Kohler Moxie Review – Checking Out This Smart Showerhead

There have been many ways to enjoy music in the bath or shower. From those cheap plastic ducks with a low quality radio built in, to running a lead into the bathroom so you could plug in a proper stereo or perching your phone nearby.

However, in the smart age, none of this should be necessary. Kohler’s Moxie Showerhead builds in a Bluetooth enabled speaker so you can listen to your favorite tunes wirelessly under the power shower, or bath.

As smart technology spreads throughout the home, the bathroom is an obvious target as a lot of home gadgets don’t mix nicely with water, swathes of stream and the risk of being knocked into a bath. Building features into the fixtures and fittings is one way around this, although there is still  plenty of room for innovation.

Key Features of the Moxie Smart Showerhed

• Replaces Standard Fitting: The metal shower head will replace any standard fitting.
• Multiple Decor Finishes: It is available in bronze, chrome, nickel and white to fit almost any decor.
• Detachable Wireless Speaker: Equipped with a detachable wireless speaker, which comes in a plastic unit with different range of colors, you can use it to stream your choice of online radio, music playlists, podcasts, or audio from other sources, making it a useful extra feature when you’re in the bath or shower.

• Bluetooth Sync: The Moxie can sync with any Bluetooth-enabled device, including smartphones, tablets and MP3 players, which you leave somewhere safe but nearby. The Moxie also comes with a little stand so you can use the speaker in other rooms to continue enjoying the music without having to link your phone to another device or plug it into a main speaker.
• 32 Foot Range: The phone can be up to 32 feet away and still work, which should be fine for most users. While it is not a powerful speaker, it still provides 1.5 watts of noise at 1kHz with minimal distortion.
• Lithium Ion Battery (7 hours): The Moxie comes with a built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery that can provide up to seven hours of run time.
• Premium Shower Head Design: Since Kohler is foremost a shower company, the head also provides powerful jets of refreshing water to ensure users get a refreshing douche while you sing away to those tunes.

• Two Models to Choose From: There are two models available, one that provides two gallons per minute and one at 2.5 gallons. Check this listing for the latest pricing details.

Pros of the Moxie Showerhead and Wireless Speaker

1. Easy Installation: Installation of the Moxie is a breeze, just unscrew your existing shower head and attach the new one. The plastic speaker unit is sealed, and there’s no wiring or other complications. It is available in navy blue, chartreuse, retro blue, cherry red and white. All you need to do is press the power LED button to turn it on.
2. Flexible Power Usage: When the battery runs out, you detach the speaker unit and plug it into a USB lead to charge. Depending on your usage, there’s probably a good month of use on a charge, but in a busy home with everyone using it, life will be shorter and some will need to be responsible for keeping it juiced up.
3. Plenty of Water Capacity: Capable of delivering up to 2.5 gallons of water per minute, the Moxie is no miser when it comes to delivering water.
4. Decent Speaker: The speaker is reasonable, but don’t go expecting a bass heavy experience to dance around while you shower, remember a decent high grip shower mat folks!

Cons of the Moxie Showerhead and Wireless Speaker

1. No On Board Controls: The immediate issue with the Moxie is there are no controls. The volume needs to be changed by the smart device, which is hardly practical if you’re covered if bubbles when a quiet song comes on. There’s also no way to skip tracks you don’t like, to replay a popular song or make other adjustments.
2. No Different Modes on the Shower Head: The 60-nozzle shower head itself also has no different modes, no pulse mode, no different water patterns, which means you’re paying for a speaker in a shower and nothing else. All in all, that doesn’t seem too smart.
3. Volume Varies Depending on Source: Another issue is that the volume provided by the Moxie can vary depending on the app you are using. If you play music from various sources, then you need to remember what the general volume setting on the phone is, otherwise the audio could be too quiet or too loud.

Final Recommendation – Ready for Market?

The Moxie has a neat design, but with many homes having so many speaker options, this feels like a really niche product.

It is also competing with more powerful waterproof bluetooth speakers like the Boom Swimmer, Monster BackFloat and others that offer more audio power and flexibility. There are also many other shower speaker units, including brands like H2oVibe, iRainy and others, most of which look broadly similar but offer a couple of extra features.

Perhaps a second generation model with some basic controls would add to the appeal, but for now unless there’s no other way to get audio into your bathroom or shower cubicle, then it will do the job with respectable sound and a clean you at the end of a good soak.

Users seem to rate their Moxie pretty well with largely positive reviews, except for buyers who have trouble with the volume, and there’s little that can go wrong with this device, unlike most smart home devices, so there’s something to be said for its simple approach.

Bottom Line: If you want an elegant looking, subtle, shower radio, this is a solid choice. While there is plenty of competition, you can’t really go wrong with the Moxie.