Small scale, waterproof speakers are here with the Tozo PE1 sports speaker.
We’ve previously covered some of Tozo’s waterproof sound offerings courtesy of the lovely Blue, and whilst he wasn’t too sure of water coming into contact with the charging elements, he did find them to be a pretty good set of earbuds. I’m constantly listening to podcasts and audiobooks, so any opportunity to consume the content is a good thing as far as I’m concerned. Whether swimming, running, walking in the rain, or even in the shower, I want to be listening to something interesting. Earbuds are good for the first three options, but the Tozo PE1 speaker does a good job of providing sounds whilst showering.
Available in three colours and coming in at under £35, the Tozo PE1 is a very small speaker that isn’t designed with booming sound in mind. Its reduced size is designed to make it portable, and the attached clip allows you to set it up wherever you are. Realistically, this is good for listening to music when in a small gathering of friends if you don’t need super sound quality or volume, and it fulfils this role well.
The 32-hour battery life means that it’s going to keep going for plenty of time, and whilst the 10W power output isn’t the strongest, it does the job unless you’re trying to listen to something somewhere busy. I will say that the sound does come across as a little muddy, lacking the clarity of a stronger speaker, but by messing about with the app you can get things sounding a bit nicer. There’s a neat feature where you can sync up two of the speakers so that they work in stereo, and whilst I’ve not tested this out for myself, I like that it’s an inclusion.
I approve of the waterproof element as I can listen to podcasts in the shower, and my kids have particularly liked being able to have music on whilst showering. It’s done my gas bill no good, but at least they’re happy. The speaker is rated as IPX8, meaning it’s waterproof when submerged up to 1 metre for up to 30 minutes. I have no idea why you would be submerging a speaker, but it’s good to know that it’s well protected.
The USB-C charge port being on the underside means it’s unlikely to suffer any hard from water coming from above, but I’m always wary of gradual corrosion when these parts are exposed without a cover. I’ve not had that problem crop up yet, but it’s always something that’s on my mind.
Controls are fine, with volume and power being accessible, and long and short presses give access to other features like skipping tracks or voice assistant. I’d like the symbols on the buttons to be a little clearer, but maybe that’s just my old man’s eyes giving up on me.
The Tozo PE1 is a solid, low cost Bluetooth speaker that is a good entry level portable option for those that find themselves travelling regularly. I don’t think the waterproof element is going to make a huge difference to most consumers, but it’s certainly a nice to have, and at the cost of entry, it’s hard to complain about.
The Tozo PE1 is available now from Tozo’s website and all good tech retailers.
