Tough Speaker For Your New Year’s Fitness Activities!

When I first saw the Altec Lansing Life Jacket Bluetooth speaker, I was impressed with the how small it was and how slick it looked.  It made me wonder, though, if this small speaker could handle workouts, kid activities, and the life of a family of 7! I had the opportunity to use the Altec Lansing Bluetooth Life Jacket Speaker for a little over a month and our whole family loves it!

The Life Jacket speaker , which is only 8 inches long and weighs 1 pound, is lightweight enough to take with you anywhere.  We used it in our backyard, our garage, the park and even used a bungee cord to strap it onto my bike!

Connecting to the speaker is super easy; whether through Bluetooth, NFC, or through an actual audio cable.  We were able to connect both Android and Apple products to the speaker.  The sound quality of the Life Jacket speaker is fantastic.  It projects loud enough to enjoy at the park, while the quality stays strong without cracking.

Workout Friendly. Water Proof. Kid Proof.

The Life Jacket is built with the athlete in mind!  If your New Year’s resolution is to train for a triathlon or to do more outdoor family activities, you can use the Life Jacket speaker without worrying about the speaker getting ruined.  The Life Jacket speaker comes with a rubber casing to protect it from tumbles down mountainsides or spills in the ocean.  I was not stressed when my kids took the speaker outside while playing a basketball game.

As a certified fitness instructor, I need to be able to easily connect my music for my workouts.  The Life Jacket speaker allows just that.  With a click of a button, I can project my playlist or play Pandora.  As an added bonus, the Life Jacket speaker has a built- in microphone so you can answer calls (or reject calls) during your activities.  Every single member of our family used this speaker with activities including; cooking, working out, volleyball games, biking, and basketball.  The kids even loved to use the Life Jacket speaker in the bathroom while they were showering!  My husband used the Life Jacket while doing yard work.

One Lesson Learned

Although we love the Altec Lansing Life Jacket speaker, we did come across one snafu.  If you are connected to the speaker, you need to remember to disconnect.  Here is our story, filled with a little frustration, a lot of trail and error, and a new tag line.  “If you use the Life Jacket speaker – MAKE SURE YOU DISCONNECT!”  The instructions that came with the speaker state that to disconnect, you must push the – and + buttons simultaneously while the music is playing or you can disconnect it directly from your device.

Here is where it gets tricky.  We had a babysitter over last week.  She connected her phone to the Life Jacket speaker .  The next day, when I tried to connect, the Life Jacket was still paired with our babysitter’s phone.  It would not connect to mine.  I called Altec Lansing.  They told me that I could try waiting 15 minutes and then see if it would release.  Unfortunately, it did not.  They stated I would need the original device to unpair.  My babysitter lives 20 minutes away.  So to avoid a 40 minute round trip drive, I started playing around with the buttons.  Finally, I pushed the – and + sign and then shut the speaker off and waited 15 minutes.  Success!  I was able to finally reconnect my phone to the speaker.  Now that we know this trick, we don’t have to worry about disconnecting.

Life Jacket Speaker – Awesome Sound – Little Package

The Life Jacket speaker comes with the speaker, a USB charger with a wall outlet adapter, a 3.5mm audio cable and a carrying case.

Features:

• Battery lasts up to 16 hours
• Waterproof
• Shockproof
• Comes with a carrying case
• Offers hands-free communication
• Bluetooth and NFC capable

Pros:

• Light Weight – 1 pound
• Great sound
• Compatible with Android, Apple, and Blackberry
• Easy for the whole family to connect
• Good battery life

Cons:

• You must disconnect from one device before you can connect to another
• No battery life indicator

The Altec Lansing Life Jacket speaker can be purchased on Amazon for $124.99 with free shipping.

A Mom’s Perspective

The Altec Lansing Life Jacket speaker is a great compact and durable speaker. I love how small it is and the fact that the sound quality stays high even at loud volumes.  It is perfect for workouts in your garage or on the go!  Since the Life Jacket is waterproof and shock proof, I don’t have to worry about the environment ruining my purchase.  It is great for family activities and beach days.  I love the built in speaker that allows you to accept calls or use the hands free commands on your phone!  The battery life for the speaker is 16 hours of play.  In our experience, the charge lasted several days.

Not only is the Life Jacket great for moms, but the kids love using it!  They love connecting their devices while they play in the backyard.  Being able to take the speaker to the beach, the mountains, or using it for my workouts is easy.  The best part is that I don’t have to worry about the kids breaking it!