JBL GO2 Portable Speaker – A Review

Hey guys, it’s me back again after a long time. Stumbled upon a quote from the music video of Post Malone’s single, Wow, that goes like this,

You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.

Charles Braxton, Notes of Thought (1883)

and thought hey, its been too long I contributed anything here, besides my amazing co-writers numerous posts present here. So here goes a brief review of a new item I managed to get my hands on.

JBL GO 2 Portable Speaker……

So my colleague wanted to buy this as she heard from someone and asked for my opinion. I thought why not go and have a look at this. As I didn’t really give it a good look in this section while I used to be out window shopping. I went and picked out the olive green because it caught my eye instantly. Besides this color, they had a wide range of other colors too. The colors stated on their website are Black, Blue, Champagne, Sunkissed Cinnamon, Icecube Blue, Moss Green(apparently this was the one I got), Ash Grey, Seafoam Mint, Slate Navy, Coral Orange, Ruby Red & Lemonade Yellow. But what really surprised me pleasantly was the price. Just 8.500 Kuwaiti Dinars!!!! Approximately 1924 INR. That was a pleasant surprise. But was it worth the price?

What’s inside the Box……

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The packaging, as in the pictures, was transparent, with the branding & various features & information printed on the outside. Unboxing revealed a matte kind of finish to the speaker that was good to fell when you grip it. The from mesh grill was metallic while the rest of the body was plastic. The buttons at the top of the speaker were like raised so that we could identify them even without looking at them.

From left to right, Power, Bluetooth, Volume high, Volume Low, and finally, Pause/Play. At the bottom, the Certification & other information was printed but it isn’t really visible unless you look very closely. That’s really nice from JBL as it doesn’t interfere with the aesthetics of the device on the right side of the speaker is a small cover like. Opening that reveals the USB port & the Aux Port. Now the cover also had a small rubber seal to prevent liquids from entering the device. Given that its an IPX7 rated device, this is a good safety design to protect the device.

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What else in the box?

A Micro USB cable for charging the device & the usual documents: Safety Sheet, Warranty Card & a Quickstart Guide.

Performance…..

So coming to the performance, I must say its pretty good for the price. Pairing it was pretty straight forward. On powering up it makes a tone like a tabla with deep bass, giving you an indication of how the bass will feel like. The LED on the front blinks slowly indicating that no devices are connected. Press & hold the Bluetooth button on the speaker and the LED starts blinking rapidly. This also occurs when a call comes in on your phone.

YES! its a speakerphone too!!! I didn’t mention that did I? The speaker appears as JBL GO 2 on our phone & paired almost instantly. Bluetooth 4.1 speaker this one. Played some instrumental, rock, Techno, Etc. & the sound was crisp, clear & punchy. It filled a decent sized room at max volume. Good enough for a small drink party session with your mates hehe. The output power is 3.1W RMS.

You can make Calls:

Place a call through your phone & you can use it as a Hands-free device. I mean you can carry it around while within the range of your phone & speak while doing other activities simultaneously. Or you can have conference calls using it. The audio was crystal clear & the participant at the other end reported good voice clarity.

IPX7 rating ensures that this device remains alive at 1m depth for 30 minutes in water. Nice to know when you carry this around maybe for an alcohol-fuelled party with smashed people probably dunking it in water or other liquids. I tested this while it was in my possession under a running tap while it was playing for a minute. And as claimed it still worked. Awesome.

Low battery indication:

Battery low indication is via blinking red LED & while charging its solid red. Battery life is rated at 5 hours, depending on the volume level & the type of content being played. Charging the 3.7V 730mAh battery to full takes 2.5 hours. And at 184 grams, this is a really good handy portable speakerphone. Compared to the Bose Soundlink Micro Waterproof Speaker, which is very expensive, this is a much cheaper alternative that delivers amazing results. A one year warranty is provided by JBL.

Final Thoughts on JBL Go2:

So after a day of usage, I never had any real complaints. Maybe after some extended usage if I hear of some I will update this post. Its real value for money for those who are on a budget.

So next time you have a small party, a road trip, picnic or even business conference calls, this speaker can do the job for you at a fraction of the cost.

Rating: 5/5