I spent a year listening to the JBL Clip 5 – here’s why it’s still my go-to Bluetooth speaker
With its impressive level of detail and punchy bass, it didn’t take long for the JBL Clip 5 to get me hooked, and one year on, I’m still using it to listen to music and podcasts every morning and evening.
At a list price of $79.95 / £59.99 / AU$89.95, the JBL Clip 5 is fantastic value for money considering the impressive durability, practicality, and enjoyable sound that’s packed into such a conveniently compact speaker. What’s more, there are often deals on offer from JBL and Amazon, where I’ve spotted it for as little as $50 / £39 / AU$66 at times, making it an absolute steal.
There’s no greater testament to my appreciation of the JBL Clip 5 than the fact that I have it out on display despite it not being remotely my style aesthetically. This may not sound like much of an accolade to some, but as a girly-girl with white furniture and pale gray rooms with glittery pink feature walls, the slightly utilitarian, black and orange Clip 5 is very off-brand for me – so the fact I want to keep it out and accessible speaks volumes. If the black and orange colorway isn’t for you either, that’s okay, as there’s a huge range of colors to choose from, including white, purple, red, blue, and some multi-colored options, too.
The JBL Clip 5 is still featuring as the top budget option in our pick of the best Bluetooth speakers, and I’m still as happy with its performance as I was when I first reviewed it 12 months ago. But as time’s gone on, I’ve come to appreciate the following five qualities more and more.
It’s always adventure-ready
While the look of the carabiner may not be for everyone, it’s made things much easier whenever I’ve taken the Clip 5 on the road, as I’ve been able to clip it onto backpack straps and luggage handles. The carabiner has also been great for hanging the Clip 5 from door handles and my bathroom mirror, which has proven particularly useful for the times when surface space has been limited.
It’s the perfect bath-time buddy
We already know that the IP67 rating of the Clip 5 is legit after it spent some time swimming in the TechRadar testing tank, and yet I’m still impressed by how well it’s handled spending so much time in a steamy bathroom.
It’s never complained when I’ve been pushing its buttons with soaking wet hands, and despite always being out on a surface, it doesn’t look obviously dusty.
It’s a sound all-rounder
I love a speaker that can play almost anything straight out of the box, so I’m really happy that I’ve been able to switch straight from a comedy podcast to bass-heavy beats without needing to play with any settings.
When I’m in the mood to fine-tune the audio, however, there are four equalizer presets for me to choose from on the JBL portable app, or I can go ahead and customize the EQ myself, which is a great feature to have at this price point.
It’s convenient to control
Unlike some other Bluetooth speakers that have small or illogically placed buttons, I found the buttons on the Clip 5 very intuitive and easy to use. The position of the power button works really well for me, as it lives at the carabiner end of a set of three indented buttons, so it wasn’t long before I could turn the Clip 5 on with my eyes closed.
I like that the play button is multi-functional, so I can use it to either pause or skip tracks. And I especially like how this and the volume buttons are shaped like play, minus, and plus icons, again making it easy to take control over my listening experience, even when I’ve managed to get water in my eyes.
Bountiful battery life
The advertised battery life of the JBL Clip 5 is a satisfying 12 hours, and it lasted just under eleven and a half hours when I played music non-stop at 50 percent volume, which was good going considering how loud it sounds.
In reality, though, as I usually have the volume set to around 30 percent and have been happy leaving it on the default EQ most of the time, I’ve found the battery lasting far longer than this. So if you prefer a relaxed listen, and you’re not going to be getting the JBL Clip 5 blasting out beats on a daily basis, you’ll likely find that you won’t be needing to charge it all that often, either.