Soundcore - by Anker Flare 2 Wireless Portable Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker - Black

Great speaker for home, travel or just relaxing by the pool. Bought one about 18 months ago and the sound quality is still great, so when my son’s speaker went out I bought him one as well and he loves it. It can be paired to multiple devices, the battery lasts several hours and I definitely recommend.

Love this speaker. This is my second one. It has a full, rich sound, and it's 360 degree sound. You can also connect up to 100 together, and it's waterproof. Also, you can control the color display with an app on your phone. I would highly recommend it!

Great bluetooth speaker that you can use in the shower.

I’ve tested a lot of Bluetooth speakers over the years, and while Soundcore might not have the recognition of, say, JBL or Sony, they make great speakers and headphones at a great value. Soundcore is a sister-brand of Anker, maker of some of the best-rated chargers on Amazon. ## Design The Soundcore Flare 2 is one of my favorite speakers by the brand. While the LED lighting might be gimmicky for some, I'm a sucker for LED lights and think that it adds a bit of a party ambiance to the speaker. There are two RGB LED light rings on the speaker: one located on the bottom and the other on top. There are several pre-programmed animations that can be accessed by tapping the "light" button or by downloading the Soundcore app to your phone. The round design of the speaker allows you to enjoy your music from any angle and the fabric covering gives the speaker a modern look. ## Sound Quality The Soundcore Flare 2 sounds great with clear mids and highs. The bass on the Flare 2 is also fairly strong and can be turned off and on with the optional "Bass Up" button located on the back of the speaker. The bass is not as heavy as some of the more expensive speakers from Sony, for example, but I believe the bass is strong enough for most people. ## Features - Lighting modes: There are several lighting modes for the two LED light rings: Party Time, Phasing Beats, Bouncing Beats, Circle Beam, and Cool Breath. The lighting modes can be changed by tapping the "light" button on the top of the speaker, or by using the Soundcore app. The app also gives you some additional options for the built-in animations, which are mainly just selecting different color options. The lights can also be turned off completely. - Party Chain: You can link the Flare 2 to up to 100 other Flare 2 speakers. Please note that this not True Wireless Stereo sound as all of the linked speakers will play the same thing (not one specific audio channel). - Water resistant: The Flare 2 has an IPX7 rating, which means it can be submerged in water (up to 3.3 feet) for up to 30 minutes, making it ideal for listening to music pool-side. ## Battery Life The Flare 2 can last up to 12 hours on a single charge with the lights off, or about 9-10 hours with the lights on. The speaker can be recharged with a USB-C cable (which is included) and a powered USB port or charger (not included). ## What's the difference between the Flare 1 and the Flare 2? The Flare 2 adds an additional light ring on top and has a slightly stronger bass response than the the original Flare (1st generation). The sound output is also louder on the Flare 2: 20 watts total on the Flare 2 compared to 12 watts on the Flare 1. ## Summary The Flare 2 is a great all-around speaker with great sound, decent bass, and awesome LED lights. It is water resistance, has long battery life, and can be wirelessly connected with additional Flare 2 speaker (to to 100).

This Soundcore Flare 2 speaker is a product of Anker and I've used a bunch of their other products in the past and have always been impressed with their build quality, I just haven't tried out one of their speakers yet. Unboxing and setup: The speaker is packed in a nice Soundcore logoed box and inside there the speaker, a USB C charging cable and manual. I immediately plugged it in and let it charge for a good hour before doing anything else. I also installed the Soundcore APP from the android store while I was waiting. After charging I started the app and turned on the speaker, it connected through Bluetooth easily and immediately stated there was an update, so I proceeded to let it go about its business. This process only took a few minutes and then the speaker was ready to go. Use: The app for the speaker has some nice settings, there's the light control setting and an equalizer setting "you can use presets or create your own". I didn't really get into the settings through the phone app that much as I mainly wanted to use this speaker with our TV or projection unit. First off I paired it with our Visio TV, it doesn't have built in Bluetooth but I use an external Bluetooth transmitter and it connected without a hitch. The sound was quite impressive for such a small speaker. There's plenty of bass which surprised both of us, and it a lot louder than our little Sony speaker we've been using for years, it's pretty much on par with our larger LG unit. The amount of volume this little guy produces is quite amazing; it gets way louder than either of us will ever need. Next I paired it with our projector and the same non issues pairing it with our TV. It works perfectly, no delay or stutter in the transmission and sound is very clear "and loud if you want it". Conclusion: I really like this new Soundcore Flare 2 the sound is excellent, and has more bass and volume than either of us expected. The light show is pretty cool if you like that but we are keeping ours off as it's distracting for watching movie "great for music listening though", and there is an ambient light setting that we would use that just keeps the light on one color and doesn’t dance around. I also like the fact that this speaker stands upright and with the bell shaped bottom it’s really sturdy. I really don't like the cylindrical shape of our Sony as it's always rolling off something when we move it bump into it or whatever it’s sitting on. My only complaint is with the buttons on the top of the unit, they are very hard to see or feel without looking, it would have helped greatly if they had more of a tactile feel to them. It's almost impossible to tell what they are by feel, but if they would make the power / volume buttons stand out more then they would have created a nearly perfect little speaker. This is still a 5 star unit in our book and if you are looking for a compact great sounding Bluetooth speaker then you should be pleased with this little Soundcore Flare 2 speaker.