i-Fusion Fuses Speakers With Your iPod

You’re packing for the ultimate camping trip. Tent? Check. Hiking boots? Check. iPod speakers? Check. Trail mix? Che … Wait! iPod speakers? Come on. You’re taking off for the great outdoors. You don’t want some bulky speaker system taking up room you could otherwise use for emergency rations. Well, if you’re worried about that, you obviously haven’t checked out the i-Fusion from Sonic Impact.

This $150 portable iPod speaker kit competes with any device in its class, including Altec Lansing’s inMotion iM3 and JBL’s On Tour, and surpasses them in one important category: ruggedness. From the moment you pull the i-Fusion from its plastic packaging, you feel like you’re handling a miniature version of the briefcase the president keeps the red phone in to call Moscow in the case of a nuclear attack.

The kicker: i-Fusion weighs like a PocketPC—that’s with the iPod attached. When the music player isn’t attached, you can store it in a little pop-out box between the speakers. There’s also room for your ear buds. And the side of the device houses two very useful ports. One is an audio-in, which allows you to connect other audio devices, such as a portable CD player, or iPods that don’t fit into the dock. The other port is an iPod dock pass-through, which allows you to plug your iPod into your computer to download songs without ever removing it from the i-Fusion dock. This works even with the power off.

Once you unzip the case, you don’t have to worry about propping it up because two straps connect the top and bottom portions in a way that keeps the system upright. You never have to take the system out of the case—it’s part of it. The four speakers rest in the top portion of the set while the bottom houses the controls and the iPod bay.

While an LED sits in the bottom tray to tell you how much battery life you have left, the controls are a bit limited. Other than volume, you’re basically using the iPod itself to control the tunes. The system doesn’t come with a remote control either, but there’s no reason to believe a top-loading remote control adapter, such as Griffin’s $40 AirClick, wouldn’t work while the iPod is connected.

Sound quality is good. The brand new Plans album from Death Cab for Cutie, an excellent selection for camping by the way, sounds reasonable. The audio doesn’t distort at the highest volumes, which is impressive, as well as the fact the sound doesn’t change when I stand behind the speakers. But there’s very little bass. And the quality doesn’t compare to what you’d expect from a system twice the price, such as the Bose SoundDock. Then again, you’re not taking the SoundDock camping, or on any other road trips.

A fully charged i-Fusion, compatible with any iPod, is going to supply you with 12 to 20 hours of music-quite enough for a few hours under the stars for several nights. I can vouch for this personally. I recently came back from a trip on which I brought the i-Fusion and forgot the power adapter. The battery lasted the entire trip.

And if you fall asleep, the system will automatically shut down after being idle for five minutes. When you manage to come down from the mountain for a recharge, the i-Fusion comes with an AC adapter, which also recharges a docked iPod while the power source is connected. —Brian Ploskina