Ok, so I didn't buy this on Amazon, as I didn't want to wait on the shipping......I know, I'm impatient! I went to the local Big Box store and picked it up. After listening to it for a couple of days, I began to contemplate if I had made the right choice. So, I went to the local Bose store in Boca Raton, FL and asked if I could do a side by side with their units. A store associate gladly accepted my request/challenge, and we went into one of their sound rooms for product demos. He brought with him the Bose Mini and the Soundlink II.

I admit that I lean towards Bose due to my positive history with the company. All things considered, I expected a "blowout" with the Bose coming out on top. WAS I WRONG! First, we put the Boom and the Mini head to head. The Bose Associate controlled both units from his iPod Touch to start. He started with the Mini and switched over to the Boom. Both were played at 50% volume with a very noticeable difference in output. To clarify, the Mini's MAX volume was equivalent to the Boom's less than 75% volume output. In other words, the Boom was MUCH louder than the Mini. The employee was dumbfounded at this. I said ok, lets test the sound quality with a song that I find myself listening to quite often. It is Mothers Wingspan, by Ben Leinbach, which I think covers the sound spectrum pretty well.

We hooked both units to my phone for this test. Testing on the Mini began with a slight popping from the speaker. You could tell it was really straining. It should be noted that the volume on the Mini was set at 50%. The song was switched to the Boom, and the sound was phenomenal. Never did we hear popping from the Boom. However, at 80% volume you could begin to hear distortion, but by this point the volume was at an uncomfortable level (for your ears). Though slight, it was there. It was at this point the Bose employee asked me to turn it off, so he could go get his manager. He said he had to let his manager hear this.

The store manager came in the room and we started back up and switched between both units. Again, the Boom BLEW the Mini away! When I stopped the music, the manager asked me what this "thing" (UE BOOM) was. I told him, and he said that he couldn't believe the sound coming from this thing. Once I gave him the specs and other abilities of the Boom, the only thing he said was, "wow, that is amazing" as he shook his head and walked out the room. By this time, I was feeling pretty happy with my decision. Especially, given the fact that I could buy another one and have twice the sound!

To confirm my decision, I asked if we could put the Boom head to head with the Soundlink II. Again the employee was happy to give it a go. Maybe because I told him that if it was a big difference, I would buy the Soundlink and take the Boom back. So, we hooked them up and played Mothers Wingspan just as we had with the prior test with the Mini. Folks, the Boom did not blow the Soundlink II away. HOWEVER, it did get as loud and as clear as the Soundlink. The only thing the Soundlink did better was the presentation of lows from 0%-50% volume. That being said, it DID NOT present them so well that I would spend an additional $100.00 on the unit. It should be noted that the low's that create a fuller sound for me are what sells a speaker to me. I could not believe the Boom had just comparably performed with the Soundlink II. Neither could the Bose employee! As a matter of fact, he said that this made him want to leave work today and go buy a Boom for himself. In the same sentence, he also said that he wasn't going to tell anybody about the Boom because it would put the Bose Mini out of business! He was just as amazed as I was!

Now factor in above the ability to pair two Booms, water and dust resistant, 15 hour battery, pairing options, and shear sound. All of which, with exception to sound on the Soundlink II, the Bose cannot do. The question of which should I get, is answered! The Boom!!!! The only proof I can give you of my account with the testing as described above is............If you don't believe me, get one and go to a Bose store and do it yourself. I bet you will be surprised with the outcome. Just as the Bose employees will be too! I would absolutely recommend the UE Boom. To put the icing on the cake, with a big fat cherry; The Boom comes with a 2 YEAR warranty, as opposed to Bose's 1 year warranty on their units. I am just amazed at the performance of the Boom! I forgot to mention above; the Booms pairing is super fast! Both the Bose and Boom are fast, but the Boom also outperformed the Bose in this test as well. Get it! I don't think you'll be dissatisfied.

**Warning** This is an overly extensive review. I apologize for my rambling but I wanted to touch on everything.

Ok, so much like many of you may be, I was recently RACKING MY BRAIN over the decision between the two products: UE Boom and Bose Soundlink Mini. I went back and forth, almost day to day, before finally walking into BB and coming home with the UE. First let me me say I am completely unbiased when it comes to brand names. I make my electronic purchases based on my eyes and ears (and in this case - hands), with a small consideration of track record of the company. I say this because through the course of reading countless speaker reviews, it became apparent that there are Bose loyalists, and also Bose haters. So again, I'm unbiased. I consider myself pretty tech savy and I spend a lot of time researching the products I want before buying them. These two were no exception and I hope it will help you guys pull the trigger.....regardless of which one you pick. This is also the first time I've written a review on ANY product, EVER. Thus should reinforce my enthusiasm and happiness with the UE Boom.

I am 28 years old, living in Scottsdale, AZ. I spend a lot of time at my condo complex pool, playing sand volleyball, hiking, playing basketball, basically I live a pretty active lifestyle and all of the aforementioned activities leads me to the first factor that helped me choose the Boom:

PORTABILITY/DURABILITY - I love having expensive gadgets, but i HATE having to baby them or worry about them being broken or damaged. The Bose looked pretty tough, and I'm sure outside of simply dropping it, it would hold up fine. But I knew with the Bose i would be treating it like a rolls royce. Having to worry about where i set it down, how close to the pool it was, making sure it shaded adequately form the sun (aluminum body) if i had it out at the pool etc. So this was an easy PRO in favor of the Boom.

FEATURES - This category also easily was in the favor of the UE, however, most of them were not overly important to me. I probably won't have use for many of them (NFC, speakerphone, even the double up i don't anticipate using). But I like that they are AVAILABLE. And the app is pretty sweet also. Let me be clear here, I didn't chose the Boom BECAUSE it had more "features" than the Bose, they just seemed like a little extra bonus. Moving onto the most important characteristic we care the most about:

SOUND QUALITY - This was initially a tough one for me. After so many reviews online, I couldn't tell if I was being influenced by them when I was in the store testing the two speakers. So here's the simplest way to say it. They both sound GREAT, and regardless of which one you choose, you'll never be like "Damn, I bet theres a better sounding speaker out there." As I'm sure you know the Bose has more bass, but the UE goes noticeably louder and PERSONALLY, I felt the sound was crisper/cleaner coming out of the UE boom when sampling the same song on each. I listen to a lot of hip hop music and was worried about lack of bass might be a negative for me if I went with the UE. But the more i listened to the Bose, I just found myself feeling like the sound just "wasn't right". The UE sounded a bit more "natural" and it still has bass, just not as audible as the Bose. The "360 sound" seemed kinda gimmicky to me, but it does seem to be pretty uniform. In the end, I came to the acceptance that both speakers sounded DIFFERENT, and I picked the one MY ears liked more. I think this is probably the best way to fully decide. Strip away everything else and just be honest to which speaker's sound jumps out to you.

OVERALL - I have had the UE Boom for 3 days now and I could NOT be happier with my decision. I charged it all the way up to 100% first night and then left it playing overnight at 25% volume to test the boasted "15 hour battery". I woke up after 8 hours of sleep and checked the battery, and it was still 80% charged. So that was pretty cool, especially because I'm terrible at remembering to charge my gadgets. The weight is perfect, not too heavy but also not light enough that the wind would even have a chance at blowing it over outside. Music genre wise - I've played every genre in my iTunes repetoire from hip hop, country, alternative, classic rock pop, techno, a few stand up comedy shows and each one truly sounds FANTASTIC. Even the hip hop that I was worried about. The design is about as cool and unique as it gets. The soft mesh feels great in your hands and you can feel totally at ease with tossing it around without a case. As I held it in my hand I just constantly found myself thinking "This thing is SWEET." I got the white/blue despite being worried about the rubber becoming dirty. The Best Buy display model was pretty grimy but they said clorox wipes clean it right up. Magic erasers I'm sure work great if really need be.

Bottom line is that they are both great speakers. Cliche, I know, but its true. I'm not trying to persuade you to get the UE Boom over the Bose. I just wanted to explain why I chose the UE in the thought that there are many of you out there that might be right on the fence like I was. Good luck!