Ikea is well known for selling attractively designed products at reasonable prices, but its latest Bluetooth speaker is priced so low that even Amazon might not be able to compete. The Vappeby waterproof portable Bluetooth speaker, as its name suggests, is tiny, waterproof, and surprisingly cheap at $15.
The tiny, silicone-wrapped speaker measures only three inches square and is just two inches thick. For reference, that’s about as wide as an iPhone 14 in portrait mode. It comes with its own lanyard cord, which you could use to hang the Vappeby in a shower as Ikea shows in its photos, or you could simply use it as a wrist strap. It’s available in three colors: yellow, black, or red, and if you buy two of them, they can be used as a stereo pair.
It’s the latest addition to the Vappeby speaker family, which already includes a mushroom-shaped portable lantern model.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about this speaker — beyond its ludicrously cheap price — is its battery life. Ikea claims that you’ll get up to 80 hours on a single charge if you stick to a 50% volume level.
The only downside is that your $15 investment doesn’t come with any way to actually charge the speaker. Ikea doesn’t include a cable or a power adapter in the box, so you’ll need to supply your own USB-C cable — or buy one from Ikea for a few dollars more.
The Vappeby is rated at IP67, which means that small particles like sand won’t adversely affect it and you can submerge the speaker fully underwater — up to one meter — for up to 30 minutes.
Given its size, you shouldn’t hold out hope for great sound quality, but it’s hard to resist the idea of a $15 speaker that can go just about anywhere.
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