Mooni - Portable Speaker Lantern - White
Mooni’s Speaker/Lantern is not really white, because you can pretty much select a color or cycle through a rainbow of colors. The Mooni lantern is an attractive addition to a bedroom, bathroom or poolside. Despite the Mooni advertising that is an ideal pool-side speaker because it can handle some splashing, you’re more likely to use it as we do.
SETUP: Right out of the box, you can see Mooni’s attention to detail. The lantern was “bagged” in a cute cloth sack with the accessories (remote, extra battery, screwdriver) in a separate sack. I was quickly operating from my Bluetooth (Apple XR phone) and playing music. The remote which controls volume and music selections (previous, skip, play, pause) also controls a few light modes and brightness. It’s fairly intuitive and reliable. I let the lantern charge for the afternoon before coming back to retest and re-listen.
PERFORMANCE: The lighting is colorful, bright or subdued and mellow. Steady, single color or cycling through a rainbow of colors, rapidly or slowly. You choose. It’s so attractive and the light effects encourage you to experiment in lots of room settings. The light wood frame of the lantern fits in many decors. Considering lighting effects alone, the Mooni is lots of fun.
Sound: In a more typical kitchen-dining-living-bed-bathroom space, I could fill the area with balanced sound. Like I alluded to earlier, this is a wonderful addition to just about any room, but maybe not a wide open space where the sound is somewhat underwhelming. A pool? Sure, all the above applies, but the sound projects from the top of the lantern. Because the volume and bass are limited, the Mooni begs for ceiling or wall sound reinforcement (where the reflections from nearby surfaces augment the volume, and especially the bass). The Mooni instructions note that if you add a second unit, the two devices with become each channel and form a stereo sound field. That could solve my issues about filling a larger space, but this isn’t bold, loud, serious music listening. It’s pleasant, modest, sound augmentation that doesn’t want to be pushed hard.
SUMMARY: This is a great looking, decent sounding Bluetooth speaker that adds to a variety of room decors. I’d be reluctant to replace my heavier duty pool speaker with this. However, it will find a place in my home. It hangs from a hook, or sits on a shelf, and easily travels from bureau to desk. The length of time between charges gives me the freedom to walk it to where I want to use it. My wife is already finding some places to set it down. She’s very impressed with the whole package.