The LifeNSoul BM101 is an ultraportable Bluetooth speaker that vaguely resembles one of those personal motorized fans people use at picnics and baseball games. For such a tiny and inexpensive speaker, the $24.99 BM101 actually pushes out a respectable amount of sound (though anyone seeking stereo channels or any semblance of bass is going to need to spend more money). The BM101 serves three primary functions: It's very affordable, it's very portable, and, most importantly, it's water-resistant. While it's not flawless—the design would be more useful if it featured a clip or a suction cup for in-shower use—it's hard to complain about a speaker this size and price that can hang out poolside. If you want to spend a little more for a bit more power, our Editors' Choice Panasonic SC-NT10 is a good option.

Design

Available in black, white, pink, purple, or blue, the BM101 is barrel-shaped and pocket-sized. It sits upright, projecting sound upward through its single, one-inch driver. The driver itself is positioned behind a sort-of grille that looks a little bit like fan blades or a jet engine. Its entire body seems to vibrate with audio to help create a slightly greater sense of bass on certain tracks, but this is obviously not a big-sounding speaker.

There are three buttons on the BM101: a Play/Pause button that doubles as Power/Pairing, and two Track Forward/Backward buttons that double as Volume Up/Down when they are held down.

A rubber, water-resistant lanyard snaps on and off of the BM101 with ease, making it ease to wear around your wrist or fasten to a bike handle. That said, we've seen more functional designs for water-resistant speakers that incorporate hooks or suction cups for shower use. None, however, are as inexpensive as the BM101, so it's hardly a major criticism.

The BM101 ships with a micro USB charging cable; the connection on the speaker is protected with a snap-shut cover. LifeNSoul estimates battery life to be a modest three hours on a full charge, but your results will vary based on how loud you play your tunes.

In our tests, the pairing process with an iPhone 5s was quick and simple. The status LEDs blink when paired, which can be annoying after a while; they flash behind the track navigation buttons and seemingly light up the entire device.

As for water-resistance, this is definitely a speaker that can get wet and still offer solid playback. It's more of a poolside, tub-side, or in-shower option than a speaker you can submerge regularly, but it will survive a brief dunking and keep playing when you fish it out.

Some tracks made the BM101 dance across our desktop during water-free testing; it almost looks like a little robot dancing to the beat when the vibrations are strong enough.

Performance and Conclusions

It's no surprise that the BM101 distorts on tracks with really deep bass like The Knife's "Silent Shout," but dialing back the volume a bit can rein things in. On tracks with less intense low-end, like Bill Callahan's "Drover," the vocals and guitar-strumming are crisp and clear, and the bass and drums are delivered with enough low-mid presence so that things sound closer to full than thin. 

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On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop is delivered with enough thump to create a palpable idea of bass (without actually delivering the lows), while the vocals remain clear and crisp; there's no distortion on this track, either. Bass fiends will need to spend more money, but if you're just looking for a very affordable way to take your music on the go, the BM101 is a solid option.

For those who need bigger bass, the more expensive Freshetech Splash Shower Tunes and the Boom Movement Swimmer are slightly larger, somewhat fuller-sounding water-resistant speakers with more shower-friendly designs than the BM101. We also like the Altec Lansing Bluetooth Shower Wireless Speaker (IMW395), and the Panasonic SC-NT10 remains our Editors' Choice, but for $25, it's hard to take issue with the relatively powerful, portable, water-resistant BM101.