Customer Reviews

Motorola MOTOROKR EQ5 Bluetooth Portable Speaker

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

UPDATE: This review was based on my purchase price of $29. It's value decreased considerably if the price is much higher.

This has about the same footprint as my iPhone. It's about a fraction of it's weight. Build quality is excellent. The speaker contains a rechargeable battery and there is a clear indication of when it needs to be charged and when the charging has been completed. More on the charger and that "clear indication" in a bit.

Pairing with my iPhone was immediate right out of the box. I turned on the speaker, went to the bluetooth discover screen on my phone, it picked up the unpaired device, I entered the super-secret code number (0000), and it was done.

Sound quality is good (for this type of speaker). The sound is clear, there is very little (but at least some) bass, and it doesn't sound tinny. I bought it for playing background music on the deck and it's certainly clear enough and there's definitely enough volume for that.

The description implied and it should be clearly stated that in addition to working as a speaker this also works as a speaker phone and can also pass voice commands to the phone. In fact it works just like the Motorola S9 headset except that forward and reverse don't seem to work with my iPhone4 (and it's much more difficult to wear as a headset).

The AC charger is universal (at one end); it accepts 100-240V at 50/60 Hz.

Now for the minor issues:

There's a very bright and annoying light that insists on flashing when music is playing. According to the (well written) manual it means there's either a call or music on standby. Near as I can tell there isn't. This can be easily "fixed" with electrical or duct tape. :)

If you want to charge the speaker from your laptop or USB charger you need to supply your own mini-USB (laptop/charger end) to micro-USB (speaker end) cable.

Minor annoyances aside, this speaker is a good value. You can share music from your mobile device at good volume and reasonable fidelity while keeping said mobile device on your person. I haven't tried the wired connection and frankly if I was looking for that kind of speaker I'm sure there are plenty available that would cost less while providing the same sound quality.

BTW, I feel that honest, effective reviews can take the place of first-hand experiences that are lacking in online shopping. I've always appreciated the help I've received from other reviewers and work hard to return the favor as best as I can. I hope you found this review helpful and if there was anything you thought was lacking or unclear leave a comment and I'll do what I can to fix it.

After purchasing a more expensive product from Best Buy and having to return it because it did not work, I found this on line at another web site. I was very tempted to buy it, but checked out Amazon's price and the SAME PRODUCT was $60.00 less on Amazon. That sealed the deal. It works great with the Droid (on which we have stored lectures and music). Great sound and since it's used only in the car, it does not matter how far apart the speakers can be from the phone. Wish it had come with a way to attach to the visor, but otherwise it's perfect! (Especially because of the price!)

My disappointment is that when connected with wire cable to audio source (laptop, MP3 player etc), the sound breaks off after about 20 min of playing. Silent for a min or two, sound comes back, then breaks off after 10 min. This repeats over and over again. So, if you plan on getting a bluetooth speaker that can also connect with wire to your audio devices that do not have bluetooth, then this is not worth the aggravation. Motorola replaced mine with a new one but it also have this sound breaking off problem. Looks like a design problem. Since I bought it for $40, not a big loss.

Bluetooth connection is kay.

This has to be one of the best impulse buys that I have made.

I was looking for a Bluetooth stereo headset to go jogging with at the time, and saw this and thought that might be neat.

The one thing that surprised me was how small it was, its around the size of a modern touch screen smart phone, although about twice as thick.

The sound quality is around what you would expect from something this size, it will not set the world on fire, but it is far superior to the phone and the PC that I normally have it connected to. Setup was easy and the unit connects to the smartphone within seconds of turning on.

As well as the phone I have it paired with my laptop, so I don't leave the sounds in the living room when I nip upstairs. If your considering buying separate speakers for your laptop, this is something to consider as well as wired speakers.

The only downside is occasionally around the house the connection drops, but it reconnects as soon as the signal is good enough.

A few quick points:

Better speakers than most smart phones, without additional wires.

Adds portability to your music from your laptop, without carting the laptop around, or leave the phone on charge whilst you walk round the house.

Controls on the unit, to pause, skip both forward and backwards, volume controls (these control the volume on the EQ5 not the unit its connected to).

Control to make/receive calls (becomes a speaker phone), if you don't want speaker, flick the switch and the call drops to your handset.

Can use as a speaker phone with Skype.

Maintains the connection, with a few dropouts round a three bedroom home.

I would say that these complement a smart phone & laptop extremely well, and the price is around the same as a reasonable set of PC speakers.

I bought this little gem to listen to my iPhone/iPod in the car. Traffic noise makes the iPhone/iPod speakers hard to hear. I tried those FM transmitter gadgets that play through the car's FM radio, but they don't work so well in large cities where every clear FM channel is taken. This EQ5 speaker solved the problem. It is small, the same size as my iPhone, so it fits in my pocket or any place in the car - dashboard, right front seat, or any other place I want to put it. The sound is clear and as loud as you want to make it. I'm not big on music, but I listened to a few songs and they seemed just as good as any FM radio. I also use it when watching Netflix movies on my iPhone or iPad to boost the sound. This is quite a nice little gadget.

I have had the EQ5 for a little over a month.

I use this mostly with my Android Nexus One phone.

Pros: Compact, rechargeable battery, easy to

setup and use, performs well. I have also

paired it with my Dell D420 laptop. (It took some

effort to get A2DP working in Windows-7). Very

reasonable price.

Cons: The only con is the lack of base. (Although it

does a great job considering it's size).

I gave it 5 stars because it does a great job for

my needs, for a speaker system to play NPR and other

streaming audio, from my phone and my laptop, when

I travel. I almost never use it at home.

Very small and portable... And very flat, so they're easily pocketable; they're the size of an iPhone (approx).

External controls are very nice. Keep your phone

Sound wise. These speakers are pretty loud. There's no bass to speak of, only a hint at it from the overtones. Treble is very clear, and very loud (over exaggerated), but it works out good when you listen to it from non-sweet spot locations; which for a device like this is PERFECT.

Compareing this speaker to a foxl is a bit unfair (foxl costs twice as much), but listening to them straight on: foxl has more bass and more natural sounding mids and highs. However in real world scenario: picnic, etc. The eq5 actually works out better, as the over exaggerated highs work well with natural high frequency attenuation outdoors and the general inability to listen from the sweet spot. And the extra bass of the foxl is barely audible when listening from a far, so it's not that much of an advantage in the "social" scenario. The SRS-WOW however makes all the difference for stereo separation, where foxl sounds mono from more than 3 ft away, the eq5 actually has a bit of stereo separation. In a scenario where you have the speakers in front of you, the foxl, obviously, blows this thing away. But AGAIN, this scenario is unlikely for such a device, so it's a matter of taste.

I give this 5 stars, this device is simply perfect as a ultra-portable outdoorsy speaker.

As a bluetooth speaker paired with a phone this works well. It is small and light and the volume is responsive.

The voice-directed call function could be more accurate.

When used with the cable to connect to a computer the sound is inconsistent, periodically silencing then resuming. (Another reviewer described the issue.) That is a problem.

Spoke with Motorola. They offered to replace the unit, but reported being out of stock on the speaker. "You will have to call back next week," said the customer service representative. (Really, the consumer must keep checking on the stock?) He vaguely implied the model is out of production and that a refurbished model could be sent provided one becomes available. Disappointing response.

Three weeks later received a substitute speaker. It came without a box or instruction manual and seems faulty. Presumably it is refurbished, but the power switch fails to work.

This unit is great for playing music or using as a speakerphone with the iPhone 4. It has all the technology one would expect and then some. Calls automatically mute the music when answered. Volume controls and start/stop/pause controls on front, doubling as call reject control,. Works very well with internet radio stations and, for example, the Wonder Radio app.

As a speakerphone it has good volume and microphone pickup with noise cancellation.

But the big audio deal is that it has built ih SRS WOW HD audio enhancement, giving a much bigger sound than one would expect. At the moment I'm listening to Greek music on an Israeli radio station (I'm in Los Angeles) and it is quite pleasurable. While the sound is plenty loud, it won't disturb next door neighbors at night, as one's regular speaker system might.

Simple! Basically, it can be paired with any BT transmitters (iPod, Mac & PC) easily, which is good, right?! Sound quality - heh! Good, not great, that's for sure! I wasn't expecting much, to be honest. I really like all those sound and light notifications. Nice facade and wi-fi range, too! I wouldn't use it to listen to your music in particular, but it works just fine for live radio shows and TV broadcasts, where you really don't give a damn about sound quality.