EcoXGear makes portable Bluetooth speakers that are impervious to the challenges of the great outdoors. While plenty of competitors offer
splash-proof models, the EcoSlate is fully waterproof, submersible, and it even floats. From an audio standpoint, the $149.99 speaker delivers decent low end for its size, and solid clarity in the high-mids and highs. If you're looking for deep bass thunder, this isn't the speaker for you. But the EcoSlate's tough build, and features like standard mounts and a built-in flashlight, make it a great choice in the outdoor-friendly category.
Design
The EcoSlate ($129.00 at Amazon) is available in black, electric blue, gray, mint green, or orange, and like many EcoXGear products, it feels like it can withstand the apocalypse. Its IP68 rating means that it is completely protected from dust, and can be submerged for long periods of time without issue—but it floats, making it a perfect speaker for the pool.
Measuring 5.5 by 8.8 by 2.3 inches (HWD) and weighing in at 1.8 pounds, the rectangular speaker has rubberized corners that serve as stabilizing feet whether the speaker is sitting upright or flat. When it's sitting flat, the speaker grille is oriented upward, and behind the metallic perforations, dual 10-watt drivers deliver audio with the help of two passive woofers on the back panel. The bottom panel houses a standard tripod mount, as does the righthand panel—though this mount ships with a carabiner screwed into place. The opposing side panel houses an LED flashlight with three levels of intensity. As we mentioned, EcoXGear doesn't mess around.
Before we discuss the control panel running along the the top of the EcoSlate, it's worth noting that you'll have a hard time powering it up if you don't first open the watertight, twist-shut covered connection panel on the back of the speaker and flip the master power switch on. In addition to the power switch, the panel houses a USB output (for charging mobile devices using the EcoSlate's battery), a micro USB port for the included power adapter (which has a removable USB cable that can be used with either port), and a 3.5mm aux input (no audio cable is included for this connection, however).
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The controls across the the top, from left to right, are: Power, Bluetooth, EcoConnect (for linking two units as a stereo pair), Volume Down/Up (this works in conjunction with your mobile device's master volume levels), Track Backward/Forward, a multifunction button for playback and call management, and Flashlight. These rubberized controls are backlit when the speaker is powered up, and there are also status LEDs for Battery Life, Power, Bluetooth, and EcoConnect.
The internal mic offers very solid intelligibility for a portable Bluetooth speaker. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 6s, we were able to understand every word recorded, without any really noticeable audio artifacts.
EcoXGear estimates the EcoSlate's battery life to be roughly 12 hours, but your results will vary with your volume levels and your mix of wireless and wired audio playback. The speaker takes about three hours to fully charge.
Performance
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like the Knife's "Silent Shout," the EcoSlate delivers a palpable thump. The speaker isn't large enough to push out true sub-bass thunder, but it does a good job of delivering some lows and implying the rest. At top volumes, the drum hits sound like they're pushing the EcoSlate's passive woofers and the enclosure to the limit—things don't distort, but the vibrations are strong enough that it almost sounds like there's distortion. At slightly lower levels the vibrations calm down and the overall balance is solid.
Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the EcoSlate's sound signature. The drums on this track can sound overly thunderous on bass-forward speakers and too flat and thin on less capable models. The EcoSlate falls somewhere happily in the middle—the drums don't sound a full as they could, but they're not reduced to polite tapping, either. Callahan's baritone vocals stand out far more—they get a generous low-mid presence, making them even richer than they already are. Thankfully, there's a solid high-mid presence here, as well, so the balance between lows and highs isn't upset—the guitars and higher register percussive hits stand out just as much as the low-mid presence of the vocals.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop receives plenty of high-mid presence, allowing its attack to stay sharp and slice through the layers of the mix as one of the more prominent forces on the track. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are more implied than delivered—we get some of the lows and low-mids, but perhaps more of their raspy top notes than anything else, and there's not much sub-bass presence here to speak of. But things don't sound thin—the EcoSlate brings a solid low and low-mid presence, so the drum loop gets some thump. The vocals are delivered with a clear high-mid presence that gives them crispness, but doesn't veer into overly sibilant territory.
Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene in John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, get a little added push in the lows and low-mids, bringing out the lower register instrumentation somewhat. But this is a crisper, brighter sound, with the higher register brass, strings, and vocals owning the spotlight.
Conclusions
Sonically, the EcoSlate still delivers solid performance, but there are more compelling Bluetooth speakers in this price range, particularly if you're seeking out powerful deep bass response. Though you won't find much in the mega bass department, the comparably priced Bose SoundLink Revolve and JBL Charge 3 both deliver solid, powerful Bluetooth audio. But when it comes to rugged options, the alternatives are about on par with the EcoSlate, including the (surprise) EcoXGear EcoCarbon and the Nyne Edge. Therefore, at $150, the EcoSlate is a great portable speaker for hikers, bikers, swimmers, and anyone who wants to take their tunes on the go.
The EcoXGear EcoSlate speaker is built like a tank and delivers solid audio, making it a good value for outdoor enthusiasts who want to take their tunes with them.
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