UE Boom bluetooth speaker $149.99

I have the Mega Boom 1. Sometimes I don't use the speaker for a month. When you power it off, it goes into standby. After a month the speaker battery is dead as it drains continually while in standby. You basically have to keep it plugged in and permanently charging if you don't use it.

They used to have a feature where you can turn OFF the speaker instead of standby. But for some reason they REMOVED the feature from the app. Not sure why.

There is no workaround. I unpaired the speaker and factory reset it and it still drains.

Based on this I wouldn't buy another one of their products.

warpdrive wrote: ↑ I have the Mega Boom 1. Sometimes I don't use the speaker for a month. When you power it off, it goes into standby. After a month the speaker battery is dead as it drains continually while in standby. You basically have to keep it plugged in and permanently charging if you don't use it.

They used to have a feature where you can turn OFF the speaker instead of standby. But for some reason they REMOVED the feature from the app. Not sure why.

There is no workaround. I unpaired the speaker and factory reset it and it still drains.

Based on this I wouldn't buy another one of their products.

That's weird. I also have a mega boom and never have this problem. I use it fairly infrequently at the moment, mostly for pairing with my laptop, so probably only a couple of hours a week. With my limited usage it lasts for months on a full charge. Bought it around 2018.

Have several of these boom and megaboom speakers (older generations).
They are absolutely inferior products to almost anything in their price range (even after discount) - maybe except the even more price inflated BOSE - starting with harsh sound quality.
W-King speaker I bought for $48 in one of the previous deals just blows up any boom speaker I have used.

Better to get a refurbed megaboom 3 off ebay for 100 bucks.

warpdrive wrote: ↑ I have the Mega Boom 1. Sometimes I don't use the speaker for a month. When you power it off, it goes into standby. After a month the speaker battery is dead as it drains continually while in standby. You basically have to keep it plugged in and permanently charging if you don't use it.

They used to have a feature where you can turn OFF the speaker instead of standby. But for some reason they REMOVED the feature from the app. Not sure why.

There is no workaround. I unpaired the speaker and factory reset it and it still drains.

Based on this I wouldn't buy another one of their products.

I've had a Boom for years and this is by far my biggest annoyance with this product - which makes it almost unusable. I thought I was the only one!
To have it in the garage, or for camping or something - EVERY SINGLE TIME I would go to use it, the battery would be completely dead. I always end up using a cheap 10ish year old aukey soundtank speaker, which doesn't sound quite as good, but is there EVERY time I need it. I've let it sit outside over the winter and it was still ready to go when I need it.

My UE Boom? I leave it in a controlled environment for a week or two and its dead.

Most frustrating "nice" product I've ever purchased I think. Highly recommend AGAINST buying it, unless you plan on using it every single day.

The worst part is that this is the type of issue that you don't realize is an ongoing thing until the return period is over.

BrennanN63260 wrote: ↑ That's weird. I also have a mega boom and never have this problem. I use it fairly infrequently at the moment, mostly for pairing with my laptop, so probably only a couple of hours a week. With my limited usage it lasts for months on a full charge. Bought it around 2018.

Not sure why you don't see the issue, but I'm definitely not the only one. Have seen other people comment on this on reddit and other sites.

The issue is that the speaker only goes into standby and thus you can still use the app to power it on and off. There is no true "power off" mode anymore. This is the iOS app. Somebody said they got around the issue by installing the old apk.

Can confirm my megaboom battery is always dead when I turn it back on. The battery also appears to have severely degraded as it barely holds a charge. Purchased since 2018.

What are comparable speakers in terms of sound quality?

BrennanN63260 wrote: ↑ That's weird. I also have a mega boom and never have this problem. I use it fairly infrequently at the moment, mostly for pairing with my laptop, so probably only a couple of hours a week. With my limited usage it lasts for months on a full charge. Bought it around 2018.

that's likely because you have the old firmware. don't update!

warpdrive wrote: ↑ I have the Mega Boom 1. Sometimes I don't use the speaker for a month. When you power it off, it goes into standby. After a month the speaker battery is dead as it drains continually while in standby. You basically have to keep it plugged in and permanently charging if you don't use it.

They used to have a feature where you can turn OFF the speaker instead of standby. But for some reason they REMOVED the feature from the app. Not sure why.

There is no workaround. I unpaired the speaker and factory reset it and it still drains.

Based on this I wouldn't buy another one of their products.

This issue made the product almost unusable. Extremely frustrating.

I ended up selling mine.

warpdrive wrote: ↑ I have the Mega Boom 1. Sometimes I don't use the speaker for a month. When you power it off, it goes into standby. After a month the speaker battery is dead as it drains continually while in standby. You basically have to keep it plugged in and permanently charging if you don't use it.

They used to have a feature where you can turn OFF the speaker instead of standby. But for some reason they REMOVED the feature from the app. Not sure why.

There is no workaround. I unpaired the speaker and factory reset it and it still drains.

Based on this I wouldn't buy another one of their products.

I can also say I've never had your issue. Do you update firmware? It's been the best pair of speakers for my patio I could imagine. Left it outside for a week and it had hoped charge left.

shnukms wrote: ↑ that's likely because you have the old firmware. don't update!

Nope. Mine is kept up to date and works flawlessly now. Originally had a battery issue where it strained quickly and troubleshooting didn't help so they simply sent me another. Now have two working great.

Flix3r wrote: ↑Can confirm my megaboom battery is always dead when I turn it back on. The battery also appears to have severely degraded as it barely holds a charge. Purchased since 2018.

What are comparable speakers in terms of sound quality?

https://www.amazon.ca/Soundcore-Bluetoo ... ljaz10cnVl

It sounds way better than my UE boom 2 that I got rid of

aidendanger wrote: ↑ Nope. Mine is kept up to date and works flawlessly now. Originally had a battery issue where it strained quickly and troubleshooting didn't help so they simply sent me another. Now have two working great.

so you had the phantom drain and they sent you another?

I bought mine before they updated the app. By the time the phantom drain issue occurred after the update, I was already out of warranty. So out of luck. I contacted them and they said was it was as designed.

IHavocI wrote: ↑ This issue made the product almost unusable. Extremely frustrating.

I ended up selling mine.

Yup, it's a POS now. UE used to be a good company before Logitech bought them out. Never again

This or the JBL Charge 5 for 189.99?

warpdrive wrote: ↑ so you had the phantom drain and they sent you another?

I bought mine before they updated the app. By the time the phantom drain issue occurred after the update, I was already out of warranty. So out of luck. I contacted them and they said was it was as designed.

Yeah I actually bought it from a guy being deployed to Afghanistan and it was in warranty for 2 more months. The hard reset actually cured the battery drain or a firmware update did. Not sure which but it went from a measly 3 hours max to about 7 now. I just checked the app and it's at 30 percent and I've used it since the weekend a lot out back. But not since.

I had a Boom 2 for a year or so that I bought in 2017 or 2018 new for under $70. It was good for the price, but I upgraded to a JBL Extreme 2 and zero regrets. Perhaps there is a significant difference between the Boom 2 and 3 but $150 for the speaker that I had seems very over-priced. I guess if all comparable speakers have gone up in price by a lot since then, it would be proportionally fair, but more than double the price in 4-5 years doesn't seem likely.

Edit: someone just posted a refurbished JBL extreme 2 for $119. I would definitely choose that over the boom 3 - but again just to be clear, I have only had the boom 2.

ebay-canada-jbl-xtreme-2-bluetooth-spea ... 9-2544266/

Boom and MegaBoom have the feature where you can pair many of them together for a pretty sweet surround setup. Overall really like the ruggedness and sound quality on these. But I did notice more recently they added a feature to turn the speaker on from the app, meaning it’s never really off because it has to always listen for the on signal over Bluetooth.

I use mine frequently enough and charge it often so I don’t find it to be a problem at all.

warpdrive wrote: ↑ I have the Mega Boom 1. Sometimes I don't use the speaker for a month. When you power it off, it goes into standby. After a month the speaker battery is dead as it drains continually while in standby. You basically have to keep it plugged in and permanently charging if you don't use it.

They used to have a feature where you can turn OFF the speaker instead of standby. But for some reason they REMOVED the feature from the app. Not sure why.

There is no workaround. I unpaired the speaker and factory reset it and it still drains.

Based on this I wouldn't buy another one of their products.

Uninstall the current app, install the depreciated (unlisted) app and disable remote power in settings. No more battery drain. I've got the megaboom and it's still a decent speaker with decent battery life after several years.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... uemegaboom