Customer Reviews

Smartak Audio Wireless Waterproof Shower Speaker with Dock Transmitter

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

First of all the display picture is a lot misleading, because they don't show that you will have to connect the iPod / iPhone via the headphone jack and not by docking to the cradle. I was very disappointed when I opened the box and found that. For the price I was paying, I would hope to see a docking mechanism. However, I later felt that I can use with any of my music player as the technology changes quite often, but there are other systems out there which offer both the ways of connecting.

PROS: The speaker system really rocks! The clarity of the sound was quite awesome and couldn't believe myself that it is a wireless system.

CONS: As explained before, missing a dock for iPhone/iPod, Doesn't have a Universal On-Off Switch (one switch rules all) - need to switch off both of them separately. Missing the ability to change tracks.

UPDATES: This item is now a piece of junk after 3 months use and it doesn't work. There is no manufacturer support to call, nor the seller is responding for any request for information.

I got this for my husband and he loves it!!! It works well with his iPhone. After reading another review (which said it eats batteries), I decided to buy rechargeable batteries. However we actually have not changed the batteries since Christmas and it is used almost every day. So we have not had a problem at all with it eating batteries.

Edit: This shower speaker is still going strong after 10 months. After a great deal of use from my three roommates and myself, the batteries finally died (took about 6 months). When the batteries got low, sound quality got bad, cutting in and out of the music a little. Changing the batteries fixed the problem completely. The speaker has also survived a drop in the shower when we tried to hang it on a hook that wasn't strong enough to hold it up. Durable and well worth the money!

My boyfriend got this for me for my birthday. I wasn't really sure what to expect--I wanted something along these lines, but I wasn't sure how well it was going to work. It has exceeded all my expectations--the sound quality is actually decent for a speaker that hangs in your shower and receives a transmission through a radio(?) signal. I have used it in my house and in my dorm room (where cell phone signals and radio signals don't come through) and I can still get a great signal in the bathroom. The speaker stays in my bathroom all the time and water doesn't seem to faze it at all (although I wouldn't suggest dunking it or anything). I really like knowing my iPod is safe and sound while still enjoying my tunes in the shower! I haven't tried taking the speaker outside yet, but I'm sure it will do fine when I do.

Set-up takes less than five minutes. Take it out of the box, pop batteries in, plug in the mp3 player, and hang up the speaker. Done. The speaker has its own volume control, which is really nice, but unfortunately it does not have any song-changing function. I just set it up with a playlist of a few songs I know I want to hear--problem solved. The dock works wonderfully with my iPod classic and MacBook, using the same hookup as a set of headphones. The one thing that I really wish it had was a charger, but I suppose that's not practical if they're aiming to make it universal to all mp3 players. Other reviews complain about the short battery life of the speaker, but I haven't had a problem with it. All in all, I'm really happy with the product and I would definitely recommend it!

1) Set up is so easy. Can literally be all done in 10 seconds. Usually when I see an electronic item has more than 2 pieces my eyes roll. Because I'm just that lazy when it comes to reading directions & putting things together. But to my surprise this was easy as one 2 three. Among the world of electronics it's so nice to have something simple that just works as it's supposed to rather than offering a slew of gadgets that only make operation complicated.

2) I was hesitant to buy this because my previous shower radio couldn't get loud enough to be heard clearly with the noise of the shower and all. No problem here. I do find that I need to have the volume on my mp3 player all the way up though. The speaker has volume control, but if you have the volume on your mini-player way down, the highest volume you can get your speaker to go up won't be as loud. To get a good volume I have to put the volume on my mini player all the way to the max, but that's fine with me.

3) I have the base literally THREE rooms away from the speaker in the bathroom with 2 walls seperating it from the bathroom and reception is still crystal clear!

4) You don't need an ipod to use it. I had an ipod once. I didn't see the big deal and still don't. You have to replace them every couple of years because the battery is not replaceable and if you use itunes you have to spend $1000 if you want to have $1000 songs on your player. I like using rhapsody- $12.00 per month for unlimited songs and unlimited plays. So I can have 10,000 songs on my player for $12 bucks. I think apple is finally starting to let rhapsody be used with their ipods finally... but at this point I'm happier with my sansa clip than I ever was with my greedy Ipod anyway.

5) Very often non-ipod users are so excited to have found a product to work with their player that they give it 5 stars without warrent so I really wasn't expecting much when I finally caved in, but it turned out to be more than I expected. The only minus I see is that it needs a whopping 6 AA batteries to work (the speaker), so make sure you always have spares around.

6) Thanks to this I have made the most of my time in the shower and can easily listen to my italian language learning tracks while there instead of having to allot extra time later. Even though I don't stay in the shower long enough to play much of the tracks, it's amazing how much a few minutes a day can add up.

UPDATE (April 2011): This has proven to be a good purchase for me as the product is still going strong. I no longer use my mini player with it and now have it hooked up to my computer instead. Originally I did this so I could hear skype calls coming in through the speaker while in the shower when I was waiting for important calls that I was willing to jump out of the shower for. But then I realized I could also listen to music or tv shows straight from my computer this way and the songs I have on my mini players are already on my computer anyway. I have a jack splitter on my computer so one goes to my computer speaker and the other goes to this shower speaker. So I just hit play on the songs or tv shows I have on my computer and I can listen to them while in the bathroom. So not only do you not need an ipod, but you don't even need an mp3 player to use this. I think you could probably hook it up to anything with a jack including boom boxes and cd players. A really versatile speaker.

I have gone through two of these, and each time within about 5 to 6 uses, the speaker starts to crackle and pop and become unusable. They must have some bad connections or cheap speaker parts inside. I paid about $80, and feel very ripped off, but I did not return it the second time, as I was out of town and waited too long, and missed the return window.

Do not waste our money, the concept is great, but the execution is badly done by this company.

I thought this product was a little bit pricey, and even though it was exactly what I've been looking for, I was hesitant to buy it based on the other reviews. I've had it for 3 months now and have had no technical problems with it. It's very handy and easy to carry around with you as you're doing your morning routine. I also like to carry the speaker with me to the kitchen to listen to when I do the dishes. It transmits perfectly throughout most of my house, even when the dock is all the way back in the bathroom. I bought rechargeable batteries, but even so I've only had to change them once. So that may be the solution for all those complaining about how it eats through batteries.

I use it mostly to listen to audio books while I'm in the shower, so I'm going to review it for that purpose. My main complaint is that I wasn't able to turn it up loud enough to clearly understand the speaker's voice. It was more like a background conversation that you can only catch bits and pieces of. That's acceptable volume for music, but not for an audiobook. But I found a handy (and free!) solution to that.. it's a piece of freeware called mp3 gain, which you can get from download.com . It'll boost the volume of the mp3s so that it's plenty loud enough even over the din of the shower. I'm sure there are other free programs that'll do that for other file formats. I have been using this device to listen to the Bible on audio, and have gotten all the way through the Bible in just 2 months. It's a great way to sneak in that reading you want to do but don't have the time for. And this is a great product to support that.

This device is TERRIBLE. We have tried to use is at two different locations in two different towns and find that reception and play quality is terrible. It does a horrible job tuning to the base unit and the audio quality of play at most any volume is simply horrific. It was a Christmas present that when opened was truly desired but when used was truly disappointing.
I could not recommend this to any one. Mine is being returned.

I read the reviews before purchasing shower speaker and people that gave this product a low rating said...
1. Battery life on shower speaker was not good
-----I found battery life is normal
2. Shower speaker did not have the capability of changing songs on your ipod.
-----I don't have a need to change songs on my ipod, and if you do have a need to change then just delete that song and you wont have that problem. So, I put my ipod on shuffle and shower speaker works great.

I really enjoy this device and recommend it. This device dose not have all the bells and whistles but it works if you want to listen to your music remotely.

overall a pretty good shower speaker. i use this just about every day. the best thing about this is that it can work with any playing device with a headphone jack.

the features:
-Bass Boost: its pretty good, does a great job of bumping up those songs that you love to dance and sing to in the shower. though at times is deffinitely not needed.

-Wireless technology: pretty good, can be used from 2 rooms away. at times it has some static but i believe thats from the batteries. i've yet to experience any type of interference.

-sound quality: ok. has trouble playing some songs, expecially experienced during some techno or electronic songs. though i've never experienced this with a rock song or a Jazz song. its pretty loud but i'd suggest turning your device that it is plugged into on the loudest level so you dont have to continue to turn up the speaker while in the shower.

-battery life: poor if not horrible, i use rechargeable batteries because i heard that this eats batteries, and they were right. i have to recharge my batteries atleast once a week with frequent use. i don't use batteries in the transmitter/dock so i can't speak on that matter, but for the speaker itself, you would obviously use batteries if you want it as a shower speaker. it takes 6 AA batteries and it eats them up like candy.

--- overall its been pretty good so far. i use my computer to play playlists i make for how im feeling when i wake up and so far, its been great. i hang it on my shower curtain and it helps me hear it better so that way i dont sing too loud and annoy my parents or sister. haha overal, great purchase, well worth the money, but i'd suggest investing in rechargeable batteries and a recharger if you want it to last.

A great idea that seemed to solve a real problem. Unfortunately, after functioning well, it just stopped working after 2 weeks :( I would love to be able to recommend this but I just can't.