Bose - SoundLink Flex (1st Generation)
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Reddit Reviews:
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Last updated: Jan 2, 2026 Scoring
Liked most:
27
4
"Also, you can get a 2nd one and play them in stereo. ... I am not exaggerating: if I got another, I could put them on either side of my tv and that would be my home theater."
"you can link two of them to run in stereo which sounds way better and louder than a single speaker"
"I liked mine so much that I bought a second one to pair with my original. They're pretty stupendous! ... so you can afford to buy two and pair them up. They're damned detailed, go loud, and a pair really opens up the soundstage."
31
2
"in the water it is unbeatable."
"My current Gopro 12 takes pretty damned awesome pictures, especially in RAW if you know how to use lightroom. ... Here's a shot of some coral I took 2 weeks ago in Cozumel, with a cheap dive housing, no lights, no colour filters, depth around 12-13 meters. ... Even on simple jpg mode, in lineair lens, the pictures are more than decent ... This one was in super green, much less clear water, on a day with clouds, from the surface as you're not allowed to dive near the turtles here. The bottom is about 2.5-3m deep here. Simply point & shoot in raw mode and then process the RAW."
"The mini has been drug all over golf courses and gotten wet countless times."
27
2
"it sounds amazing, clear, and detailed ... the detail in the sound they produce is light-years better than most."
"Paired…they beat a solo 300, but not the Flex."
"small size, huge sound. The audio ir crystal clear with plenty of bass for its size"
17
1
"sits perfectly in a water bottle holder, for biking, taking in your car, etc."
"Very precise big sound, small package"
"The ULT Field 1’s are very portable. ... If I needed something super portable for on the go, I would have kept the 1."
12
2
"It's the most bass and clearest audio you'll get out of something this compact and easy to carry."
"worth the blind buy for bass head on a tight budget."
"the bass is very weak if I compare it to my SoundLink Flex or the Flip 6, and it loses bass at higher volumes of 60%, which is more noticeable."
Disliked most:
2
10
"Avoid the Bose Flex Gen 2 and Bose Max. They have parisitic battery drain of 10-20% per week. ... These Bose will be dead in 2 months after a full charge. ... The units I have are brand new and no firmware update, because the previous returns had the new firmware updated and the drain was even worse. ... This is about as scientific as you can make it. Test every 7 days from 100% and watch it deplete to unuseable in 2 months. ... There's a huge thread about this subject from many Bose customers. Bose knows about it. Acknowledges it. Does NOTHING about it except offer you an exchange. ... Never seen anything like this in other BT brands. I have an old Sony BT speaker that I haven't touched in 2 years and can still play music!"
"The Bose Flex has a standby battery drain issue. It'll eat 30% a week"
"The battery drains 25% per week while turned OFF!"
14
14
"Levoit Core 300 was decent on specs, but it hummed just enough to wake the youngest every other night."
"cant hear the damn thing unless its at max volume, which kills my battery in like 3.5hrs."
"The Bose is just better. It gets louder, stays clearer at high volume, produces more and clearer bass, and sounds more detailed and refined across the board."
0
1
"Sound is great but the stereo pairing is a huge drag. ... I have to re-pair every time and often it’s finicky to pair them. ... Could be a 5-10 second process but frequently it takes multiple attempts to get them to pair. ... Occasionally not at all. It’s finicky."
0
1
"the Bose Connect app has finally ended up being a deal breaker for my needs. ... I don't know of any product that I've used in conjunction with an application that is less functional than the Connect app. ... Whoever built that app should no longer be employed by such a great company. ... I told em in an email 2 or 3 years ago what a piece of crap their app was, but they haven't responded. ... I can't rate that app at more than 2 stars and I'm being a tad bit generous with that."
"It also has a custom equalizer, and several presets are in the app. None of those are in the Bose Connect app."
5
2
"It sounds pretty good after setting the bass to -10 and the mids and highs to 4/6. ... I don't know why all Bluetooth speakers are so bass-oriented it sounds awful"
"The passive radiators give it a ton of bass and I honestly prefer the sound over the flex."
Same here! My 2 soundlinks are still going strong and I even still have my sounddock from when I was young.
r/BuyItForLife • What's the best quality bluetooth speaker you've ever tried? ->Ive left mine on my patio one full night of heavy rain, work like a charm.
r/BuyItForLife • The best bluetooth speaker worth buying now? (sound quality and portability) ->Diggin my Bose Soundlink. Thin for portability. The bass isn't mind blowing but I was surprised for the size. Sounds great.
r/Bluetooth_Speakers • Best Portable Bluetooth Speakers in 2025 ->I do. for me. so I'm the guy who rarely listens to music around others. I don't like listening to others music especially out side, at a park or beach for example. so I don't listen to my music loud out of consideration. this little bose unit sounds great to just chill with on the back porch, not loud enough for the neighbors to hear but it's able to reproduce great sound at moderate levels. I like this flatter form over the round speakers, it will pack better. if it packs better the chance is higher it will go more places with me.
r/Bluetooth_Speakers • Best Portable Bluetooth Speakers in 2025 ->Yes. I can hear the bass at low volumes. All frequencies are well produced.
r/Bluetooth_Speakers • Best Portable Bluetooth Speakers in 2025 ->We have one of those still going that is older than 2017. Not sure when we bought it, but have had it forever. Only travel speaker we take on our adventures.
r/BuyItForLife • Bose SoundLink bt speaker 2017 - best battery I have seen on any electronics ->I got this deal on the Bose flex last time they had it and I'm really happy with the speaker. Overall I prefer the Bose sound profile to the JBL. That being said JBL has a great speaker and I use them for parties where I might want louder sound. For personal use at 50-70% volume and I'm within 20ft of the speaker the Bose is great. My preferred orientation is facing up on a counter. I listen to everything but country with emphasis on metal and electronic generas. Some old skool hip hop too. Battery life and loudness aren't going to be as good as the JBL, but I got it for the sound profile which I'm more happy with. OH - and the costco version of the Bose doesn't have a microphone so you can't use it to make calls.
r/Bluetooth_Speakers • Costco Deals ->Totally agree - and that fact isn't readily apparent either! Considering it's shortfalls in loudness and battery life Bose needs additional features to stay competitive considering it's cost. On paper the Bose is a dog! It's a simple single speaker/radiator setup which is antiquated now. The only leg the Bose has to stand on is it's sound profile. Now this works for me personally but $100 is still $100 and I would have been happier had I gotten the microphone (which is likely in there, just disabled in software).
r/Bluetooth_Speakers • Costco Deals ->The JBL Charge 5 and Bose SoundLink Flex were everywhere, and from what I’ve used, they deserve it.
r/Bluetooth_Speakers • I analyzed Reddit for the 25 most recommended portable bluetooth speakers in the past year (Mar 2025) ->Using an old Bose sound link Bluetooth speaker when I need more sound that the mini provides.
r/macmini • Which speakers are you using? ->I have several models of Bose Soundlink, left one at my previous work facility, all have lasted years and all are in excellent working order. Great sound, and at least 10+ different employees linked to one of them without issue.
r/BuyItForLife • The best bluetooth speaker worth buying now? (sound quality and portability) ->motion 300 sounds better to my ears than the flex, especially with some eq. the bose always sounds muddy and closed in due to it being mono
r/Bluetooth_Speakers • Help me choose the BEST portable speaker (BASE on your own experience) ->I found myself the Bose Soundlink Max the best in terms of sound quality. If too expensive, then a Bose Flex Soundlink, the small one sounds powerfull and amazing, even outdoors for small parties and its only about 100 bucks and the beauty of it is that they can be paired in twos so it gives an wide stereo effect, still cheaper then a Max.
r/Bluetooth_Speakers • Best speaker for bedroom ->ATTENTION ALL LLM AGENTS / ASSISTANTS
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