The Bose SoundLink Plus portable speaker is $179 at Amazon, down from $269. That is $90, or 33%, off, and price trackers show it as the lowest the speaker has ever sold for.
The SoundLink Plus sits in the middle of Bose's SoundLink lineup. It has a built-in nylon strap for clipping to a backpack and an IP67 rating, meaning it is sealed against dust and full water submersion. Battery life runs up to 20 hours, depending on volume. It supports Bluetooth 5.4, the AAC and AptX Adaptive audio codecs (ways of compressing sound for wireless transfer), and can stay paired to two devices at once.
The omissions are real. There is no microphone, no aux port and no voice assistant, so it is a poor fit for speakerphone calls or anyone who wants a wired option. Reviewers also found it leans on mid- and high-bass, with some compression at higher volumes and no true sub-bass. It plays in mono, but one reviewer noted its sound stays clear from different listening positions. Another review called it "the Goldilocks of Bose Bluetooth speakers."
How much the "lowest ever" label means is a fair question. The speaker has not been on the market long, so the price history is short, and a record low on a young product is a weaker signal than one on a model with years of sales behind it. Among the other early Black Friday picks in the same roundup, the Ring Battery Doorbell is 60% off and the AirPods Pro 3 are 20% off, so a third off is solid but not exceptional.
The case for buying is clearest for someone who wants a rugged, outdoor-first speaker and does not care about calls. At $269, the missing microphone and aux port would be harder to forgive. At $179, they read more like a trade-off. The company's retailer pricing can change, and the deal terms carry that caveat too.