The new Braven BRV-1 speaker is designed to be to speakers what armored military vehicles are to trucks. An acronym for "Battle Ready Vehicle," the BRV-1 is equipped for all kinds of adventures.
Like previous Braven models, the BRV-1 is a lightweight, portable Bluetooth speaker designed to wail out tunes anywhere you want. Braven puts an emphasis on the "anywhere" with its newest model, equipping it with a rubberized, shock-absorbent case and IXP5 water-resistance rating. The company is so confident about the speaker's ability to hold up to water, a rep at the recent Outdoor Retailer trade show dumped water into the grille repeatedly so that the thumping bass could geyser it back out.
Braven introduced the 6-watt BRV-1 at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month, but its presence at Outdoor Retailer gave insight into where its mind is at. The BRV-1 is built for action sports junkies, water sports hounds and other outdoor enthusiasts. If there's any doubt who it sees as a BRV-1 consumer, the company puts it to rest: "The BRV-1 gives action sports and outdoor enthusiasts 12 hours of music they can bring into the backcountry, rock faces, skate parks, virgin powder downhills, rafting rapids, or even the beach."
With its built-in noise-canceling microphone, the rechargeable Bluetooth speaker also doubles as a speakerphone. A USB charger lets you juice up your phone and gadgets in the field. The speaker includes a line input for non-Bluetooth music sources and a simple set of volume, battery-check and playback controls. It measures 4.75 x 3.25 x 2.25 inches (12.7 x 8.3 x 5.7 cm) and weighs 12.2 ounces (346 g).
The BRV-1 is available for pre-order now, and deliveries will begin on February 15. It retails for US$180.
Source: Braven