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Bluetooth Speakers I Tried for Tailgate Pregames So You Don't Have To
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items You show up to the lot, pop the trunk, hit play, and your speaker sounds like a tin can fighting for its life against the wind. Meanwhile the group three spots over has concert-quality bass rattling their cooler lids. I burned through six speakers ac...
Sections
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Loud Portable Bluetooth Speakers That Fill a Parking Lot
Rugged Waterproof Speakers for Rain or Spills
Party Speakers With Deep Bass for Outdoor Crowds
Bluetooth Speakers With Long Battery for All-Day Events
Compact Speakers to Throw in a Backpack
Speaker Accessories That Make the Setup Better
Loud Portable Bluetooth Speakers That Fill a Parking Lot
My first tailgate speaker died at halftime because I didn't realize ‘portable’ and ‘loud enough for outdoors’ are two very different things. These actually compete with car stereos and wind without distorting.
Grab this one if you need a speaker that survives being knocked off a tailgate and still bumps. I dropped mine into a puddle of melted ice last October and it kept playing like nothing happened. Battery lasts the entire pregame into the fourth quarte...
JBL Charge 5 Portable Bluetooth Speaker
Switch to this if your current speaker sounds flat outdoors. The bass on this thing vibrates the folding table. A buddy thought I had a subwoofer hidden in my truck bed. Perfect for anyone whose playlist leans heavy on hip-hop or EDM.
Sony SRSXB43 EXTRA BASS Wireless Portable Bluetooth
Keep this clipped to your cooler handle when you want clean sound without hauling a brick. It's smaller than a water bottle but somehow fills our whole section of the lot. For the friend who tailgates light but still wants the aux reputation.
Shop SoundLink Flex Bluetooth Speaker (2nd Gen)
Toss this in your bag as the backup speaker nobody knew they needed. I pair two of them together and suddenly we've got stereo sound across four parking spaces. Wish I'd bought two from the start instead of wasting money on that off-brand cylinder.
JBL Flip 6 Portable Waterproof Speaker Black
Rugged Waterproof Speakers for Rain or Spills
Someone WILL spill a drink on your speaker. Someone WILL kick it off the chair. I lost a perfectly good speaker to a rogue can of beer, and that was the last time I bought anything without an IP67 rating.
Use this if you're the person who always ends up near the cooler drip zone. It floats, which I discovered accidentally when it rolled into a kiddie pool at a block party. Surprisingly loud for something the size of a softball.
Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3 Bluetooth Speaker UE
Snag this for clipping onto a lawn chair or tent pole when table space runs out. It survived a full season strapped to my friend's kayak, so a little parking lot rain is nothing. Great for solo pregames or small circles.
JBL Clip 4 - Ultra-portable Waterproof Speaker - Grey
Pair this with a bike, a backpack strap, or a camp chair. The rubber strap on the back grips onto anything. I used it hiking all summer then brought it straight to tailgate season without missing a beat. Tiny but hits way above its weight.
Tribit StormBox Micro Bluetooth Speaker
Get this if you want 360-degree sound that doesn't care which direction people are standing. I set it on the truck hood and everyone from every angle heard the same quality. Dropped it on asphalt twice. Not a scratch.
Ultimate Ears BOOM EXC Portable Waterproof Bluetooth
Party Speakers With Deep Bass for Outdoor Crowds
Once your tailgate crew grows past ten people, regular portable speakers start losing the battle. These are for when your section becomes THE section and you need volume that reaches the end zone.
Bring this when you want your corner of the lot to feel like a block party. The built-in light show is ridiculous at night games. I wheeled it in on a dolly and three strangers came over just to ask what song was playing.
JBL, PartyBox 110 Portable Bluetooth Speaker, Black
Try this if you want party speaker bass without needing a hand truck to move it. Strap goes over the shoulder, battery runs about 25 hours, and the low end hits your chest from twenty feet away. For the crew that pregames hard and stays late.
XG300 X-Series Portable Wireless Speaker
Swap to this from those little cylinder speakers when your group outgrows them. The price is shockingly low for how loud it gets. I bought it expecting mediocre and ended up retiring my old setup entirely. Stock up before football season.
soundcore by Anker Rave Neo 2 PartyCast Portable
Use this if your tailgate doubles as a dance floor. It cranks to 80W and people three rows over will hear your playlist clearly. My neighbor thought I rented a PA system. For anyone who refuses to be out-volumed.
W-KING Portable Bluetooth Speaker, black
Bluetooth Speakers With Long Battery for All-Day Events
Nothing kills a pregame faster than a dead speaker at 1pm when kickoff isn't until 3:30. I've been that person holding a silent speaker like a fool. Never again.
Grab this for all-day events where you show up at 9am and don't leave until dark. Fifteen hours of battery and it still had juice left when I finally packed up. Also doubles as a phone charger, which saved me during a twelve-hour festival.
JBL, Xtreme 3 Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker, Black
Try this before dropping serious money. It runs for about 20 hours and the bass competes with speakers twice its price. I lent mine to a friend for his camping trip and he immediately ordered his own. That's the review right there.
Speaker Anker Soundcore Motion Boom Plus 80W
Keep this charged and ready for those marathon tailgate days. Thirty hours of playtime is not a typo. I used it across an entire camping weekend on a single charge and still had battery left Monday morning. For the planner who hates carrying chargers...
Tribit StormBox Blast Review
Snag this if you care about how your speaker sounds AND looks sitting on your tailgate spread. The vintage look gets comments every single time. Twenty hours of battery, rich mids, and it doesn't sound thin at high volume like cheaper options do.
Marshall Middleton Portable Bluetooth Speaker
Compact Speakers to Throw in a Backpack
Sometimes you're not driving to the lot. You're walking from campus or taking the shuttle and need something that fits next to your snacks without weighing you down.
Toss this in your jacket pocket when you're walking to the stadium and don't want to carry anything extra. It's the size of a deck of cards. Sound obviously won't fill a parking lot, but for your immediate circle of four to five people it's perfect.
JBL Go 3 | Portable Waterproof Speaker
Use this when you need bass from something you can literally hang off a belt loop. The strap clips onto anything. I hung it from my camping chair armrest all day. For students walking to the tailgate lot who can't haul a big rig.
Sony SRS-XB13 Extra BASS Portable Bluetooth Speaker
Get this if you want Bose clarity from something smaller than your fist. I strapped it to my bike handlebars for the ride to the lot and it stayed put over every pothole. Sounds way bigger than it looks, which always surprises people.
Bose SoundLink Micro Portable Bluetooth Speaker
Pair two of these for stereo on a budget. They're small enough to toss one on each side of your setup. I've had mine for three seasons now and the rubber exterior still looks brand new despite being dropped, splashed, and sat on.
Customer reviews for ULTIMATE EARS WONDERBOOM 2
Speaker Accessories That Make the Setup Better
Learned the hard way that a great speaker on a wobbly camp chair aimed at the ground wastes half its sound. A few cheap add-ons changed everything about how our tailgate sounds.
Keep your speaker safe during transport in this. I cracked a speaker housing tossing it loose in my trunk with camping gear. This case fits most compact speakers and costs less than replacing one. For anyone who throws everything in the back and hope...
Pelican 1060 Micro Multi Purpose Case
Use these to mount your speaker on a tent pole, chair leg, or truck rack. Way easier than trying to balance it on a cooler lid. I wrapped two around my canopy pole and my JBL stayed put through gusty winds all afternoon.
Nite Ize Gear Tie® Reusable Rubber Twist Tie™ 18 in.
Bring this as insurance so your speaker never dies mid-playlist. I plug my speaker in during halftime and it's back to full by the time the third quarter starts. Also saves your phone when you've been streaming and taking videos all day.
Anker Portable Charger 20000mAh Power Bank 2-Port
Grab a couple of these for your phone while you're DJing near drinks and rain. I dropped my phone in a puddle once while changing songs and nearly lost my whole playlist setup. Two bucks of prevention saved me a thousand-dollar lesson.
Customer reviews for Ozark Trail Waterproof Phone Pouch