Announced over a year ago, the BOT has taken longer than expected to hit the market, with some customers complaining about unfulfilled pre-orders or wondering if the product is a vaporizer. The reason for the delay, says Goswell, was due to Lush’s lack of experience with electronics. The product was ready, but they didn’t realize how long it would take to get the relevant certifications needed to sell such a device. Bath Bot is now available in the UK, EU, and will soon be in the US (except California, which has additional regulations).
Some compromises still had to be made during development. “The components in there are not what we would consider 100 percent ethical, but we tried our best,” says Goswell. The team had wanted to use recycled materials for environmental reasons, but had to choose Virgin Plastic to keep the device waterproof. The end result is Reusable, and Lush says buyers will be able to bring theirs into store for repairs if needed.
Manufacturing electronics inevitably comes with a carbon cost, but Goswell believes the Bath Bots are justifiable. “If it was a disposable unit or a cheap, throwaway that broke within six months, I think it would be a different question, but we’ve made it last,” he says.
In fact, a cheap device it is not. The £150 price tag has raised eyebrows, even among ardent lush fans on forums such as the 115k member R/Lushcosmetics Subreddit. As one “Lushie” put it, “Why would I buy a $200 speaker from a bath store?” You can get a waterproof Bluetooth speaker from established brands for significantly less, likely with better sound quality: Ultimate Ears’ Floating Wonderboom 4 retails for around $100 (and often sells for less), while JBL’s cheapest waterproof speakers can sell for as little as $40 —You can find some even cheaper on Amazon.
The reasons for the high price, Goswell says, include the fact that it’s Lush’s first tech product and the company doesn’t make many, both of which drive costs. Attempts to choose more ethical components add to the price, as does manufacturing in the UK. Ultimately, he says, Lush doesn’t want to pit the Bath Bot against other Bluetooth speakers, but sees it as more of a lifestyle accessory, similar to something like a Philips Hue lamp. While it’s designed for use in the bath, he also likes to take it into hotel rooms for ambient lighting.
I decide to test the Bath Bot in the intended environment, run a bath and set the lush app ready to connect. Bath drawn, I drop the bathbot into the water, where it duly floats around, cycling through colored lights that give the illusion of coloring the bath water around me. Available in black or white, the Bath Bot has just four buttons – on/off, play/pause and two volume controls. When I turn it on, it emits a particularly pleasant start-up sound with birdsong and a few gentle guitar notes.