TL;DR: Winner, Best Value, Best sound, Best Portable/Sound, Apps/Updates, more
Spring is finally here and it is time to bring our music and speakerphones outside. There's no better way than to enjoy sound outside than a portable bluetooth speaker. But as Jordan noted to me during our CES coverage, there must be 100,000 Bluetooth speakers to choose from including a growing horde of no name brands OEM'ed from fly-by-night Chinese companies.
We're here to help you pick the right speaker with the right features on the right budget.
Rather than taking you through all the intricacies of our testing (we tried recording sample audio with the Blue Sparq Mic above but YouTube distorted the audio) let's just skip to the best part.
The Winner: Logitech's UE Mini Boombox. 
For the best all around sound/price/features/form factor, we're going (again, again and again) with Logitech's Ultimate Ears Mini Boombox (Starting at $87 at Amazon). It balances incredible-for-its-size sound – and mic – with incredible, nearly 10 hour battery-life, small jacket pocket size, huge easy-to-use buttons, great build quality and and good looks in many colors.
The sound is so full that I can easily use it on a desktop and almost forget I'm not using my $200 Audyssey Lower East Side speakers. Or pop it in a rental car and don't worry about getting your iPhone to work with a new car's stereo. Speakerphone calls rival a conference room Polycom that costs 10x the price. This hits most of the sweet spots and I believe that a majority of people will find this the best option. But what if your budget isn't up for a $100 speaker?
Best ultra-portable/on a budget: $49.99 Bluetune Portable Bluetooth Speaker/Mic combo or $29.99 for just the Bluetooth speaker. 
There's a reason Amazon reviewers are going nuts over this thing. The Bluetune sounds almost as good as the much bigger Jawbone Jambox and is half the size. The cylindrical shape speaker/mic is about half the volume and weight of a can of soda. I got about 6 hours of speaker time out of this one including a few conference calls. Neither the mic nor the Bluetooth range is as good as Logitech's above but for the $29-$49 price, you have to manage your expectations. A big bonus is that it fits in cup-holders and still sounds good.
There are hundreds of similar small cylindrical speakers out there. None come close to this one. A bonus is that you can plug aux speakers or headphones into this to make them wireless as well, something Logitech doesn't offer above but our 'price not an object' winner below does offer…
Best Sound/Portability at any price: Beats Pill ($155^). 
If money isn't a big concern but sound and portability are, the Beats Pill is the top performer with four separate speaker drivers. The sound does beat out our all around winner, the $60 cheaper Logitech's Mini BoomBox and it is even more portable a lot of the time with a sleek pill-shaped look. I'd rate the sound closer to the Big Jambox or the full sized Logitech Boombox which I'll discuss below.
The Pill looks extremely nice in three colors: Red, White and Black. It also has an aux line out for headphones or speakers and an easy NFC pairing capability if you have an Android phone. The mic might be the best I've tried but the batteries fall an hour or so off the 10 hour Logitech Mini Boombox at about 3/4 volume. It also comes in a beautiful snug fit case.
A speaker with Apps? And Updates? 
Probably the most famous, and really inventor of this category are Jawbone's Jambox and Big Jambox. Both are solid performers and they still deliver great value and sound. I've had my original Jambox since it was released and it still performs like the day I bought it – perhaps with slightly less battery time which is still up over six hours. The Big Jambox just got an upgrade which improves battery time and AAC sound quality which is appreciated.
Jambox apps and stylish looks also set the standard for Bluetooth speakers. Unfortunately, the prices which currently start at $129 and $240 for the Big are higher than better sounding alternatives. In fact, the $29.99 Bluetune above gave the Jambox volume a run for its money. The Big Jambox sounds much much better and comes with additional controls but for less money, you can get the smaller Beats Pill or the grab the significantly louder/better-sounding Logitech Boombox for $249. 
Sound. Period. Full Stop.
We reviewed Logitech's full-sized Boombox and it probably has the best sound of any portable Bluetooth device we've come across. We're not however fans of the non-USB AC adapter (also a problem with Big Jambox), its lack of a mic and its battery wasn't as good as we'd hoped at around 5 hours. Still, this think looks great with aluminum encasement and Boombox handle and the sound is up there with systems like something you'd find from B&O or Bose for much more money. I know that statement will ruffle some feathers but let's just say you WILL be impressed just like Amazon's reviewers.
Some of these are USB batteries too. 
Both the RockSteadyXS ($99) and the Braven 570 ($120) units we tried are solid options shaped like the original Jambox with a nice looking metal covering in a variety of colors. They both sound significantly louder than the Jambox but perhaps not quite as clear. One nice thing they both add is a USB port you can plug your phone into to help keep that battery going. Both say that they will last for 10 hours which I think might be a little optimistic especially while charging your phone. Both of these are great choices if you want something louder than a Jambox, looks good and also functions as a backup battery for our phone.
Solar. Speaking of battery backups, Eton Rukus ($129) offers a larger Bluetooth speaker that charges via the sun and also allows you to charge your other devices via USB. I didn't have a review unit in time but I did get to play with them at CES. They sound great but not in the same class as the smaller Logitech Boombox. Also, while they do charge via solar, the solar array is too small to keep up with speaker or charging devices. Also at about 5lbs, these aren't going into your purse. 
Waterproof. One category of Bluetooth speakers I didn't get to investigate is the Waterproof variety. I supposed these could go in the shower, out to the pool, the boat or to the beach without fear of going under water. I've been taking my Jambox/Boomboxes to the water for years and I've never had an issue. But there you go.
One final category that didn't fit anywhere else: Inexpensive, good looking good sound. 
Satechi sent us two $49 speakers which aren't as compact as the Bluetune above nor do they have aux out port that I like (They are both also Mini-USB, not microUSB –bleh). But they both look really good in their own way, sound as good as a Jambox and get about 5-6 hours of music. The Satechi BT Touch Wireless Portable looks like a rounded version of Logitech's old mini Boombox and has the same capacitive buttons that I have a love/hate relationship with. The Satechi ST-69BTS Audio Cube is a more up
That's the point of Bluetooth speakers. They are fun and bring sharable music where it wasn't able to go before. I hope that one of the above items makes sense for you if you don't already have one of these great products.
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