Cambridge Soundworks sticks it to the man once again. The OontZ XL enters a market dominated by portable speakers with a much higher price tag. In fact, it would be safe to say that it lays the smack down to much of its competition at its modest price point, outperforming many of its competitors in sound quality, overall volume, and battery life.
OontZ XL controlsWeighing just 1.85 lbs, with a length of 10.2 inches and height of 3.5 inches, the OontZ XL stows away nicely. Throw it in a backpack or pannier for transporting to work or your favorite outdoor retreat, while not being an inconvenience due to size or weight. Connect wirelessly via Bluetooth or simply plug in any device with the supplied 3.5 mm audio cable. Housing an internal 8800 mAh battery, the OontZ XL has a pretty hefty run time. Cambridge Soundworks claims up to 10 hours of play time at full charge, depending on volume levels, connection type, and the content being played. Worried about running your device down before the battery of the OontZ XL runs out of juice? No problem! Connect your usb compatible charging cable to the port in the rear to share the battery while jamming out to your favorite tunes! But be aware, play times of the OontZ XL will be limited up to 6 hrs while charging your device. Want to charge both devices? Plug in the OontZ XL for unlimited playtime with the supplied AC adapter.
OontZ XL charging and audio portsDuring the testing of this speaker we tried to introduce the speaker to every type of music we could think of. From the bass dropping David Guetta to Eddie Van Halen and his ear splitting guitar solo of the infamous Eruption track. The velvety rubber finished mighty OontZ XL handled every track like a champ! When hooking up the OontZ XL to a laptop via the audio cable, I was really able to make the speaker shine by using the equalizer built into Windows Media Player. Taking the speaker to work with me, my coworkers were amazed at the quality and clarity of sound the OontZ XL produced. But they were even more impressed with the price! There were only two minor issues I found that were worth mentioning. The first being that you can’t charge the OontZ XL with a standard micro usb like many of my devices in my household. This means you will always have to keep track of where the AC charger is placed. The second issue was it was a bit difficult to get my wife’s iPhone 4 to sync via bluetooth, but that very well could have been user error.
At a $99.00 price point there really isn’t anything that can compete with the OontZ XL. The OontZ XL is built for indoor or outdoor use, but be sure to limit its exposure to the elements. Wherever you take it, you can jam to your favorite music, use the speakerphone option to make and take calls, or hook it up to your TV while charging your phone. Bring the OontZ to your next BBQ, beach party, or camp-out and make your friends envious. The Oontz XL gets two thumbs up and an A for Awesome! Check out theoontz.com for more information. (At the time of publication, the OontZ was on sale for $89.99, down from the usual $99.99 price)
-Ryan
MSRP: $99.99 | Run time: 10 hours | Sound quality/quantity: excellent | Build quality: great
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the OontZ XL for free from Cambridge SoundWorks, in consideration for review publication