Amazon.com: Customer reviews: JBL Flip 4, Black - Waterproof, Portable & Durable Bluetooth Speaker - Up to 12 Hours of Wireless Streaming - Includes Noise-Cancelling Speakerphone, Voice Assistant & JBL Connect+

Top positive review

I'm a fan.

Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2018

I went and compared 3 similar portable speakers with each other (same price of around $100 each):

JBL Flip 4
- Best quality sound of the 3 (amazing quality - very similar to Bose Soundlink Mini)
- No noticeable crackle at max volume with high treble in music
- Strongest/deepest bass (my table was shaking on max volume)
- Very loud max volume

Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM
- Smaller than JBL 4 but larger than Bose Micro
- Crackling at max volume for some songs with high treble (Was not expecting this)
- Bass is not as strong (very slight bass)
- Very loud max volume (similar to JBL 4)

Bose SoundLink Micro Bluetooth
- Smallest of the 3
- Max sound was at 75% that of JBL 4/Ultimate Ears
- Sounds "muffled" and not clear (quality is not even close to that of Bose Soundlink Mini)
- Exposed charging slot (is this really waterproof?)

Overall - I would pick JBL (amazing quality & very similar to Bose Soundlink Mini, but waterproof!) and Ultimate Ears for portability (75 % size of JBL 4). The Bose Micro, although very small, had really poor quality sound for the price (most disappointing).

1,152 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

MUST BE A DEFECTIVE PRODUCT.

Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2018

Let me first say, this is my second JBL flip 4, the one I had prior to this was an absolute BRUTE. I’m talking tough! It had been submerged under water, dropped countless times, taken to the beach, withstanded super hot summer days for hours, getting caked with mud but alas, it got ran over by a car while off-roading one day... but guess what? It STILL WORKS. Even in its smashed up state nothing broke but the speaker cover protector. So bravo JBL, this is a great product. However I bought this one for my father for his birthday, he only used it a few times in his bedroom and now it won’t turn on at all, so I tinkered with it come to find out it was a remanufactured speaker put back together incorrect without water proof rubber gaskets for the speakers, keep in mind I payed full price for a NEW speaker! Now the return windows are closed and I’m unsure who to contact to hopefully make this right...

1,778 people found this helpful

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From the United States

Marti G. Detrick

Buyer Beware!!

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2018

Verified Purchase

The only reason I am giving this product two stars instead of one star is because when it worked, it had excellent sound. HOWEVER, after a year of minimal use, it will not accept a charge anymore. It has not been dropped or abused in any way. I would expect a speaker that cost $100 or so to last MUCH longer. Very disappointed. Will not be buying a JBL product again.

27 people found this helpful

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Micah

Hope you have an outlet nearby

Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2020

Color: BlackVerified Purchase

Bought this speaker to replace my anker soundcore bluetooth speaker; was excited when it came in the mail only to be disappointed the next day.

First impression, the sound is pretty great with the bass being a major upgrade from the anker. The sound is comparable as well, great for small rooms. The bass however gets lost once you get to the highest volumes. Gets 4 stars

The battery however, I'd give it less than one star if I could. I've seen sporadic reviews mentioning this issue, yet I hoped it wouldn't get to me. First time the speaker died I didn't think much of it, just charge it and try again the next day. Next day, speaker died again after little use. Now I'm getting frustrated, especially because of the price of this thing. My previous anker soundcore speaker never had a battery issue, meanwhile this JBL speaker which was much more expensive had to be charged continuously. Decided to time it; about 3 4 hours and this speaker is dead, a forth of what was advertised.
Not cool.
If you thought you were gonna be blasting the tunes while you're cleaning or something, you better think again cause this thing will die on you. Best have an outlet nearby, which defeats the purpose of a wireless speaker.
After 4 days of having this thing in my possession, I regret the purchase

Oh
Also
Unlike my cheaper longer lasting anker speaker, this JBL speaker doesn't display the battery life on your device's screen.
Wack

9 people found this helpful

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Jackson Altig

Was great while it lasted, but only lasted 4 months.

Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2018

Verified Purchase

I'd like to start this off by saying this, the speaker was great while it worked. I am a college student, and I bought this speaker thinking it would be great to play some music while hanging out with friends in the dorm, maybe while I'm taking a shower, etc. It was a bit pricey, but the reviews were good and I had a few friends that said nothing but good things about it. Now, I have had it for a few months and I can't use it any more. One day the power and linking button's stopped working, the LEDs and everything. So while the speaker still worked, I couldn't turn it on or off. Eventually it died and now I can't use it.

I am very disappointed in this product as it was marketed as being durable, however, didn't last more than 4 months of mild use. I would not recommend you buy this product if you are looking for a product that would last.

4 people found this helpful

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Ed_latu

Battery life👎

Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2018

Color: GrayVerified Purchase

So I bought this speaker a couple months ago but waited to write my review to REALLY see the quality of this product. I’m rating the 2 star simply for the quality of sound....it’s GOOD for in the House or office. Not so good outdoors if u want volume.
The reason for my bad rating is the battery life. I’ve charged this product for plenty of time and yet it’ll still die out w/in an hour or LESS!! There r even times I have it on the charger charging while in use and it’ll STILL DIE🤦🏻‍♀️ Very disappointed because I had the older version of this product b4 upgrading to this one and it Performed much better.

20 people found this helpful

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Qadirah Russell

Worst speaker ever, orders twice within 30days

Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2020

Color: TealVerified Purchase

This is the second time within 30 days I have received this speaker and both times it works perfe try fine with great quality music and great battery life, then the next day it won't turn on or says it died literally minutes after I had it on the charger for more than enough time. I'm so infuriated by this because music literally is played everywhere I go and this speaker won't even live longer than a day. I'm so agitated I don't even want it again.

Helpful

Steve M.

Battery life not as advertised.

Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2019

Color: BlackVerified Purchase

Used this speaker for about 1 1/2 to 2 weeks. Bought it for use at work. After first use (a little over 3 hrs) I saw that the red LED was blinking. Low battery. I thought it was odd since they advertise a 12 hour battery life. But figured, maybe I didn't charge it all the way. Decided to do some tests.

Recharged it (5 steady white LEDs that then turn off when complete). Tests were using Bluetooth connection within 10 feet.
At 75% volume playing mostly rock music, it died after 3 hours and 40 minutes.
Tested again next day.
At 75% volume playing a mix of different genres of music, it died after 3 hour 57 minutes.
Hmm... Ok, I get that the 12 hours is ideal run time, maybe calculated at 50% volume. But I think that it should have been able to approach 6 hours of time in my test.

Sent an email to Haman/JBL customer service on Monday. They claim to get back to you in one business day. By Wednesday evening I hadn't gotten a reply. Sent another email Wednesday evening with the ticket number from the first email. By Friday evening I decided to return the speaker, with no response from Harman/JBL. Sent the speaker back on Saturday morning. Finally got a response from Harman/JBL Sat. afternoon but, obviously, it was too late. I will pass on what they suggested to me in case it can help one of you.

["Thanks for contacting JBL Customer Support.

I'm also sorry for the delay in response and I see that your Flip 4's batter only last for 4 hours. If you may, before you consider for a replacement, just to ask, have you tried charging the speaker overnight to see if that will put in more power to it and have it stay for even at least 10-11 hours of play time.

If you had done this and still has the same issue with the speaker, you may check with Amazon for their option however, if they refer you back to us, we will surely honor our manufacturer's warranty. We will just need a copy of your receipt and your phone number. "]

If it is a Lithium Ion battery, I doubt leaving it charging overnight will "put more power to it", as they need some type of smart like charging circuitry that will cut off charging to prevent damage. But I could be wrong if someone here wants to try it.

3 people found this helpful

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joe

Sounds great, but fails in other respects

Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2019

Color: TealVerified Purchase

I bought this speaker about a year and nine months ago after returning one of the same model because I thought it was defective. It had terrible Bluetooth connectivity; it was unable to keep a solid connection more than about 20 feet from the source.

This one--the replacement--was a little better but still not impressive in that regard. Still, satisfied that it wasn't so much a defective product as a design issue, I decided to live with it. The sound was good, and the battery life seemed pretty good too. I was happy enough with this for a few months. Then the battery life started plummeting.

Today, I can't go more than an hour before it needs to be plugged in. I basically use it as a wired speaker now due to the poor battery life. Also, the Bluetooth connectivity continues to be more than a minor annoyance. Two (small) rooms away from my desktop computer and it struggles to maintain a constant connection. Whenever we use wifi connected devices around it, it 'skips' due to apparent interference. If the microwave is on, it skips.

My opinion of this speaker wasn't sterling to begin with--although the sound is good--and it has gone down steadily since I bought it. My former roommates had a UE Boom and it seemed to be far less issue-prone.

6 people found this helpful

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Jen Dickinson

Died in under a year.

Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2018

Verified Purchase

Bought this last July. It's decent, but not actually that loud. Main issue is the fact that, after semi-infrequent use over the last 10-ish months, it simply stopped working. I had it in a backpack, and had been using it roughly every day for about 4 days, and, after pulling it out to charge that weekend, it would not do so, nor would it turn on. It's never been dropped significantly, to my knowledge. It hasn't had contact with water in weeks. As I said, it's only 10 months old and was not used heavily. It worked just fine up until it didn’t at all. Buy if you plan to have a nice soundin, sleek, waterproof speaker for under a year, andrun useless piece of rubber afterwards.

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MN.

Was excellent but became worse over time.

Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2020

Color: BlackVerified Purchase

I got the product strictly for in-car use. Fits in the cup holder no problem and has excellent sound quality when in use. I only use the speaker for 20-25 minute drives twice a day. The speaker always comes home or is out of direct sunlight to avoid weather and temperature issues.

Battery life based on my usage lasts for about 2-3 weeks when I first got it on a full charge. It eventually stabilized at 2 weeks. I listen to music at half volume.

The batter after 3 months degraded to 1-1.5 weeks from a full charge based on the same usage. One time the speaker refused to turn on, I brought it home, put it to charge and the battery indicator turned on listing 3/5 charge remaining. It worked after that no problem. Another time while driving, the speaker suddenly cut off and stopped the song. Turned it back on and the song started over.

At the time of the review 1/12/2020, the speaker still maintains a 1-1.5 week battery life, where the battery remains strong 5/5 to 4/5 battery life in the first week, and rapidly decreases in the next 2-4 days. Just this past week I have had trouble turning the speaker on, charge cable brought it back to life at 3/5 battery; trouble with bluetooth connectivity; I have had the speaker cut off, stop the current song, pressed play and the song started over again 9 times within the same 20 minute drive. Verified it was not due to the road conditions as 1 out of the 9 times happened while parked at a gas station.

While this is an excellent product and does exactly what I want it to, the rapidly deteriorating battery life with minimal usage and extreme caution when handling the speaker becomes a massive drawback over time.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Riffin Kajangu

Battery life (maybe I got a defect)

Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2017

Verified Purchase

Ok, The first date I received this JBL speaker I was excited. The reviews were ok enough for me to make the purchase. I was really excited about battery life. I don't know if I received a defective one (happened to me before) but the battery on this thing doesn't last 2 hours on low. this is my 3rd week with this speaker and I haven't even used it that frequently. I'm really disappointed with the battery life. I honestly believe this one is a defect because I've only charged it about 4 times since I received it... back to square one I guess. I hope the good people at JBL fix this issue if not for me at least for next buyer.

One person found this helpful

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5 star		87%
4 star		8%
3 star		2%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

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JBL Flip 4, Black - Waterproof, Portable & Durable Bluetooth Speaker - Up to 12 Hours of Wireless Streaming - Includes Noise-Cancelling Speakerphone, Voice Assistant & JBL Connect+

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