with any device I could find sitting out in the open.

Voice?

Not a usual component for a speaker, but the Lumsing MM526 goes the extra mile by providing voice interaction. Each speaker function give a verbal response. As shown in the following video example, it tells you when it powers-on and off, but it will give you a response for every other onboard function like when the Bluetooth connection is active or searching, and when a call comes through. This is not a normal feature, but it's just neat. I turn it on and off constantly just to hear it.

Sound Quality

If there's one thing I have to ding the speaker on it’s the sound quality. It's not bad, but it's not great. But, really the sound issue cannot be avoided in something this small where there's a single speaker opening at the top. It sounds like trying to fit an entire orchestra into a sardine can.  Little is more only when you talk about a Bose speaker design. But, this isn't meant to be a lavish, stereo system. It's intended to be a portable, protected speaker to give you music and speakerphone capabilities. It does what it is supposed to do, and that's probably enough.

Bottom Line

The Lumsing MM526 is a solidly built speaker, worthy as a travel companion for those that like to get off the beaten track. It will hold up to accidental drops and stay protected from the elements. The voice response feature is a welcome feature, but the Bluetooth implementation is by far the speaker's best attribute. If you want a flawless Bluetooth experience, this is it. I could give this to my dad and he'd have no trouble with it.

The Lumsing MM526 is available from Amazon for $40: Lumsing Portable Waterproof Bluetooth 4.0 Speaker Wireless Double-coil Speakers