UE Wonderboom 4 Review

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The Wonderboom 4 can survive a drop of up to 5 feet, making it one of the most durable speakers we tested. Its charging port can open sometimes after being dropped, which is something to note if you're using it around water.

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We've personally owned this speaker for several years, and it's taken many tumbles around the back of a van, been camping across multiple states, and been taken out on the water many times (thanks to its dust and waterproof IP67 design), and it still sounds the same as the first day we bought it.

The Wonderboom 4 has survived many camping trips over the years without any connectivity or sound issues after lots of time in the dirt and the rain.   Credit: Matt Lighthart

The Wonderboom 4 is highly water resistant.   Credit: Matt Lighthart

This lightweight 0.9 pound speaker comes with a small loop that makes it easy to carry around.   Credit: Matt Lighthart

We can even strap it to the side of a backpack with a carabiner.   Credit: Matt Lighthart

The Wonderboom 4 is great on the go.   Credit: Matt Lighthart

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The Wonderboom 4 even floats on top of the water when we drop it in.

This speaker is pretty small and lightweight at only 0.9 pounds. We can take it anywhere without noticing it much in our pack.

The Wonderboom 4's sound excels the most in the mid-range, especially with vocals. When listening to She & Him's sparsely elegant cover of “You Really Got a Hold on Me”, the voice is rich and warm, floating over the acoustic guitar with clean separation and great clarity. We preferred listening to soft ballads with this speaker, so it could be a good option for those who enjoy warm, gentle music or artists like Norah Jones and James Taylor. We also loved using it for listening to podcasts, as vocals sound clear and lifelike.

Of the mini speakers we tested, the Wonderboom 4 has the closest to 360-degree sound we heard, as the sound wraps around the circular speaker evenly and delivers decent height as well. However, it doesn't compare to the larger models.

The Wonderboom 4 has a decently long battery life of 21 hours and 8 minutes, so it's a great option for extended camping trips when you're away from a charger.

Dislikes

As expected, this speaker is quieter, emitting sound only up to 83.9 decibels, which is about as loud as a garbage disposal and almost as bad as it sounds at the highest volume. While the upper mid-volumes still sound nice, anything above that we noticed a good amount of distortion.

We don't love this speaker for pop or electronic music. When listening to “Closer” by Tegan and Sara, the beats sound more like static radio than synth drums.

The speaker comes with three modes: standard, podcast, and outdoor. The outdoor mode gives the speaker a good boost to prevent outside noises from drowning out the music, but the podcast mode was pretty terrible. We used this feature to listen to the “Dear Hank and John” podcast, and the voices sound like they've been put inside a box with the top taped shut. We found that the standard mode sounds perfectly good for podcasts.

While it didn't take long to pair our Bluetooth, it wasn't entirely clear which button to press to pair it to our phone without reading the manual or looking up instructions online.

Should You Buy the UE Wonderboom 4?

If you only like listening to soft, vocal-forward music and podcasts, the UE Wonderboom 4 could be a good option for outdoor or on-the-go use. But if you have a more eclectic music palate, there are better portable options that sound great for all types of genres and that are just as durable and portable.

What Other Bluetooth Speakers Should You Consider?

The JBL Clip 5 is also a rugged IP67 speaker that weighs a little less and is more portable, thanks to the built-in clip, so we can hang this speaker just about anywhere. It's comparable in sound quality and costs a bit less than the Wonderboom, and it gets a bit louder, so we prefer using it over the Wonderboom when having company over.