Bose Home Speaker 500 (2018) vs Google Home Mini (2017)

The Google Home Mini (2017) is an example of a great Smart Speaker at its $50 budget.

In the case of the $379 Bose Home Speaker 500 (2018), however, we weren't able to find enough data to come to any reliable conclusions. If you're considering buying a Smart Speaker in the $310 range, we encourage you to take a look at some other options.

The Google Home Mini (2017) was loved by reviewers at Tom's Guide, a highly trusted source that performs reliable in-depth testing. It did great in its "Best Home Depot Father's Day sales 2020" roundup where it was named its "Ranked 2 out of 7", which, in itself, makes it a product worth considering.

Taking a look at the Bose Home Speaker 500 (2018), we found that it was liked by some of the most highly trusted sources, such as TechGearLab, Rtings, and SoundGuys - it was named "Top Pick" by TechGearLab, "Ranked 1 out of 4" by Rtings, and "Ranked 1 out of 5" by SoundGuys.

We analyzed all of the review data that we could find on these two Smart Speakers. First, we examined sources that tested and scored both of these products - reviews.org favored the Bose Home Speaker 500 (2018) over the Google Home Mini (2017), whereas reviewers at TrustedReviews, Techradar, and PCmag haven't shown a preference for either.

Then we took a look at which sources liked them the most - we found that the Google Home Mini (2017) was best received by livingetc.com - it gave it a score of 9, whereas the Bose Home Speaker 500 (2018) got its highest score of 10 from reviewers at TechGearLab.

Lastly, we averaged out all of the reviews scores that we could find on these two products and compared them to other Smart Speakers on the market. We learned that both of them performed far better than most of their competitors - the overall review average earned by Smart Speakers being 7.4 out of 10, whereas the Google Home Mini (2017) and Bose Home Speaker 500 (2018) managed averages of 8.0 and 8.2 points, respectively.

Due to the difference in their prices, however, it's important to keep in mind that a direct Google Home Mini (2017) vs. Bose Home Speaker 500 (2018) comparison might not be entirely fair - some sources don't take value for money into account when assigning their scores and therefore have a tendency to rate more premium products better.