If you are feeling a sense of deja vu after seeing this review, it’s probably because we reviewed the X-mini portable speakers a few weeks ago. The physical design of the two items is very similar, though this iHome iHM7 model is a bit smaller and 2/3 the price—around $20 instead of $30.

The company iHome is dominant in the portable iPod speaker space, with a whole range of cubes, clocks, and speaker packs that allow you to listen to your iPod or MP3 player with something besides earbuds, like the iH13 splash-resistant speakers I reviewed back in the spring. Most of them are too big to travel with, however, so enter the tiny little rechargeable mini speaker pictured here.

When packed up, this little capsule is only about the size of a golf ball, with just an on/off switch and a mini USB input for the cord. When you are ready to use it, you unscrew it a quarter turn and it pops up higher. The accordion part serves as the bass response speaker, with the treble part on the top. This is a nifty design and the charged speaker is surprisingly loud—much louder than your laptop speakers. It easily filled up a large room with sound and when I placed it on the bathroom vanity I could hear the music fine while showering. As with most miniature speakers, the dynamic range leaves much to be desired, but this one sounds a whole lot better than other ones I’ve used, especially considering it’s super-light and only costs $20.

There’s always a trade-off when you give up a heavy magnet, but in my opinion it’s worth it to have something so portable. If you care about sound quality (especially bass response) more than ease and portability, I would recommend the larger Orbit speaker from Altec-Lansing, though be advised it takes three AA batteries, which is much more of a pain than just plugging this iHome one into a USB to recharge. With this you don’t have to toss anything or carry a battery recharger. If you’re a business traveler carrying a speaker to give presentations from your laptop, you can rest easy knowing that you’ll always have power since it plugs into the USB port. I’ve been running my test unit for more than 8 hours now too on a single charge.

The cord itself is pretty nifty too. Only one thing plugs into the speaker, then the cord splits into a regular USB (for recharging) and a regular headphone jack for plugging into any type of music player that accepts a regular headphone jack. (In other words, anything except some versions of the iPhone that have a recessed input—these may require an adapter.) There’s a little velcro strap to wrap it all up when packing.

I’ve reviewed a lot of travel gear items that are $20 or less over the past few years, but in terms of what will get the most use for the dollar, it’s hard to beat a portable mini speaker if you’re trying to pick out a gift for a traveler. And you can’t get much smaller than this one and still have good sound. Highly recommended.

Get the iHome IHM7 speaker at Amazon

iHome iHM7 portable speaker at Buy.com

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