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"Bluetooth wireless audio makes it easy to take your music anywhere. But most Bluetooth speakers aren\u2019t made for everywhere. Splash them with water or drop them on a rock and they\u2019re toast.\nThis is why Fugoo came up with a line of portable Bluetooth speakers built with various degrees of toughness. They\u2019re all the same inside, the only difference is in the covering.\nTriple play\nThe $199 Style is the most dainty of the line. It looks like a little clutch purse \u2014 although not so much like a clutch purse that a guy can\u2019t carry one. The Style is covered in waterproof cloth, so consider it party-proof.\n\nThe Fugoo Style costs $199 and resembles a clutch purse without the handle.Image:  Mashable,  Brent ButterworthThe $199 Sport is built tougher, with an impact-resistant, waterproof casing. he $229 Tough looks like it could fall off a cliff and keep playing; its jacket is made from aluminum and fiber-reinforced resin. You can also buy the jackets separately, at $39 for the Style or Sport, or $49 for the Tough.\nThese little 7.4-inch-long speakers don\u2019t come cheap, but they pack a lot of audio tech for their size: two tweeters for the treble, two mid/sub drivers for the mids and bass, and two passive radiators to pump up the bottom end.\nInstead of putting the right and left channels on one side, the right channel\u2019s on one side and the left\u2019s on the other. But you don\u2019t really hear that. The internal battery\u2019s rated for 40 hours of power, about four times what you get from a typical small Bluetooth speaker, and plenty enough to last you through a weekend backpacking trip.\nButtons on the top control volume. There\u2019s a 3.5mm input jack so you can plug in non-Bluetooth audio sources, plus a little microphone on top that lets it function as a speakerphone.\nFugoo offers useful, rugged accessories to suit your action-packed lifestyle, or at least the action-packed lifestyle you\u2019d have if you weren\u2019t working so hard on your startup or screenplay. These include a bike mount, a carabiner/tripod mount, and a mount that slips onto a supplied, 3-foot-long elastic strap (the mounts work only with the Sport and Tough jackets). There\u2019s also a Bluetooth-connected remote control that slips onto your wrist like a watch.\n\nThe remote control for the Fugoo speakers is wearable!Image:  Mashable,  Brent ButterworthThe Style (or the Tough, depending on how I set it up) paired in about 3 seconds with my Samsung Galaxy S III, with the mating confirmed by a male radio DJ-style voice. Fugoo promises you\u2019ll soon be able to change this to the voice of an Aussie-accented woman, so your speaker sounds smarter and less smarmy.\nA good dousing under my kitchen faucet wasn\u2019t enough to stop the Style/Tough from playing. With the Tough jacket installed, the speaker survived a half-dozen 4-foot falls onto concrete without so much as a scratch, although one time it announced \u201CBattery is almost full\u201D on impact. I didn\u2019t ask, but OK.\nThe excellent sound quality of the Style/Tough helps justify the relatively high price. There\u2019s no distortion ever, even when you crank it full blast. The clean, relatively natural quality of the midrange and treble comes as a shock when you compare it to most other compact Bluetooth speakers.\n\nFugoo offers a bike mount for the Tough speaker.Image:  Mashable,  Brent ButterworthVocals sound super-clean and easy to understand, although when I listened to James Taylor\u2019s \u201CFire and Rain,\u201D I noticed the little speaker drivers don\u2019t have enough grunt to make male voices sound full. The tweeters can sound a little sizzly at times, especially with recordings like \u201CFire and Rain\u201D that feature acoustic guitar.\nThe compromises\nThat clean sound comes at the expense of two things: volume and bass. I measured about 88dB max from the Style/Tough at a distance of 3 feet; some speakers in this class can pump out 4-6dB more. It\u2019s enough to full a small room \u2014 or a tent \u2014 but that\u2019s all.\nThe bass is adequate to keep the speaker from sounding thin, but no more. If it did have more bass, though, the Style/Tough would probably distort as badly at full volume as most compact Bluetooth speakers do. Of course, some people are happy to suffer a bit of distortion to get more bass. As the aftermarket car stereo biz proves, some people are happy to suffer a lot of distortion to get more bass.\nFor me, I was just happy to be able to play Band of Skulls' \"Asleep at the Wheel\" full blast without having my ears assaulted by the death throes of overdriven drivers, which is what happens when you crank this tune through most small Bluetooth speakers.\nEverything considered, the Style/Tough reminds me of one of the better super-small desktop speaker systems, such as the Audioengine A2+. No, it\u2019s not that good, but it\u2019s aiming to be, and it has some of the same neutral, natural character. I\u2019d recommend going straight for the Tough, which is so rugged you could just toss it into your car trunk or your fishing boat or your backpack with all your other gear and expect it to arrive intact and ready to play.\n\nFugoo Style &amp; Tough\n\n\nThe Good\nCool interchangeable jackets and accessories \u2022 Very clear midrange and highs with no distortion \u2022 Waterproof, ultra-rugged design (especially with Tough jacket)\nThe Bad\nNot much bass \u2022 Max volume is just OK\nThe Bottom Line\nThe Fugoo Style and Tough Bluetooth speakers deliver high-quality sound for their size, and the rugged, waterproof design and long battery life makes them ideal for adventurers.          \n\n\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/07/22/fugoo-style-review/>