Tiny budget speaker with a big impact
Wireless speaker | £60 | whf.cm/Micro2
Our first encounter with budget brand Tribit’s ultra-portable, ultra-affordable Stormbox Micro Bluetooth speaker was a success; it proved you can combine good design and decent sound quality for very little money.
Now Tribit is back with a sequel. The Stormbox Micro 2 builds on everything that made the original a five-star product, while adding features and the promise of improved sound quality.
A design for life
The Tribit Micro’s extremely petite and portable design remains, with the woven texture on top and rubberised bottom half giving you plenty of grip. The volume and multi-function buttons are now more prominent and painted light grey, which stands out against the all-black finish. It is a practical, well made design for indoor and outdoor use, that also looks and feels rather smart.
There are smaller buttons for power and Bluetooth pairing hidden away on the side, with LEDs indicating battery level. The multi-function button plays, pauses and skips songs, while a long press summons voice assistants. The buttons are responsive and it all works smoothly, leaving us to conclude that this is one of the simplest, easiest-to-use products we have tested.
The new speaker is a smidge chunkier than its predecessor, but is still tiny: it is smaller than a burger and fits into the palm of our hand so it’s easy to carry around. If you are the adventurous type or like to wake up to your morning playlist, you can make use of the stretchy rubberised strap at the back that can be attached to a bike or showerhead.
The biggest upgrade on the Micro 2 is with battery life: you now get 12 hours, which is a big jump up from the previous model’s eight. This is on a par with the pricier JBL Flip 6 and Flip 5, and just two hours shy of the UE Wonderboom 3’s 14-hour runtime. The Micro 2 also doubles up as a powerbank, so you can charge your smartphone or wireless earbuds’ case. A USB-C to USB-C cable is provided for charging.
An IP67 waterproof and dustproof rating means the Micro 2 can survive splashes and dunks in water (but it doesn’t float). It certainly feels rugged and durable; we had it playing near the kitchen sink, by the bath and in a rain-splattered garden and found no water ingress troubling the sound or operation.
Pairing with our iPhone 12 was seamless and stable. And on the subject of hook-ups, you can also pair two Micro 2 units together for bigger, stereo sound.
The Tribit app has some neat touches too; it displays the battery level and offers
