Best Budget Waterproof Speakers 2021

If you’re wanting to listen to music without having to use headphones then you can either crank up your phone’s volume or use a speaker. Using your phone can work in some scenarios but tends to drain your battery as well as providing a relatively weak sound stage when compared to even a small speaker. Speakers are a great alternative, but if you’re wanting to listen at the beach, by the pool, or on the go, you may want to consider making sure its waterproof.

A waterproof speaker offers protection from accidental splashes, spills, and rain. In some cases, it can even provide protection from complete submersion. This can be great for your peace of mind as you don’t have to worry about your speaker so much and can just relax or party to your tunes.

Thankfully, waterproof speakers are even available in the budget price range, so you don’t need to break the bank to get a resilient speaker. To help you find the one that’s right for you, we’ve drawn up a list of the best budget waterproof speakers in 2021.

The Sony SRS-XB01 Compact Portable Bluetooth Speaker is a small, lightweight, and ultraportable Bluetooth speaker. It comes with a small strap so it can be attached easily. It has an IPX5 water-resistant rating, meaning it is protected against low-pressure water streams from any angle.  The 100m range it offers is impressive while the 6-hour battery life is pretty good too.

As you might expect from such as small speaker, bass and volume can be an issue. The design of the speaker is very directional which means that it struggles to fill a room or an area with sound. It also has to down-sample stereo audio to mono to play it, unless paired with a second speaker. It charges via MicroUSB and also offers a 3.5mm jack for devices that don’t have Bluetooth.

The TikiTunes Portable Bluetooth 5.0 Indoor/Outdoor Wireless Speaker is a speaker and ambient light combo. It features a unique Tiki Torch aesthetic with a flame-coloured LED base designed to flicker like a firelight. It comes with a threaded hole on the base for mounting. It also has an IP65 rating meaning it is protected from low-pressure water streams from any direction as well as being dust tight.

It’s small and lightweight, making it portable, with the aesthetic working excellently with campfires. It can be paired with a second speaker for stereo playback. The 10 metre range is pretty short. The battery is charged via MicroUSB and battery life can be extended by turning off the flickering LED. One thing to be careful of is that it will not power off automatically to conserve battery so you need to turn it off manually.

The JBL Clip 4: Portable Speaker with Bluetooth is an ultra-portable Bluetooth speaker designed to be attached to bags or other equipment. The case itself has an integrated carabiner hook which has upgraded ruggedisation from the previous generation. The IP67 waterproof rating means it can be submerged in a meter of water for half an hour without any negative effects while also being dustproof.

The rugged design features distinct JBL branding which may be too bold for some people. It does come in a range of colours though. The battery life is advertised as being 10 hours, but user and critical reviews have often said that it struggles to reach that. There also isn’t a battery life indicator to see its remaining charge level. There is, unfortunately, no option to connect it with a second speaker for stereo sound.

The Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2 Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker is a small but relatively powerful Bluetooth speaker. It has a specific boost button four outdoor playing but can still struggle volume- and bass-wise because of its size. It has a battery life of 13 hours and charges via MicroUSB.

It has an IP67 rating for dust and waterproofness for 30 minutes at a metre underwater. Its main party trick is that it floats providing somewhat muted sound both above and below water. It has a small loop so it can be attached to bags and other gear with a hook. The speaker isn’t ideal for video playback, however, due to the high Bluetooth latency.

The Anker Soundcore Flare 2 Bluetooth Speaker is a larger speaker than the rest of the items on this list. It makes use of that by increasing the battery size and making the speakers more powerful. It offers up to 12 hours of battery life, though real-world usage will be lower. The IPX7 rating means it can survive submersion in a metre of water for half an hour.

The RGB lighting adds a cool ambiance to parties and can be synced across more than a hundred Flare 2’s for large parties. While it’s the largest on this list it’s still relatively light and portable, though it will likely need to go in a bag rather than hang off the outside. The speaker isn’t great for video content, however, due to the high latency.

That was our roundup of the best budget waterproof speakers in 2021. Have you recently bought a waterproof speaker, or needed one to be waterproof when it wasn’t? Let us know down below.