Furrion LIT Bluetooth Speaker Review

Sometimes chirping crickets and screeching cockatoos don’t cut it. When frying up snags, swimming in secluded waterholes, or drinking beers around the campfire, you often have a better time when listening to your favourite bangers.

But then it’s hard to find an appropriate speaker. Running your car stereo will drain your battery, playing songs using your phone will sound tinny, and there’s no 240V to run your CD player (if you still have one of these). There’s always the option of bluetooth speakers, but then, in most cases, you risk destroying them by putting them into conditions they’re not built for.

Enter the Furrion LIT portable bluetooth speaker, made to endure the abuses it will inevitably be subjected to out bush. Not only is it sandproof (for when you drop it on the beach), shockproof (for when you throw it in rage for shuffling to ABBA in front of your mates), and temperature proof (it can deal with –10°C to 45°C), it’s also IPX7 waterproof. That means you can immerse it in one metre of water for up to 30 minutes. Keep in mind it doesn’t float!

The volume levels are impressive. The digital sound processor ensures a reasonable level of bass for such a small unit; the dual audio drivers, featuring 10W speakers, round out the quality of sound. If one speaker is not enough, you can pair up with a second Furrion LIT speaker; how’s that for surround sound?

The device uses version 4.1 bluetooth. We found the range to be around five or six metres; not quite the 10 metres suggested. Still, that’s a decent radius around a campfire or a picnic rug.

You can buy the speaker on its own, get it packaged as an Adventure Pack with various mounting options, or simply purchase whichever other accessories you need separately.

The rail mount is best suited to bike handlebars or items of similar diameter. It wouldn't quite fit to the Hema LandCruiser's roof rack and it only fit on the narrower steel of the bull bar. You can also get a hand strap, for relaxed strolls, or a strap mount, which really ups the mounting flexibility.

Depending on your settings the battery can play tunes for as long as 15 hours, and then you only have to recharge the two 7.4V 1800 mAh (1.8Ah) batteries for a third of that. It takes three hours to fully recharge using the wireless docking station (not included), or five hours via USB (included).

You can monitor the battery level with the in-built gauge; charge is shown over five lights depicting 20 per cent increments. With its auxiliary connection, USB port and micro USB port, you can play music using a solid connection with your phone if you prefer, or even charge your phone!

The speaker is camping-wise in more ways than one. It’s portable, weighing just 600g and measuring 7.37cm x 19.45cm x 5.86cm. That makes effectively no dent on storage space, nor — of course — your available payload!

The speaker has an in-built flashlight, surprisingly bright thanks to its whopping 500 lumens. You can set this to a flashing SOS setting and even synchronise it with a raucous siren if you ever find yourself in a prickly situation. It even works with Siri and Google Now.

With its one year warranty and attractive price point — ranging from $179.99 to $224.95 AUD — it’s certainly worth looking into next time your ears are itching for some quality tunes.

FURRION LIT BLUETOOTH SPEAKER FROM $179.99