Half Sense
14th May 2013, 02:10 PM
I picked up a couple of these miniature boomboxes a while ago and have given them a thorough testing. The small one has 1 speaker and the larger one has 2. They both sound quite good, very clean and clear but of course missing the bottom octave or 2 of deep bass. The small one is only 1.4" cubed, the larger one is the same size except 2.5" wide. They have 4GB of internal memory with room for roughly 1000 songs. They also have a MicroSD slot so you can cheaply add 16GB or 32GB more memory and a lot more songs. They charge via a USB cable, which is good, since so many portable battery packs and solar systems have USB ports. They use a lithium-ion battery which lasts seemingly forever on 1 charge..we played one of these loudly for several hours and then kept it going all night at a softer volume and it was still playing in the morning. The little 25mm drivers are pretty amazing, and the case is sturdy aluminum. Also available in black and silver.
http://images10.newegg.com/ProductImageCompressAll300/75-973-032-04.jpghttp://di1-1.shoppingshadow.com/images/pi/12/e5/bc/137345458-260x260-0-0_pit+bull+pitbull+rockdoc+boom+2+way+portable+mp3 +s.jpg
List price is $40 for the small one, $50 for the larger one, and $60 for a large one with Bluetooth capability. I got mine on sale for $30 and $40 at Tiger Direct. BestBuy has them, too. Looks like Amazon only carries the larger one.
Uses: As a music player, of course. Good sound, cheap price, great battery life, and expandable memory. If society breaks down, at least we can DANCE! Or have a collection of the most meaningful music from the pre-collapse. You could also store thousands of audio books, podcasts, etc which could contain extremely useful information. You could also make your own audio files of critical information and store them on the player.
I'm also thinking about force multipliers, psy-ops, misdirection, etc. Like if you're being chased, have a recording ready with your voice on it...throw the player 200 feet away and make your escape while they track down the source of the voice. Or you could have a voice recording playing all night near the entrance of your shelter...enough to make a potential home invader think there are people awake just behind the door. Or plant one near the enemy camp and freak them out in the middle of the night with a short burst of noise or voices...then silence. They'll be up all night trying to figure it out. Or, place several of them on the East side of the enemy camp, activate the noise, and attack from the West while the enemy is distracted. The battery lasts so long you can place them and have them play several hours of silence before going audible. Lots of possibilities.
Only downside is the limited playback control. There is no shuffle play, so the files play in the same order each time. It's also cumbersome to navigate, since it takes a second or so to skip to the next track and you can't skip ahead more than 1 track at a time. The one saving grace, especially for psy-ops, is that if you insert a MicroSD card, it immediately begins playing the first track on the card. So that's one way to get a certain file playing quickly if the player is used for strategy & tactics.
These little boomboxes play cleanly and incredibly loudly if you need them to. A great addition to the bugout bag and a pretty nice little music system in its own right.
http://images10.newegg.com/ProductImageCompressAll300/75-973-032-04.jpghttp://di1-1.shoppingshadow.com/images/pi/12/e5/bc/137345458-260x260-0-0_pit+bull+pitbull+rockdoc+boom+2+way+portable+mp3 +s.jpg
List price is $40 for the small one, $50 for the larger one, and $60 for a large one with Bluetooth capability. I got mine on sale for $30 and $40 at Tiger Direct. BestBuy has them, too. Looks like Amazon only carries the larger one.
Uses: As a music player, of course. Good sound, cheap price, great battery life, and expandable memory. If society breaks down, at least we can DANCE! Or have a collection of the most meaningful music from the pre-collapse. You could also store thousands of audio books, podcasts, etc which could contain extremely useful information. You could also make your own audio files of critical information and store them on the player.
I'm also thinking about force multipliers, psy-ops, misdirection, etc. Like if you're being chased, have a recording ready with your voice on it...throw the player 200 feet away and make your escape while they track down the source of the voice. Or you could have a voice recording playing all night near the entrance of your shelter...enough to make a potential home invader think there are people awake just behind the door. Or plant one near the enemy camp and freak them out in the middle of the night with a short burst of noise or voices...then silence. They'll be up all night trying to figure it out. Or, place several of them on the East side of the enemy camp, activate the noise, and attack from the West while the enemy is distracted. The battery lasts so long you can place them and have them play several hours of silence before going audible. Lots of possibilities.
Only downside is the limited playback control. There is no shuffle play, so the files play in the same order each time. It's also cumbersome to navigate, since it takes a second or so to skip to the next track and you can't skip ahead more than 1 track at a time. The one saving grace, especially for psy-ops, is that if you insert a MicroSD card, it immediately begins playing the first track on the card. So that's one way to get a certain file playing quickly if the player is used for strategy & tactics.
These little boomboxes play cleanly and incredibly loudly if you need them to. A great addition to the bugout bag and a pretty nice little music system in its own right.