Like a slightly early Christmas present, we received the Outdoor Tech Buckshot just a few weeks ago. Having already reviewed several other Bluetooth speakers, we were excited to see what the Buckshot had to offer, since it’s quite different from the rest in size, price, and run time.
First off, the Buckshot is not a stereo speaker. Wrapped up inside its rubber-armored housing is a single speaker, along with a battery that’s good for up to 16 hours of music, and the electronics needed to make it all work. Is having one speaker a bad thing? We don’t think so. Most other units with two speakers have them so close together, there isn’t a distinct right and left channel anyway. Dual speakers can offer more volume, but the Buckshot is the only speaker small enough to actually fit in your pocket. At 3.5 inches long, and just over 1.5 inches across, it’s truly a personal speaker.
Due to the small size, controls on the Buckshot are pretty cozy. Three small buttons on the end take care of power, volume, and playback, with a cover for the micro USB charging port below them. Note that if you have overly large fingers, it may take a little extra patience and dexterity to work them. Like every other speaker we’ve tested, the Buckshot paired quickly with our phones, tablet, and iPod, requiring the power button to be held down for about six seconds to put it into pairing mode. Despite the small size and single speaker, it’s still loud enough to fill a room with its impressive sound even if only as background music, not an all-out rave. And that’s not even its best feature. Each Buckshot ships with a simple rubber band style mount so you can attach it to your bike handlebars, or similar-sized object.
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Seeing as how we have almost a foot of snow, I didn’t take it for a spin around the block just yet, but certainly used it indoors every chance I got. The sound is far better than expected. Highs are clean, with voice and instrument reproduction pretty good for such a small driver. It doesn’t go very low, but the bass notes are still audible. I figured that with its shape, it would be fairly directional, yet it still sounds good even when pointed away from you. It’s not as rich as larger speakers, but the Buckshot can hold its own.
Over the course of about two weeks, the only fault we could find was with the Bluetooth connection. While it should be good for a max of just over 30 feet, that would have to be with a clear line of sight. Any obstruction seemed to cause a drop in that distance. Not a huge deal for most, but worth mentioning. While riding a bike, or pairing it with a laptop or tablet, this should not be an issue. Overall, it’s easy to see that the Outdoor Tech Buckshot is worth its MSRP of $49.95. Find it and the rest of Outdoor Tech’s cool gear at outdoortechnology.com.
– Brian
Disclosure of Material Connection: We received the Outdoor Tech Buckshot for free from Outdoor Tech, in consideration for review publication