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Supplied by Gifts with Style, from its extensive range of products, the Tykho Booster is a rechargeable Bluetooth speaker.  This particular product, designed by Marc Berthier, comes from the French design brand Lexon.  The Tykho Booster, developed as part of Lexon’s 25^th birthday celebrations, is a remastered version of the company’s iconic Tykho radio.  I had been sent the lime green version of the product which perhaps will not be to everybody’s taste.  Fortunately there are models coloured Grey, Blue, Prussian Blue, Yellow, Warm Red and White if these colours have greater appeal.

Brick shaped with dimensions of 24 x 7 x 8cm (W x D x H) and weighing 700g, the Tykho Booster is encased within a silicon rubberised shell.  The rubberised coating means this Bluetooth speaker is waterproof so it can be used in a wide variety of locations where water might be presence.  The Tykho Booster features radio-like stereo speaker outlets on the front and raised controls arranged along the top of the unit.

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Powered by a 3.7V lithium 1800mAh battery, which can be charged via a supplied micro-to-standard USB lead connecting to a concealed port on the rear of the unit, needs to be paired with a music source using Bluetooth technology.  As well as the micro USB port, the concealed compartment, hidden behind a rubber flap that did not feel particularly secure but was able to withstand my manhandling, also contains a 3.5mm jack socket for use when connecting with music sources, such as MP3 players, which do not support Bluetooth.  You will need to supply the necessary lead for this purpose as Lexon has neglected to do so.

If, for any reason, you decide to have both Bluetooth and audio lead connections running at the same time then Bluetooth will be given priority.  In order to hear the output from the MP3 player you will need to stop the Bluetooth feed.  Volume levels can be adjusted from the Tykho Booster when listening to music via the audio lead feed.  According to the supplied multi-language, folded sheet of paper which serves as the Operation Manual, you will need to disconnect the audio lead in order to return to a Bluetooth feed but I found that this was unnecessary.

As mentioned earlier there is a row of raised controls running along the top of the Tykho Booster.  Starting from the left, these controls are for Power (on/off), previous song, next song, volume down, volume raised, play / pause and Bluetooth pairing.  This latter control can also be used for hands-free answering to incoming phone calls to the paired smartphone.

Initially I struggled to get a response with some of these controls.  This was especially true of the previous and next song controls plus the play / pause option.  Holding down these buttons produced no response.  The supplied Operation Guide provided no clue or solution to my problem.  Eventually I worked out that these buttons required a very quick press in order to get the required response.

Incoming phone calls to the connected smartphone will be recognised and announced with an appropriate sound effect.  Using the Bluetooth button you can accept the call with any music being playing being put on hold.  At the conclusion of the call the music will be restarted.

Delivered from the pair of 5W speakers on the front of the unit, the audio is of a reasonable quality.  Generally I found that I would need to reduce the volume level when the music was being streamed via the audio lead rather than Bluetooth.  Gifts with Style currently has the Tykho Booster listed at £93.95 which does seem a little on the high side.