How About a Light Show for $20? JLab’s New Pop Party Bluetooth Speaker Is Cheap Fun.

JLab, the maker of budget audio equipment, never seems to forget that speakers are about fun. Its latest budget, hand-sized, light-splashing Pop Party is a prime example of their party attitude. They’re like the Van Halen of Bluetooth speakers.

Like Henry Ford’s earliest Model Ts, you can have it in any color you like, as long as it’s black. Unlike Ford’s Model T, it comes standard outlined in an RGB light ring customizable with colors and patterns.

you’re goin’ places, kid

At 5W, the Pop Party isn’t going to rattle your neighbors into becoming mortal enemies. Its 2″ full-range driver and 2″ passive woofer are, well, small. Just look at the thing. It’s about the size of a smartphone.

Window-rattling bass isn’t the point. The $20, 8.7-ounce Pop Party is meant to be taken places without fretting about fumbling an expensive Bluetooth speaker into the ocean, pool, sidewalk, or onto your brother-in-law’s barbecue grill.

I’ve seen plenty of ultra-portable Bluetooth speakers small enough to clip onto a backpack or onto the handlebars ends of a bike, but would I risk it? The more it costs, the more I’d say no. Or at least the more I’d stress the hell out about it.

It’s IPX5 rated, which means it’s dust- and water-resistant, but I wouldn’t topple it into a pool because it’s not rated to survive submersion, just low-pressure water jets.

Being such a small speaker, you get only eight hours of playtime with it. That drops to five if you turn on the RGB light. JLab says you can connect up to 100 JLab Party speakers together if you like, although I have serious doubts about the emotional state of somebody who would do such a thing.

The connected stereo speaker setup is much more interesting. For the low, low price of $40 for a pair of Pop Parties, you can designate one as the left speaker and one as the right, giving you stereo wherever you are.

There’s no way I’d do that with two pricey, big, honking Bluetooth speakers at a campground or the beach. But when they’re $20 apiece? Hell yeah.