AllOutdoor Review – Turtlebox Ranger Outdoor Speaker

One of the biggest names in the outdoor speaker game, Turtlebox has been known for a few years now for making ultra-tough speakers. Capable of surviving water, mud, dirt, and even fires in a few cases for some unlucky outdoorsmen. Last year at ICAST, Turtlebox unveiled their newest model of outdoor speaker, the Turtlebox Ranger, a smaller, more compact option that is highly portable. I grabbed one last year at ICAST and have been taking it along with me wherever I wanted some tunes outside ever since. From the woods stuck onto a rail in the side-by-side, on the river clipped onto an inflatable, or just chilling in the garage while I worked on something. Let’s see how it’s held up since then.

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Specifications – Turtlebox Ranger

First Impression – Turtlebox Ranger

The first thing that was easily noticed with the Ranger vs the other Turtlebox speaker options, besides its smaller size, was the magnetic feet that they have built into the crush-resistant shell of the speaker. This makes the Ranger a lot of fun to just stick to whatever magnetic surface you have lying around, like my truck as shown above. I needed to scrub off all the lovebugs and grime after the long drive to Orlando and back. So I thought I might as well test the magnetic feet and water resistance while playing some music while washing the truck. The Ranger did perfectly fine even when being sprayed directly by the hose, not budging from where I stuck it on the truck, and the sound quality was perfectly fine. Checking the charging port flap after washing the truck, I saw no signs of water intrusion.

Floating the River – Turtlebox Ranger

If you’re gonna float down the river, you need some tunes. So the Turtlebox Ranger was perfect for that, easily being clipped onto the cooler float tube with a carabiner. A clip is quite necessary with the Ranger, though, compared to other Turtlebox options, as this is the only offering from them that doesn’t float. With its compact size, there isn’t a lot of space left internally to add flotation materials. Even still, with a proper mounting point, it worked great for this float trip. The audio quality was clean and crisp even with getting regularly dunked into the river as people jostled the floats around. The pair of 2-inch waterproof drivers and Class D digital amplifier are capable of producing plenty of volume and bass if you need it. Additionally, the 5.4 Bluetooth connectivity of the speaker also proved to have a surprising amount of range, managing to stay connected to a friend’s phone until they floated at least a couple hundred feet from us before the connection finally gave out. I think after our 4-hour float down the Etowah, the Ranger battery gauge had only gone down one dot.

Final Thoughts – Turtlebox Ranger

So after a year of use in mud, dust, and water, my Turtlebox Ranger is still chugging. I haven’t noticed any reduction in sound quality or battery life at this point. While the rubber bumpers are a bit scuffed now, function-wise there’s nothing scuffed about it. Between just using it as an everyday speaker while working on projects in the garage, or letting it roll around in my buddy’s boat to have as a backup speaker for fishing trips, the thing has been super solid. It is capable of putting out tons of volume if needed, though you do lose some sound quality at max volume. I do need to note, though, that I haven’t been able to test the “Party Mode” function of infinitely connecting the speaker to other Rangers for a surround sound experience. I can’t really afford to buy a bunch of these speakers to test that. Now, talking about the cost, the MSRP for the speaker is set at $250, which is honestly the only downside. That is honestly a good chunk of change for a Bluetooth speaker, but I also need to say that, while cheaper speaker options do exist. I don’t see many other speakers holding up to the same amount of abuse that the Rangers can take. So take that into consideration when you consider the price; I personally love my Ranger and expect to keep using the thing for many more years.

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