soundcoreMotion+ Bluetooth Speaker - Portable, Hi-Res 30W Audio, Enhanced Bass and Treble, Wireless, Customizable EQ, 12H Playtime, IPX7 Waterproof, USB-C, Ideal for Home Office

This little speaker has never let me down. Coming up to two years since purchased and not one issue in all that time.Today the speaker was on at just under half volume for 8 hours straight, still plenty of battery left at the end (again, this is after almost 2 years). Bluetooth connectivity is flawless, instant and easy. The controls on the top of the speaker are easy to press and fairly intuitive, meaning you can just reach over and adjust the volume or skip tracks without looking.Asides from a bit of rain I can’t comment on just how waterproof this speaker is, but a small amount of rain caused no issues.This has been used many times at get togethers with friends and family and has never failed to impress. The quality of the sound is fantastic, and it can get surprisingly loud. There is a bass boost button which noticeably improves bass, however where this speaker really shines is in its mids and highs (top tip - to improve the bass, position the speaker in the corner of a room, it makes a big difference).I have since upgraded to the ‘soundcore motion boom plus 2’ which has monstrous bass in comparison. It is also much larger and far more expensive.As far as value for money goes I believe that this speaker is unbeatable. It’s highly portable, small, sounds fantastic and (having been dropped multiple times over the years) appears to be indestructible. We have other ‘bigger’ brands of Bluetooth speaker in the house and to my ear the ‘motion +’ is easily the best of the bunch.

I did a LOT of research on bluetooth speakers before buying the Motion+. I consumed dozens of YouTube videos plus written reviews, made a spreadsheet, and whittled down. And to be honest the Motion+ wasn't even on my radar to begin with - I started by looking at only current/new speakers thinking (wrongly) that newer always equals better. It doesn't. I compared models from JBL, Marshall (not really Marshall - google it), Tribit, Bose, a few others. I compared all the models around the same size/weight, as in 'yes it's portable but you wouldn't want to carry it around with you.'Now, of course it depends what you want. For outdoors/parties you probably want something that goes loud and has good bass, so a Motion Boom Plus is a great choice, but it's big and heavy, and OTT for indoors (unless you hate your neighbours). For hiking there are loads of good small lightweight speakers with high dust protection as well as high water protection.But when it comes to a jack of all trades: hi-fi (ish - within reason!) quality & clarity, reasonably portable, reasonably decent bass, good features, the field is smaller. The Bose Soundlink Flex is very good but it's a mono speaker - most portable speakers are though. I don't like any of the 'tube' type monos, the JBLs and the like, I think they do a great job for outdoors parties though.The Motion+ is stereo and, to me at least, it sounds so very much better for it. The quality and clarity are around the same as the Bose, maybe not quite as good but only noticable in A-B testing, and even then, hardly. But being stereo (2 woofers, 2 tweeters and a passive bass at the rear) is great for indoor listening if clarity is more important than blowing the doors off. But you can take this outside, it's "waterproof" (to IPX7 - look up IP ratings for details, there are various levels of "waterproof"), or into the bathroom or kitchen. And Soundcore's phone app is good with a real 9-band graphic equalisier, and the speaker remembers which setting it's on so you don't need to fire up the app when you want to use the speaker, only if you want to change to a different sound profile or tweak your custom settings. It also has an aux-in port if you want to connect non-bluetooth devices, painless pairing of 2 units (2 of these paired sound really very good) and, well, you can look up the features.Downsides: No dust protection, and that doesn't bother me, but may limit where it can be used outdoors i.e. probably not at the beach. But if you want a mostly outdoor speaker then look elsewhere, maybe a Motion Boom Plus or a JBL, or the Bose if you don't need full fat bass.Finally, how does the old Motion+ stack up to the new Soundcore X600? The X600 is basically a reconfigured Motion+ in a new frock with an extra speaker firing upwards, and uses DSP to give "spatial audio". It's a good sounding speaker (naturally with Motion+ DNA in it) but it's more than twice the price of a Motion+. It's better outdoors than the Motion+ when using the "spatial audio", but again, when it comes to outdoors then you have to consider JBL, Bose and the Motion Boom Plus, and Tribit, and others actually, because clarity is a lot less important. In the house I'd rather have 2 x Motion+ than 1 x X600, and have some spare change. That gives me the freedom to have a speaker downstairs and upstairs, and pair them in TWS when required.

Overall, I'm happy and the sound is very good, so it's a keeper.The Good (+):+ if you use the multi-band EQ app, you can achieve a sound that suits your tastes. Without adjustment, the default EQ isn't great. These speakers are usually either far too bassy, lose mid-range vocals, not bassy enough, or some other issue. This is not perfect, but can be tweaked via the app such that I am happy (for the price/size)+ wide frequency response and a very clear, revealing, sound. It picks out detail in music that other speakers (at this price) have not revealed. Very good.+ it has a much lower level of background hiss / noise than others I've tried, so is good for quiet listening and quiet passages of music. This has been a big problem for me in the past (a Tribit MaxxSound+ I tried was bad in this respect).+ not too big for what it does (but not a super-light device for taking out and about)+ styling not too bad, could be more minimal for my tastes, but certainly better than some of the horrible designs and better than Anker's earlier stuff. And no silly lighting effects.+ excellent battery life and the battery status can be seen on the app. However, see a 'negative' below about the app's battery level report and how it shuts down.+ firmware can be updated, so has the potential for futher improvement/refinement.+ can be paired with another identical model to make a wide stereo setup of 30W per channel. Have not tried this, but quite tempted in the future maybe.The not-so-good (-):- it fades sound in when a track is first played from silent, so you miss the first half-second or so of the song. This is really annoying and I have almost considered returning it because of it, but decided that I'll live with it. No other bluetooth speaker that I have owned has done this. It may be there to protect the speaker drivers against high-volume surges or something, but it's fundamentally a bad thing for the listener. I do hope that Anker can at least drastically reduce the fade-in time in a future firmware update (ideally remove it altogether).- the speaker does not warn when the battery is low (as all other speakers I've tried do, via a beep or something) and the music just stops with about 15-20% of battery power still showing in the app.- the rubbery finish of the top, back and bottom shows fingerprints very easily and looks unpleasant once these are showing. They can be wiped off with a bit of scrubbing, just not a good design aspect.- start-up and shut-down tones are nasty and naff. I wish they were just a simple beep. Just bad and goes against the aim of this speaker to be a high-end, high-quality speaker.- bit awkward to get the USB lead inserted for charging on the side as it is recessed quite a long way.Other:* it's not a lightweight speaker for people who are looking for something to carry out and about. Check the weight to see if it's right for you. No problems moving from room to room at home, though, it's small and portable.