If you want to use your phone that's what I'd do. That way you got music in the garage or back porch for grilling and drinking beer.

For something super small and portable with rechargeable battery operation, I didn't hear anything that sounded better at BestBuy than the Bose Soundlink Mini. But for the garage where miniature size may not be much of a criteria and if ya got a wall outlet to plug it in, there's larger systems that sound better for a lot less money. Think boombox with Bluetooth $50-$100. Or.... if a boombox has an Auxiliary audio-in jack then you can just plug your iPhone right into it. That's what we do in the Wife's car, just plug the iPhone into the AUX jack. And by not using Bluetooth saves on iPhone battery use too.