The only things that come with the JBL Charge 5 are the speaker itself, a protective sleeve, a charging cable, and some information about the product. When you open a new audio device, it’s nice to see that it already has some battery power, and the Charge 5 lets you start listening to music right away.
When you turn on the speaker for the first time by pressing and holding the power button, it will automatically go into pairing mode. Just choose the Charge 5 from your device’s Bluetooth settings, and you should hear the sound a JBL speaker makes when it’s connected.
[content-egg-block template=offers_logo hide=price]The speaker is nice to look at and hold, and it looks like a football and weighs about the same. Everything is wrapped in a woven fabric cover with smooth silicone edges. The JBL Charge 5 speaker has a nice silicone foot on the bottom that helps it stay in place on flat surfaces.
Even though this Bluetooth speaker says it’s portable, it won’t fit in your pocket. If you want something that will, get the JBL Clip 4. The Charge 5 is surprisingly light, though, so if you can find a place to put it, it won’t weigh you down too much on a hike or trip to the beach. The speaker has its own controls. It doesn’t have a button to skip backward through a track, but you can skip forward by pressing the play button twice.
In terms of tech specs, the Charge 5 has Bluetooth 5.1, a 7500 mAh battery, and a frequency response of 65 Hz to 20k Hz. But like other portable JBL speakers, the Charge 5 has a “PartyBoost” mode that lets you connect a second JBL speaker to boost the sound or use them as a stereo pair. This feature is great if you want to play music in a big room where multiple speakers can help make the sound louder. It’s also nice when a pair of speakers can play music in true stereo.
JBL has a nice mobile app that lets you customize its speakers and download software updates. Firmware updates can take up to 15 minutes, so keep that in mind. The JBL Charge 5, like the Charge 4, is supposed to last for 20 hours of playback, which we were able to do with the volume set to 50%. Expect that number to go down if you turn up the volume on the speaker or use it as a power bank to charge your phone.