It's getting cold and frosty as winter begins to creep slowly across the land, and while temperatures are dropping, the deals season is just hotting up. Black Friday is bringing major discounts, even on products that haven't been on the market for long.
We only reviewed the JBL Go 4 in late August, during which the super-portable Bluetooth speaker earned the full five-star rating after we dubbed it an adorably rugged little performer that never skimps on superb sound. It's a great, cheap, compact portable speaker, so its new low price immediately caught our eye.
The Go 4 is currently £30 at John Lewis and while a £15 discount might not sound like much, it is a substantial saving of a third that makes a great-value unit even better value.
It's hard not to love the JBL Go 4. While we were keen on its four-star predecessor, we found the JBL Go 3's poor battery life and small stable of features to be limiting factors that ultimately robbed it of a fifth star. Thankfully, the fourth-gen follow-up is the real deal, impressing us deeply with the level of performance it offers from such a small, affordable unit.
The Go 4 may be cute, but boy is it rugged. Sporting a similar form and dimensions to a chunky deck of cards or a thick bar of soap, the dinky little portable is set up for handling the outdoors. Whether it was spraying it with a house or dropping it from various surfaces, our review sample showed no signs of damage or wear across its attractive fabric jacket. Like almost all of JBL's portable designs, it's built to last.
The feature set is impressive, too. Battery life is a solid seven hours, rising to 9 if you use Playtime Boost, whereas Auracast compatibility lets you pair two Go 4 speakers together in stereo or hook up multiple compatible JBL units. You even get Bluetooth Multipoint for pairing one of your Go 4 units to two sources simultaneously – neat!
Most importantly, the Go 4 sounds the business for its modest size and price. Temper your expectations slightly (he's only small!) and you'll be rewarded with a sound that trounces the feeble, tinny effort of your phone's built-in speakers. As our review made clear: "Rather than merely giving us a rough outline of instruments, the Go 4 wows us with its ability to fill in the gaps, providing a comprehensive mix of structure and body to the music it conveys". It's fun, feisty and front-footed, all characteristics you want in a speaker designed for outdoor rambling and small-scale festive partying.
All in all, another triumph from JBL, baggable now for just £30 at John Lewis.
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