There are a million Bluetooth speakers on the market but JBL has always stood near the top. Its line of Charge speakers are one of the only Bluetooth speakers out there that'll let you charge your device while playing music – hence the Charge name.

JBL's Charge 3 is a USB phone charger with a Bluetooth speaker built in. Or perhaps it's the other way round. Either way it comes with heavy-duty waterproofing, a whopper of a battery that'll let you siphon off juice if your phone dies, and you can daisy chain similarly branded speakers together to...

Sturdy build; Weighty sound; Decent waterproofing; Doubles as a portable charger

A little on the heavy side; Mid-range can be hit and miss

One of the better Bluetooth speakers on the flooded market. Currently at $168NZD (22/01/2018) - almost half the price of a UE Megaboom (and better sound IMO, cleaner, less boomy). I got mine earlier last year at the Noel Leeming Massive Sellout for $188.

The JBL Charge 3 is one of our favorite Bluetooth speakers. The battery life is insane at 19 hours and the Bluetooth stability/range is pretty good-we still had a reliable connection at around 40-59 feet during our tests. Sound quality gets a big thumbs up as you would expect from any JBL product.

Improved durability; Great battery life (~19 hours; Waterproof (1m for 30 minutes; Very good sound quality

No NFC; Only forward facing speakers

If you just need one really good Bluetooth speaker that's waterproof, this is it.

Massive sound; Well balanced, nothing overpowers anything else; Waterproof IPX7; 20 hours playtime; 6000mAh powerbank

Call quality isn't horrible but sometimes the caller couldn't understand me

They work great for running and going to the gym & are incredibly durable. I've stepped on them & even accidentally dropped them outside my home during the rain all night & they still work when i found it the next morning!!

The case is great but it is not big enough to accommodate the USB adapter and cable. Cannot understand why they would make a case that doesnt fit the package of what a JBL Charge 3 is comprised of in its totality. Hard to know how many stars to give it.

I looked for a good long while for a Bluetooth water proof portable speaker. After seeing the ratings and price I decided on the JBL. Very pleased. Pairing was easy. After setting up the speaker for the first all you have to do is turn it on and select your tunes. Not all systems are that easy.

Size; sound quality; price

None

It's my first blue tooth speaker and it works very well. I was a little skeptical about it saying waterproof and what exactly it meant but I took it to the beach and it was sprinkling and it did just fine. The speaker can play very loudly and has an awesome bass, plus a great battery life.

Good bass; Good battery life

This speaker was fantastic the first couple months. A clean sound, decent base, and no static. Now about 4 months into having the speaker with decent usage, I am getting a static sound from the left speaker. It almost sounds like I'm listening to a radio station.