Turtlebox Ranger Overview: Rattling Close to Every little thing-Proof

The Turtlebox Ranger is senseless to me. As a lifelong musician, I all the time thought it was self-evident that high-quality audio means delicate tools. Enhancements to sturdiness should inevitably come at the price of aural readability — or so I believed.

My expertise with the Ranger blows these assumptions out of the water. This speaker shakes off as shortly as I reply to Swiftie music requests. Primarily based in Houston, Turtlebox focuses on rugged, waterproof audio system that also present booty-bumping quantity irrespective of the exercise. With the Ranger, the model presents its smallest-ever speaker, bringing excessive quantity and sturdiness right into a lighter, pint-sized bundle.

The result’s a Bluetooth speaker with such excessive audio high quality that I discovered myself utilizing it at house as a lot as for outside hijinks. From day-long paddle journeys to mountain hikes to bike rides, the Ranger took all of it like a champ, rising as a brand new contender in one of the best moveable speaker class.

In brief: I’m not apprehensive in regards to the Turtlebox Ranger’s means to resist no matter punishment I can dish out. At 2.4 kilos, it’s nonetheless a bit heavy for backcountry journeys, and doesn’t come low cost at $250. However in the event you’re a music lover searching for stellar audio throughout rough-and-tumble adventures, it’s onerous to think about a greater speaker than this one.

Turtlebox Ranger Bluetooth Speaker Overview

Let’s clear one thing up first: I’m not a fan of noise air pollution within the outdoor. It irritates me to no finish when I’ve to tolerate hikers blasting music on crowded trails or paddlers with a cooler-sized boombox drowning out each pure sound inside a 100-yard radius.

However I spend most of my time within the outdoor on my own, normally in conditions the place I can rely on not being bothered — and never bothering anybody else. And although I normally select nature’s soundtrack over music, there are many instances (normally after hours of uninterrupted silence) when a little bit of Gerry Mulligan sax quartet or Chad Lawson piano compositions matches the context.

That’s the place the Turtlebox Ranger finds a candy spot in my routines. Its 2-inch woofers deliver aural selection to all-day solo adventures, present precisely the appropriate quantity for distant working outdoor, and usually maintain up in opposition to the beatings that the majority of my gear inevitably endures.

First Impressions: The Sound

The Ranger is actually a tricky, burly speaker, as we’ll see. However my first impression was of the speaker’s sound high quality, which is an important issue anyway, for my part. In spite of everything, what’s the purpose of hauling a sturdy speaker — including one other piece of drugs to my package — if it doesn’t sound nice?

That’s not an issue with the Ranger. In truth, it’s one of many best-sounding audio system I’ve ever heard, moveable or not. And I’m not simply speaking about overproduced trendy pop music void of actual devices or non-auto-tuned voices (yeah, I mentioned it). As a lover of jazz and classical music, I not often hear audio system that precisely seize the breathy nuances of a trumpet or the muted tones of an upright bass.

So, I’m delighted to report that the contact of piano keys or a saxophone’s vibrato emerges clearly and delicately from a speaker that may also be submerged underwater for half-hour. I do not know how that’s potential, however it’s a delight to expertise. I not often pumped the speaker as much as full quantity, because it’s extra highly effective than many bigger opponents.

A Glutton for Punishment

Alright, alright, you say. Sufficient with the musical nerdery. What in regards to the sturdiness?

To this point, the Ranger has met the excessive requirements of its nomadic identify and former Turtlebox releases. It’s waterproof, that means you possibly can submerge it as much as 3 toes for not more than half-hour with out harm, in response to the model.

I examined that concept in a managed setting with a glass of water and within the chilly, unpredictable waters of Georgia’s Etowah and Chattahoochee rivers. After a couple of minutes within the water, the sound turns into barely muted. However it’s a change you’re unlikely to note except you’re listening rigorously. The sound returns to regular ultimately, after the speaker has had a couple of minutes to dry off.

Word: This speaker doesn’t float, which is why you see it rigorously tied to my SUP board within the images. It’ll survive a drop within the river — however provided that yow will discover it afterward. Additionally, the duvet for the charging port have to be closed to keep away from water harm.

The speaker can be supposedly drop-proof and “crushproof.” So I (intentionally) dropped it down rocky paths on native mountain climbing trails, rolled it by sand and dust, and (by accident) allowed my canine to knock it over repeatedly, typically a number of toes from a desk to the bottom. It nonetheless doesn’t have a scratch. It really works simply in addition to the day I took it out of the field over a month in the past.

That final bit is critical. You’re prone to knock this factor over repeatedly, because the Ranger is supposed to face upright like a mini pillar. This dimensional shift represents an enormous departure from most different Bluetooth audio system, which are typically squat and horizontal. However it’s a sensible transfer, audio-wise, because the sound spreads extra evenly in all instructions.

On the identical time, it signifies that mendacity the speaker down flat will block among the woofer. That ends in decreased quantity and readability.

The one time the Ranger didn’t instantly shrug off detritus was on the magnetic squares alongside one facet. These are for attaching the audio system to automobiles, golf carts, or no matter else you possibly can think about. I didn’t use this specific characteristic, however it labored nicely sufficient after I caught it to the facet of my Honda CRV.

Nonetheless, they’ll additionally acquire minuscule items of steel from sand or river water. However with a little bit little bit of effort utilizing water, a sponge, and a cotton swab, I used to be capable of take away most of it.

Comparability to the Competitors

At 2.4 kilos, the Ranger nonetheless competes with its a lot bigger cousin, the Turtlebox Gen 2. For her assessment, GJ contributor Erica Zazo put that burly, 10-pound speaker by the wringer, even letting it soak for a month in a water cooler (it nonetheless labored high quality). However its dimension and weight imply it’s “greatest used whenever you solely have to hold it brief distances, wish to the campground, seashore, or pontoon,” Zazo wrote.  

“It’d be nice if the model debuted a smaller, extra moveable model of the Turtlebox sooner or later,” she added.

With the Ranger, Turtlebox has executed simply that. At lower than one-fourth the burden of the Gen 2, the Ranger nonetheless offers 105 decibels of quantity. Comparatively, Gen 2 solely goes as much as 120 decibels whereas costing almost $200 additional. So, the Ranger’s steadiness of quantity and portability makes a robust case for choosing this smaller cousin. It additionally improves the Gen 2 by ditching the proprietary charger and choosing a USB-C port.

In fact, the Ranger doesn’t declare fairly the sturdiness of the Gen 2. However most of us don’t want a speaker that may survive a visit to Atlantis, irrespective of how spectacular. And with battery life that lasts all day, relying on quantity, I by no means had a problem with immediately needing to recharge.

Turtlebox Ranger: Last Verdict

The always-innovating market of outside gear has supplied many new choices for waterproof audio system lately. At GearJunkie, we’ve tried and ranked lots of the greatest in our information to the Finest Moveable Bluetooth Audio system. The Turtlebox Gen 2 holds the highest spot general.

The Ranger, for my part, is even higher. At almost half the value, however with virtually the identical audio quantity in a smaller, lighter bundle, it improves upon Turtlebox’s Gen 2 in virtually each manner. It’s additionally potential to make use of the speaker’s Get together Mode to pair the Ranger with different Turtlebox audio system, together with different Rangers, Unique Gen 3s, or Grandes.

With a $250 price ticket, the Ranger nonetheless doesn’t come low cost. It’s presently solely out there on the Turtlebox web site (no Amazon but). One of many 4 coloration choices has already bought out for the reason that speaker was launched in February. Put merely, if you wish to be moved by the music within the Nice Outdoor with zero stress about tools, this is among the greatest waterproof audio system on the market.