JBL Flip 3

2 Faulty Flip3 in 1 year – The sound quality is good but I bought my first JBL Flip 3 in a famous Hi-fi shop in Australia. After 6 months the speaker stopped working (battery issue). I got a replacement for free but exactly the same problem happened. Planned obsolescence. Show details

Product does not last! – After 1.5 years the speakers of the Flip 3 failed and started vibrating excessively with no way to adjust or repair. Placed a complaint with [name removed] and response treated us like dumb customers that do not know anything about sound devices. Highly not recommended. I'd recommend to pay a bit extra and get a premium product. JBL is not what used to be in the past.  Show details

Good value portable speaker – I brought this a year ago now and it's still very reliable. This is a decent speaker for a small to medium room, or take it out on a picnic if required. The speaker could last for a few hours for each charge. I would recommend this product to others.  Show details

Great sound quality and easy to carry – The JBL Flip 3 was exactly what I was looking for. An easy-to-carry portable speaker with great sound quality and at an affordable price. It is definitely worth the purchase. It can fill an entire room with music and the battery life lasts a very long time. I would highly recommend!  Show details

Great travel speaker – Bought a JBL FLIP 3 for travel, but still use it alot at home. Excellent sound for its size and good battery life. Compares favorably to a friend's UE Boom which is a bit bigger. I think the bass is better. Just charge it regularly to keep the battery healthy.  Show details

SO Utterly disappointed in my JBL FLIP4 – Bought this in New York city a year ago, left the states due to Visa stuff, and left device there laying dormant in my apartment for 10months. BASICALLY Has not been used. I am frustrated & annoyed to share, that it just keeps cutting itself off after just 2 songs. Im out of warranty & even if I did have warranty, I bought it in the states, its… Read more

not valid.

This is just so sad. The sound is awesome tho nothing more annoying then 'NO FLOW When your listening to your fav tunes. So so dissaponted.

We use it all the time – A surprising amount of sound from such a small package! We take this everywhere - outside, the park, the beach.. Battery is brilliant, seems to last forever. Connecting is a breeze, and it sounds awesome. I cannot rave about this speaker enough. We have more than got our money's worth from it. Love it!  Show details

great value so i broght 2 – Small but gr8 sound in the backyard or on my workbench at work or next to me @ the beach, listening to my radio Saturday mornings in the back yard or playing thru my iPhone at work. this little speaker plays all day on one charge & if I get a phone call or msg I don't miss out. Very good sound from a small package.  Show details

Great Product - good example of top product delivery – This product despite its small size works well. The next model up is probably better. I bought 1 for my partner and 1 for me. The quality of the sound is great and is used as substitute speaker for my TV amongst other things. The compactness vs the sound range is quite surprising and more than adequate for an apartment - or an outdoor patio.  Show details

Worst product ever – I didn't even have my speaker for a year and had to get a replacement twice for the same issue which was the speaker sound that would go in and out and sounded like busted speakers. Customer service refused to help me after that. I won't buy their products in the future.  Show details

Very disappointed – I replaced my Flip with a Flip 3. My Flip was such a great speaker and lasted a very long time! Unfortunately not the same with the 3. The 3 quit after owning for a very short time, no longer will charge and when I can finally get it to work being plugged in, it makes a noise. The speaker had even been stored in it's original box. Getting no… Read more

where with Customer Support. I would not recommend purchasing unless you don't mind throwing away your money!!

Fantastic Little Speaker – Exceeded My Expectations – I picked up my JBL Flip 3 in Blue from Officeworks for $96. I must say I did not expect how good this little speaker is. The bass it can generate is very impressive. It’s a great size - Not pocket sized but will fit easily in a small bag. You can sit it anywhere and even hang it if you want. Fantastic value for money. I use it often at my desk,… Read more

and take it into the warehouse if I need to work out there. The range is good, still picks up when i'm well over 10m away with my phone in my pocket. Perfect for what I use it for.

Great sound, but has inherent problems – I have had two JBL Flip 3 speakers in under 2 years, both of which became faulty (through no fault of my own). In the first instance one of the speakers in the unit stopped working after 6 months, which I was given a replacement under warranty. The second the USB charger port broke off so I was unable to charge it. Now Harvey Norman refuse to… Read more

refund, repair or replace the unit as the 12 month warranty period has expired. Consumer protection are on the case as you don't expect to pay $200 for something to break down after 15 months, twice !

Great sound and great little unit, but it's either sheer bad luck that both of mine have broken or there are issues with the unit. I can only put it down to bad luck in this instance as the reviews on this item are generally positive. I won't be buying a third one which is a shame as I've owned many JBL products and they've all been very good.

Packs a punch for the size – I was originally sceptical on how good a portable bluetooth speaker could actually sound. After purchasing it I am pretty amazed on how good the sound actually is, and how loud you can turn it up. So far I have streamed from my imac all around the house with nil issues. It is splash proof, 10 hr play back, and a speaker phone for your mobile.  Show details

Best Thing Ever – Literally - my wife got me this as a gift and it's amazing. I can't imagine going to the beach without one now. it says it's "splash proof" but i've completely dropped it in the pool and it was fine - probably shouldn't leave it submerged though? Not sure and don't want to test but its gotten wet a few times and works great. also has near 360 degree sound coverage. battery seems to last about 10 hours, which seems pretty long to me  Show details

Better than the rest! – I've tried a fair few of these wireless speakers and this one is miles ahead of the rest. Not only sound quality and bass but the brilliant feature that let's you connect them together!!! By far the best unit available in its price range.

Best budget portable speakers by far – I was looking for speakers to take on handyman jobs and also to pair with my MacBook Air when I'm travelling. I settled on the Flip 3 and haven't regretted it. This is the best electronics purchase I've made for ages. Firstly, the sound from such a small unit is amazing. Good bass and the sound is solid, you can hear it clearly from the next… Read more

room with no noticeable distortion. There is no tinniness to the speakers.

The speakers connect via Bluetooth and the connection is reliable all day. With my iPhone, once the speakers are turned on it auto pairs with the speaker, no fiddling to swap output (if you set it to remember the speakers). Battery life is good, it'll run all day (spec says 10 hrs).

You can control the volume on the speakers themselves, they remotely control the device sound slider. It has an audio input jack to connect any non-Bluetooth device, such as my old iPod Classic. It charges via a micro USB connector (included). The unit is splashproof so I don't have to worry if it starts raining and yes, I have handled it with wet washing up gloves. (YouTube music videos while doing the dishes of course).

The interesting thing about this unit is rather than turn up the volume of say your loungeroom speakers, you just take these to the room or courtyard/backyard with you. The sound is richer as its closer.

It can connect you to an incoming phone call which is good if you need hands-free calls in the middle of doing something else.

The only downside I've found is that funny things can happen if two devices try to access it an once. My MacBook Air crashes if the iPhone tries to connect, but that's just Bluetooth issues I guess.

All up, happy as...

Great Speaker in a small package – More than happy with the JBL Flip 3. Had a demo at JB HIFI Castle Towers by Jo who was super helpful pointing out the features. was on special at $99.00. Sound quality is amazing for such a small speaker. Very easy set up with my iPad with good Bluetooth range. Before I purchased I read some reviews which indicated a far better battery life than… Read more

some other brands. Many were more expensive too. This proved to be correct with over 10 hours and still going. Recharge time is very quick with an iPhone charge. I didn't time it, but was probably about two hours. Great value and I am delighted with my purchase. Love the ability to change the volume on the speaker or on the iPad.

For $100, it's easily the best – I just want start out saying that I'm reviewing it compared to what it states on the box and not against other products as such. I mostly listen to rock and metal so those are the songs I've used for this review. Pros: - Compact and good weight (carry cord is nice) - Sound quality is fantastic for size (bass in particular) - Design sh!ts… Read more

on others in the market (radiators in particular and does not feel cheap and plasticky)

- Can connect to other JBL speakers across ranges (tested with Charge 3 and worked flawlessly)

- Feels like it will withstand some bumps and knocks and has good grip

- Bluetooth range is good (limit about 10-12m before crackling)

- Battery life close to that on the box (nine hours - I suspect you might get slightly more if you use the aux port and not bluetooth)

- The phone button acts as a pause, skip track forward and back and works fine.

Cons:

- Mids and highs feel a little muted (due to the splashproof design)

- Not completely waterproof like JBL's other speakers

- No carry case

- No wall charger

- Music distorts at 100% volume (it's not designed for that anyway)

Note:

- The highs/treble (eg. cymbals and vocals in a song) can create a "crackling" sound that can be very off-putting. I have found that the quality of the song plays a large part in this and also how good of a connection you have with your device. For example, I use my iPhone 6s and my recordings are good quality, however, with older devices the sound can be off. Regardless, be sure to have good quality recordings and you will avoid this.

- Not sure about the longevity of the product so that's why I forked out the extra $14 for 2 years extra warranty = 3 years total)

- Have not used the phone function and probably never will, that's why I have a mobile in the first place!

Final verdict:

For only a total of $112 this thing is easily the best on the market at this price point. I compared with Sony, UE and other brands in store at around the same level and this clearly won due to the above pros. I'm taking it with me travelling for a month so this will be a good test also and will update review overtime.

Best Cheap Bluetooth Speakers – These speakers hit the nail on the head when it comes to value for money. We have two speakers setup outside for BBQ's and they are fantastic. Battery life on a full charge has always outlasted the BBQ. The pairing of speakers is fantastic. They even have some bass for little speakers. I recommend that you purchase a pair and get a deal at the… Read more

same time. It would be difficult to find a better product that offers stereo sound in this price bracket.

Boom, Boom Shake Da Room – Back Story: My Wife just got her new laptop (5th one from JB Hi-Fi after so many failures - but that's another story) and the original laptop had a little speaker that plugged into the headphone port so, in order to find a similar or better match I did some research regarding wireless Bluetooth speakers and found you could actually get 2 of… Read more

these little speakers and place them at each end of the desk or room and pair them to your laptop (or phone, etc) and then pair them together for stereo sound.

Purchase and Returns:

I originally bought an Ultimate Ears speaker and found it would not pair properly to the laptop so returned it and purchased 2 JBL Flip 3 speakers after further research. At first all seemed well and then one of the speakers faulted with bad connectivity so had to be returned. I got an exact replacement last week and now both seem to be working perfectly.

Reasoning:

I am a 'separates' solution guy, in that I prefer proper full surround sound systems that plugs into your PC or connects via Bluetooth so I have several amplifiers and either 5.1 or 7.1 speakers (lounge room) but not everyone is the same and requires a more minimalist approach, like my Wife. A small tubular speaker sitting unobtrusively at the back corners of her desk was the solution.

Other considerations:

Each speaker is rechargeable but can sit at the end of the desk plugged in via a provided USB cable. What I found was that a fast charger for USB worked perfectly and the speakers could be left on and paired to each other so that when you started up or played anything from the PC, the speakers worked straight away.

Sound Quality:

I watched a guy demonstrating the JBL Flip 3 on a Youtube video and you could actually hear the deeper bass of the speakers in stereo. Also, the speakers seemed to fill the room with sound far better. I tested this out for real in a room with dimensions of 4.5 metres X 3 metres and found it was well covered. The volume was loud enough for the single room.

I tested the speakers via a wide range of music genres - from thrash metal, R&B, pop, rock, electronic to classical music and opera. I found the speakers were very good at a wide spectrum, from high to low sound.

Look; it's never going to be as good as a 5.1 or better system with a sub woofer but for a very minimal system with good room fill, relatively deep bass and clarity: this is a very, very good speaker/s.

When it is paired with a second speaker; the stereo is excellent (when it works) and you really get that clarity of stereo separation between speakers.

Conclusion:

If you are after an excellent minimalist system (in a variety of colours to suit your taste) with excellent sound quality to fill a single room: this is an excellent speaker for the job.

The Ultimate Ears speaker was bigger and slightly louder but could not match the JBL Flip 3 for quality and clarity.

Check it out for yourself and let your ears guide you.

The JBL Flip 3 are on sale at the moment at several retail outlets so you should be able to get a great deal on one and perhaps a better deal on a pair, as I did.