Boomin Belts Belt Buckle Speaker review – my big “waist” of music

REVIEW – Some people simply cannot be without their music. This is evident when you look around and see the masses wandering around with earbuds and even full-can-style headphones on. Back in the day, boomboxes were all the rage, assuming you could find a friend who would loan you 22 D-cell batteries for a few hours. Today, Bluetooth speakers are everywhere, but most aren’t easy to carry hands-free if you want music but don’t want to go the earphone/earbud route. Boomin Belts thinks they have the answer with their Boomin Belts Bluetooth belt buckle speaker system. Let’s see if this will be a complete “waist” of music.

What is it?

Boomin Belts Belt Buckle Speaker is exactly what the name says a Bluetooth speaker that doubles as a belt buckle. It can play your tunes via Bluetooth or by directly loading your playlist of tunes onto the speaker.

What’s included?

• Bluetooth speaker with magnetic attachment system
• Belt with magnetic buckle system
• Magnetic waistband clip accessory
• Magnetic faceplate
• USB-C charging cable
• Thank you info card
• User manual (not pictured)

Tech specs

Design and features

When you first look at the Boomin Belts Belt Buckle Speaker, it looks like any Bluetooth speaker. That is, until you put something else into the photo for size context, like my hand.

This thing is tiny. Given its tiny size, I didn’t expect very big sound, and I was right. This will not fill a room with party-level sound. But that’s not what it is designed to do. It is designed for your personal soundtrack as you are out and about, and for that, it does a remarkable job. More on that below.

The top of the speaker has the typical controls and LED indicator. The left (-) button lowers the volume and skips back a song. To the right of that, we see the status LED that shows Bluetooth status and charging status. The right (+) button raises the volume and skips to the next song.  That middle rocker has multiple functions. Holding the power symbol turns the speaker on/off. Once it makes a Bluetooth connection, a female voice says, “Let’s Boom”. The play/pause side of the button starts/stops the music. Holding it down flips mode from Bluetooth to internal storage playback more. It also serves as the answer (click) / end (click) / reject (hold 2s) call button for incoming phone calls.

A rubber flap is located on the bottom of the Boomin Belts Belt Buckle Speaker. It covers and protects the USB-C charging and data port.

Here’s a look at the back of the speaker and the back of the waistband clip.

You can see the magnets and the alignment tab that keeps everything aligned automatically. Just getting the two pieces close is enough for them to snap together.

You can use the speaker like this if you don’t wear a belt. It is perfect for a woman wearing a skirt.

Those magnets on the speakers allow it to mount to any magnetic surface.

The nylon web belt is nicely stiff but also has a slight stretch to it. I like that as it helps add a little tension to keep everything in place. The buckle is a two-piece design with two tabs that slide in and rotate to lock into place.

Here, you can see the back plate tabs in the slots and then rotated into the locked position.

This is the belt ready to accept either the speaker or the decorative cover plate for those times when you want to wear this belt but don’t plan to jam out.

This is what it looks like in both configurations.

Assembly, Installation, Setup

The Boomin Belts Belt Buckle Speaker is designed to fit waists up to 56 inches. The instructions recommend adjusting by prying the tab on the back of the buckle plate up. This moves teeth that secure the belt to the plate. Then, you can trim the belt to size. They recommend waving a flame over the cut edge to seal the edge of the webbing before reinserting it into the plate and closing the tab.

I opted to adjust from the other end. This side of the buckle has a fold-over channel for the belt. I loosened it, brought more excess belt in, and then tightened it up again. In the future, I will probably cut the belt, but for now, I wanted to leave it intact.

Beyond sizing the belt, I charged the speaker and paired it with my phone. Bluetooth pairing went smoothly and followed the general Bluetooth pairing process for speakers.

Performance

There are two parts to the performance of the Boomin Belts Belt Buckle Speaker. First, let’s talk about how it performs as a belt. It works. I like the stretch of the belt – just enough without being overly stretchy. The belt itself is great.

Now, on to the speaker. I mentioned above that I didn’t expect much, given its size. I was surprised. It certainly doesn’t get very loud, but it is loud enough. The sound quality, even the bass response, again, surprised me. Nobody will confuse this with an audiophile-grade speaker, but to my ears, it sounds quite nice. Well, as long as I am standing up. You can barely see the speaker in the shade that I’m creating at the beltline.

You see…I am equipped with a somewhat oversized area just above the belt. You can make out the speaker a little better in this closeup.

When I sit down, my extra area completely covers the speaker, muffling the sound. It sounds like Charlie Brown’s teacher is playing the instruments and singing. That’s certainly not Boomin Belts’ fault, but if you’re a little extra-round like me, you’ll need to pop off the speaker before sitting down to continue enjoying your tunes. That’s where the magnet on the speaker comes in handy since you can just snap it onto something ferrous nearby.

As far as playback goes, streaming from my phone worked flawlessly. It’s kind of fun having your phone in your pocket and your tunes playing along right on your belt. This would be great for walks when you don’t want to wear earbuds or headphones.

If you plug the speaker into your PC, it shows up as a USB drive as expected. I loaded several MP3 files onto the speaker and tried playing them. It works, but there is no shuffle feature. This means that the speaker is now a throwback to Walkman days where you had to play songs in order from a cassette. That seems like a miss for me. Even my Discman could shuffle tunes back in the day. Of course, if you’re streaming, most services offer shuffle mode, so that won’t be an issue.

I can see this as a nice solution for a casual golfer who wants to listen to music while they play. Then, when they hit the 19th hole for a libation after the round, pop off the speaker and then pop on the faceplate and they’re good to go in style.

I really wanted to share a video with me entering a room to Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees or We Like to Party by the Vengaboys, but alas, YouTube doesn’t like it when I use copywritten music in videos. Oh well. With Boomin Belts, the options for your personal soundtrack are endless.

What I like about Boomin Belts Belt Buckle Speaker

• Surprisingly decent sound from a tiny speaker
• Comfortable to wear
• Nice speaker-wearing options with the belt and the waistband clip

What needs to be improved?

• Some kind of shuffle options for downloaded music would be a nice addition
• A little more volume would be nice

Final thoughts

The Boomin Belts Belt Buckle Speaker is certainly a novelty. But, for folks who love their music, having a hands-free way to be the life of the party might just be the music solution they have been looking for. Boomin Belts delivered a surprisingly solid product in an equally surprisingly small package. The belt’s 56″ max length and trimmable design means that the belt should fit just about anyone. If you want to move to your music and share it all with your friends, this Bluetooth belt buckle speaker from Boomin Belts might just put that groove in your step.

Price: $109
Where to buy: Boomin Belts; Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Boomin Belts. Boomin Belts did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.