JBL Charge 2 Bluetooth speaker, 9to5mac’s ‘2014 Bluetooth speaker of the year’: $80 shipped, (or 3 for $70/ea)

Best Buy again offers the JBL Charge 2 in a variety of colors for $79.99 with free shipping. Buy 3 and the price drops to $70/ea at checkout. That’s almost half off of list and tied with the lowest price we’ve ever seen on this extremely high-rated speaker.  In our review of all portable Bluetooth speakers, we named the JBL Charge 2 the best Bluetooth speaker of the year last holiday season.

The $79.99 price point is $70 off the original list price, $10-30 less than Amazon’s current listings and the lowest we can find. The Charge 2 has 15W of amplified power, USB phone charging port, a rechargeable 6000mAh lithium-ion battery (2+ full iPhone charges), and an auxiliary input. Amazon shoppers gave it 4.6/5 stars.

Why is the Charge 2 so inexpensive all of a sudden? JBL released a minor ‘+’ upgrade to the Charge 2 which made it somewhat waterproof ($129) but hardly worth $50.  Also JBL’s new splashproof $300 Xtreme (review) and $100 $100 Flip 3 are going to be their headline speakers for holiday shopping this year. Best Buy is likely clearing inventory but this is still a phenomenal speaker and at $80 is a no brainer.