Turn me on if you can (Altec Lansing Orbit-MP3)

Member Name: davomrmac

Product:	Altec Lansing Orbit-MP3
Date:	14/10/09 (42 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good sound quality

Disadvantages: Poor battery life and bad on/off switch design

In my quest for a portable speaker, I picked up one of these and an XMI Mini II speaker (see my other review)... they are both very similar products.

The idea behind the orbit is very similar to the XMI Mini II, to provide portable sound to carry with you whilst out and about, or perhaps to travel light on holiday. The Orbit is quite large, about 90mm across, even though it only houses a 40mm speaker unit. The 3.5mm headphone jack has a cable that is just over 20cm long (so longer than the Mini II) and it neatly stores in a groove in the side of the speaker unit. This does not have rechargeable batteries though, instead it uses three AAA cells. This has one positive, if it runs out you can pop in some more and continue listening. A double negative though... it makes the unit heavy and also in my use they last about 4 hours and then run out of juice.

You turn the unit on by rotating the whole top section of the unit. This was a nice idea, but it does prove quite hard to turn. After just two months it is so stiff to turn the speaker on, that it is a real chore rather than a pleasure.

Sound is good though. A very full bodied sound. Nice bass tones, nice detail. It also delivers a very large sound, so can easily fill a small room, sounding a lot bigger than its tiny size.

If you can live with the dodgy on/off control and less than average battery life, then it is a good contender in the mini speaker market. If it were my money, I would buy the XMI Mini II.

Summary: If it were my money, I would buy the XMI Mini II

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