When I first heard about the SoundLink Max, I was a little surprised Bose would put out a $399 Bluetooth ... A rope shoulder ...

The carry-handle can be swapped out for a shoulder-strap (it’s a cost option, mind you), and overall the Bose SoundLink Max is as outdoors-y as they come. And when you’re out and about ...

It comes in black or blue. Bose sells handles for the SoundLink Max in various colors for $25, and you can grab a longer carrying strap in black or blue for $45.

And where this fundamental requirement is concerned, the Bose SoundLink Max needs no excuses made for ... if you fancy swapping it for the shoulder-strap alternative (and if you have the necessary ...

The Bose SoundLink Max falls onto the latter side of that spectrum ... Or for $45, you can get a rope carrying strap in either black or blue that sort of turns the whole thing into a very heavy ...

Normally, the speaker retails for $399 online, but Bose has knocked the price down to $329 for a limited time — the cheapest price we’ve recently seen for the SoundLink Max. But is the Bose ...

At 12 x 26.5 x 10.5cm and 2.13kg, the Bose SoundLink Max is a fairly hefty bit of kit, so you won’t be carrying it around all the time. But it does come with a handy rope strap across the top ...

Whereas the SoundLink Max only comes in black and blue ... and I hung it from its strap (as directed on the Bose website). It sounded the same from all angles, which can only mean that the ...

Editors' note: Bose has released a firmware update that brings pairing to the speaker, so you can now wirelessly link it with another SoundLink Max unit for playback in stereo mode or party mode ...