There are plenty of inexpensive Bluetooth speakers out there, but few that are built to handle bike rides, showers, and speakerphone calls, in addition to standard speaker duties. The $29.90 Divoom Airbeat-10 does all of the above, and for less than speakers that aren’t as versatile. It won’t impress lovers of big bass, but audio quality is otherwise strong. And while you can find a better Bluetooth speaker if you’re willing to pay more, for the price, you won’t find one this well rounded.

Design, Attachments, and Pairing
The Airbeat-10 ($29.98 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) has a fairly utilitarian look, mostly due to the fact that it’s basically just some plastic and rubber casing built around a single 2-inch driver. It comes in black, blue, red, or white, which helps give it a little flare. The speaker is square in shape, though the corners are rounded, and it measures roughly 2.8 inches in diameter and 1.75 inches thick. It weighs 5.4 ounces, making it easy to slip into a bag and tote around. And it’s rated IPX4 for weather resistance, so it’s safe against splashes. I tested the speaker out in the shower; it sounded great, and water beaded right off of its rubberized frame.

The speaker comes with both a bike mount and suction cup that screw securely into the back panel. I’m not a biker, but the mount attachment feels sturdy. The suction cup attachment is surprisingly strong; it easily latched onto the tiled wall of my shower and took some force to pull off. The speaker also has a small alloy hand grip on top, which you can use to hang it on a shower caddy or somewhere else in your house. This plethora of options definitely makes the Airbeat-10 one of the more versatile speakers we’ve tested.

All the physical controls are located on the left side of the speaker, indicated by four embossed logos. The Power button at the top is self-explanatory, while the Play button below it also serves to pause music, answer and reject incoming calls, and activate Bluetooth pairing mode. The two volume controls below that also let you change tracks. The buttons themselves are recessed, so they can be a little tricky to find, but overall I didn’t have much of a problem.

There’s a covered micro USB charging port on the bottom of the speaker, and you get an attractive 10-inch charging cable. You’ll also find a 3.5mm input port here, and Divoom includes a 3.5mm cable, so you can connect audio sources that lack Bluetooth. The built-in 500mAh battery is good for up to six hours of playback, though that’ll depend on how loudly you play your music.

See How We Test Speakers

Pairing the Airbeat-10 via Bluetooth 3.0 is simple. Just turn the speaker on and hold down the pairing button down until the tiny blue LED on the front starts flashing. Then activate Bluetooth on your device, locate the speaker in the Bluetooth device list, and tap to pair. After pairing once, the speaker will automatically connect to your paired device whenever it is in range. For this review, I paired the Airbeat-10 with an Apple iPhone 5s ( at Amazon)(Opens in a new window)  and a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 ($307.97 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) . 

Performance and Conclusions
Audio performance won’t blow you away, but the Airbeat-10 is surprisingly good for a budget speaker. For starters, it gets pretty loud. It was easier to hear in the shower than the Kohler Moxie ($155.35 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) , and about on par with the Freshetech Splash ($22.95 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) . Music with deep bass tends to distort when listening to the speaker at maximum volume, however. On tracks like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” distortion starts to creep in when you push things past the 80-percent mark.

When listening at slightly lower volumes, distortion is no longer a problem and the speaker often sounds quite good. There’s a bit of low end response, lending some depth to tracks like Yo La Tengo’s “Green Arrow.” But the focus is primarily on the mids and highs. That means the speaker sounds a lot less muddy than the AmazonBasics Mini  speaker, though it won’t satisfy those that are looking for a big punch of bass. Tracks like Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android” sound a little thin, and the bass notes in the Bill Evans Trio’s “Polka Dots and Moonbeams” take a backseat to the rest of the instrumentation. Divoom claims that placing the speaker up against a flat surface using the suction cup increases bass response, and it does, but not enough to make a huge difference.

If you can deal with the average bass response, the Airbeat-10 does an otherwise nice job delivering clear, crisp audio. The speaker sounds particularly good if you like to listen to podcasts, with rich vocals that sound true to life.  

The controls on the side of the speaker come in handy, especially in the shower, and the speakerphone function isn’t bad. Voices can sound a bit clipped on both ends, but still perfectly understandable.

For the price, it’s hard to go wrong with the Airbeat-10. You can use it pretty much anywhere, and audio quality is solid, as long as you’re not looking for a ton of bass. It’s a better choice than the $40 AmazonBasics Mini, and it’s definitely an attractive option if you’re looking for an inexpensive shower speaker. Still, there are better options out there if you’re willing to spend a bit more. For an additional $20, the JBL Clip ($49.95 at Adorama)(Opens in a new window)  features more powerful, balance audio output, though it isn’t splash-proof. And for twice the price you can pick up the Boom Movement Swimmer ( at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) , which features an equally versatile, water-resistant design, longer battery life, and better bass response.