Sound and battery: 20 portable Bluetooth speakers

Stellé Audio Go-Go

The only speaker on test which comes with a handle bar mount, the Stellé Audio Pillar also has a hanging strap, and a footpad which points the speaker up and outwards. The gold and white colour scheme won't be to everyone's taste, but the water-resistant rubberised case provides a degree of protection from bumps and knocks.

There are plenty of features too: speakerphone, aux input with cable included, voice prompts to help you pair the speaker and eight hours battery life. Output from the Go-Go was surprisingly loud.

You're never going to get much in the way of bass from a speaker like this, but mid and treble frequencies were handled well. If listening to music while you cycle or push a pushchair around town is what you want to do, this is the speaker for you.

TDK Trek MAX

The TDK Trek MAX is a chunky beast of a speaker and is surprisingly heavy for its size. No doubt that's because sitting between the two speaker drivers is a sub-woofer, whose presence was very evident in rock music tests.

Features-wise, the Trek MAX ticks most boxes, with both NFC support and speakerphone. It also has auxiliary input and a USB-A port from which you can charge your smartphone. Battery life, however, is a very average eight hours. IP64 certification means it's protected against water and dust; you won't want to dunk it in a swimming pool, but it will survive a trip to the beach quite happily.

Output was as beefy as the speaker itself. It captured all the driving excitement of Highway to Hell, but also the warmth of the cellos in Holst's Jupiter. The price, and there's always one, for the low frequency performance, was a little less detail in acoustic strings.

Nevertheless, the Trek MAX offers an excellent combination of outdoorsy robustness and excellent audio performance. It's a step up from the Braven, if your budget can stretch to it.