Vizio SmartCast Crave 360 Multi-Room Speaker


Vizio SmartCast Crave 360 Multi-Room Speaker

2016 model? I see that this is still sold new with the same model number at BB for $249- was there a minor update to it since 2016 or something, and that’s why this has the “2016 model” distinction?

People often ask us model years on electronics. That’s why it’s noted.

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This is my just experience and i haven’t used this speaker by itself in over a year. I own the speaker and used it for 3ish years. Now it sits in an upstairs room away from most things, rarely used. I wrote most of this review a year ago but amazon wouldn’t let me post it i guess since i bought the speaker from costco. (wanna say i got it for 150, but not totally sure)

I have a crave 360. It sounds fantastic, when i hear this speaker, i love it and the fact it has a battery is hugely convient.(even still today i take it with me if i am doing work in my garage or backyard)
However, this speaker is not a “normal chromecast speaker”. Vizio has decided to not put the standard chromecast software in this thing and it requires using the vizio app to set up. That app and the setup process is truly awful.

For starters setup often errors out getting stuck so you have no idea if the app is frozen or if it actually connected or not or what the heck happened. After multiple tries it will probably get set up. After owning this for a few years i can say quite confidently trying to connect to this speaker using a chromecast interface is so unreliable, It can drive you mad. I have multiple normal google audio chromecasts connected to other speakers and they all work perfectly every time. This thing however constantly has problems connecting. From my phone, or my chrome os laptop, or my windows pc, or my tablet, or any of my other 3-4 devices, connecting to this vizio monstrosity is just not going to happen easily. I noticed after years of updates it connects marginally better but it is not like a “normal” chromecast speaker in that you can’t just depend that on pushing play, music comes out 100% of the time. (yes i turned off eco mode)

To be more specific every time i want to listen to music it goes like this, I pull up a chromecast enabled app then i tap the cast to button i select my vizio crave 360, it says it connects, i push play… and then nothing happens. Not only is it disappointing but since every other one of my google audio chromecasts have no problems it is so frustrating, I have spent so long troubleshooting and messing with this thing. I moved on to a JBL Link as well as those couple chromecast audios i mentioned attached to some speakers. This is easily the most frustrating piece of electronics i have ever owned. I held out hope for years that vizio could figure out how to fix it since it is just bad software all they would have to do it use the pure stock chromecast experience instead of forcing use of their app.

I went on a trip to the beach recently in past years I used to bring the vizio because in theory it is super convenient due to its battery. I should be able to be plugged in at the condo playing chromecast music, then I can just take it with me down to the beach and use bluetooth for some tunes. This year instead of bringing the vizio I choose to take something battery-less since i don’t have another speaker that works on battery and the vizio’s hassles were not worth it. The speaker i did take was a desktop stereo set that has power wire, wire between the speakers, wire to the chromecast audio, the chromecast audio power wire. It was an absolute mess and required a small box to carry it all but it was worth it since there were 0 connection issues all trip.

TLDR;
For this Woot deal, this is a phenomenal sounding speaker though and at that price it might be worth the headache. Or it might be so frustrating you give it away on craigslist I can’t help you set it up so good luck with that it might go smoothly or it might not. However, after it is set up here is a tip: Once you use the Vizio app to set up the speaker it will show up in the google home app. You can use that to create a speaker group. I created a group with 2 speakers in it, the vizio and a chromecast audio i just kept on mute. Casting to that group was significantly more successful than just casting straight to the crave 360. I have not tried just making a group with the crave by itself so i do not know if that helps.

Quick addition i have nothing to say about the bluetooth, didn’t use it enough and it has been years since i tried to pair it so i don’t remember how it went. But in 2020 I would not buy a speaker like this just for bluetooth. Wifi speakers (when they work) are far superior and this thing isn’t splash or dust resistant so even though i did, be very extra careful on the beach or anywhere like that.
Last 2020 addition: the price is definitely right on this speaker but after a lot of time with the JBL Link having an assistant built in is super convenient for playing netflix videos and other stuff on my tv as well as quickly playing a playlist on the speaker.

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