The Altec Lansing Hydrowave speaker is a well madce compact waterproof speaker with very clean sound. It is the largest of this series but can still be carried in one hand. It is also magnetic, so it can be mounted anyplace magnets cn, and if that is not enough, there is a tripod mount on the bottom. It also has a very sturdy built in loop for a strap... so you have options if you want to take it wherever5 you are going. In my opinion this is the best sounding speaker of the series, a big step up from the smaller hydro. It is not, however, very loud by comparison to other speaske4rs I have tried. Loudness is not everything but in this case it does make the speaker less good for outdoor usde. A picnic, sure, but a party would be a stretch. I think it might be a good speaker for a do4rm room or bedroom. The sound is very clean, balanced, free of artifacts.The sound quality is better than the vast majority of midrange speakers. but at this price point it is competing with some heavy hitters. While good, I don't think it competes welll with the "top ten". ThAT IA, t this perice point there are speakers I prefer. It it, however, verry solid, very flaxible, very easy all around, and the sound quality is good. I alsao like, really lik3e, that Altec Lansing has their priorities right, focusing on sound and usage, rather than data collecxtion (and I have had some issues wi5th audiophile companies which have changed priorities, optimizing data collection over usability, flexability, even sound quality. That said, this is an area where Altec Lansing shines. This speaker would also do better than most in a tough environment. Take it camping, climbing, mount it on a bike or off road vehicle. It's a tough little speaker. Altec Lansing calls it "everything-proof".