Hi @dggontan, welcome to the community.

The Roam’s power button should click when pressed, so it sounds like your unit was defective. The click isn’t as noticeable as the top cap buttons (volume controls, play/pause etc) but you should feel a bump/click when pressing it. I encourage you to check out some demo units in stores to confirm how they should feel 

Agreed - the power button IS a problem. You are not alone.  I wouldn’t mind except you need to use that button fairly often to wake the Roam (unless you want to fumble with the app or charge it).   I have asked Sonos to implement using a button press on any of the top cap buttons (play/pause) to wake it.  Indeed, most devices any button press does and should wake it.  

if they did that, the power button funkiness wouldn’t be as big of a deal.  As there should be little reason to use it then after initial setup.  It sleeps on its own fairly quickly.  And I don’t foresee needing to completely power it down.   
 

This definitely was an engineering miss- likely related to waterproofing.  But allowing wake from any button would go a long way to resolving issues presented by the power button.  And it seems it should be an easy software fix.  

Thanks James L. I will definitely do maybe even today after work. And if I am happy with how the demo unit works and feel I will definitely buy one straight away and will report back to this forum in any case. 

There is no clear tactile response on mine either.  The button is not easy to use as it is narrow and shallow.   Hence the need for allowing wake from ANY button press. 

Thanks @caesar327, it is good to know I am not on my own! This could even be a quality control issue I guess, so In the next few days I will try to test a few units in stores if I can. 

I agree with you the button is narrow and shallow which makes it difficult to operate. Allowing wake from any button will be great but it should be easier to fully power down the unit whenever you want to. It is a basic function that simply should work better!

Just adding more confirmation, that others are finding similar issues with the “feel” of the power button -- see this thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/comments/muytpm/sonos_roam_power_button_not_responsiveclicky/

Yes, saw that one as well which prompted me to write here. 

I cannot detect anything I would describe as a click. either in feel or in sound.  But does it turn off and on as required every time I push the button?  Yes it does, now I know what is needed. 

Do I get confirmation that the press has been effective - yes, a light comes on and goes off.

So for me it is of little significance and certainly not enough to forego the many great features.  I of course respect the right of others to take a different view.

I respect your view also @John B and it’s great that for you this is not important enough. For me, the moment I need more than one attempt and checking whether lights are on/off then the product is not solid enough. I wasn’t sure how long I needed to press or how hard. Not ideal, in my view. 

It’s annoying if you need to use the power button to wake it up (as I do in the shower).  I don’t bring my phone with me there.  Would be better if you could use the top buttons to also wake it up -- and not fuss with a more difficult button on the back.

No “click” feedback from the button here too - or it is so subtle that the force required to press it prevents proper feeling of this click.

Either a whole batch of Roam have an issue or the person above is mistaken.

Quick update: back from a local store that had a while somos roam in display. No stock available which means sales must be going really well!

Good news first: the back button worked much better on the display unit when compared to the one I sent back. Less wobbly around the sides and easier to operate. This makes me think there is some sort of QC issue with these first units. 
 

Now the bad: even with a button operating better, powering the Roam on and off was still a bit hit and miss. At times I wasn’t sure if I was applying enough force as the unit failed to power up. 
 

I will have to wait a bit and see how Sonos responds to this before buying my portable speaker. Shame. 

I think there is inconsistency (hit and miss) on waking in general - whether via the app or the power button.  Particularly the app.  Woke up this morning and opened the app.  Roam still showed as offline. Used the power button - it woke.  (Button gave no clear feedback - but light turned on).  

At least I hope the inconsistencies in the app are easy to resolve. 

The power button is in fact not well implemented.

I never know if I had hit it. Switching between WiFi and BT is a lucky game. The  my device turns on alone.

I would prefer a real on and off button that remains off if off. And buttons I can really feel if pressed or not.

For me it is not intuitive. I have to play around too much until I know where I am. I will keep my UE Boom and send back the Roam.

I think I need to wait for the second generation Roam.

I’m also having weird issues with the roam power button.

The button behavior is unclear, the ‘click’ feeling was inexistent the first time, but I’m getting used to it now.

However the unit keep powering on by itself, it starts again after I shut it down, drowning the battery. My understanding is that a quick press will turn the unit into sleep mode and a long press shut it down. But when I do a long press it sometime goes into pairing mode (light blinking blue) or shutting down.  I’m confused.

The long press to turn it off is around 5-7 seconds, so just make sure you’re holding it down for that long else it will switch to Bluetooth.

I also was excited to hear my Roam was about to be delivered.  My issue with the power button is the darn unit is too easy to turn on.  With the button where it is, when I toss it in my backpack to take it to a friend's place or on a trip with me I find it’s always on when I pull it out.  What use is a portable speaker if it has no juice left when you pill it out??  Seems to me it would have been easier to either recess it design a guard around it.

I'm having this problem too.  The Roam power button has absolutely no tactile feedback and I can't tell if I have operated it or not.  There are times when I hold it down and nothing happens and other times it seems like it does.  Pretty flaky really for an otherwise good device.  As as example it took me several goes to get the Bluetooth led to come on

Hi @chrisjph  - if you’re not getting any kind of click from the power button, then it may be worth reaching out to our Support Team via live chat or phone call :)

Xander, I don’t think that’s accurate.  Generally there is no obvious tactile response from pressing the power button.  If I want to bring it out of standby, I can only tell the press worked if the led light comes on.  Many others have commented on this as well.   There is no clicky feel (like the buttons on the top) -- and, unfortunately, I don’t think there is supposed to be one.   

Hi both Xander P and Caesar327

I did call support and they have been helpful but I had already arranged to see the store.  I’ve just been to the store (Richer Sounds) and tried one there.  It has a positive but very gentle feel to it so you can tell you have it pressed.  They have agreed to replace it under warranty and will ship a new one to me.  So we will see how that one performs!?!

Thanks all, I will report back when the new one arrives.

Thank you for your comments.  I contacted Sonos and they’re telling me that the button on the roam is supposed to be a slight push.  Again, nonsensical for a portable speaker you should be able to throw in a bag.  Even a hardshell case would do the trick.

So I have had the new one for just over 24 hrs now.  I can report that the power button does have a more positive feel to it.  Not as strong a click like action as the one in the shop but definately there compared to the original one that had no positive feel to it at all.  This one you can feel the depression and slight “pop” as pressed.  So I’ll be keeping it.

I will remark that it was difficult to get it into Bluetooth pairing mode though I did achieve it after about 5 minutes of trying.  Typically holding the button for several (more than 5) seconds only resulted in the unit turning on or off!.

So there it is, not wonderful but just about OK!!!

I have SONOS throughout my house and just bought two ROAM speakers for the garden/bathroom. I made a ‘Group’ and paired them together. I assumed if I subsequently chose the ‘Group’ they would start as a pair. It doesn’t happen and often only one speaker appears and then I have to ‘switch on’ �at least press on or maybe off the POWER button which doesn’t ‘click’] the other speaker and occasionally it connects or I have to go through the whole setup process again.

I have a similar issue with the Power button and am disappointed to hear it is likely to switch on if you put the speakers in a bag or rucksack .. as the whole point is for the speakers to be mobile. Otherwise the design, with the exception of the Power button, is great and the audio is terrific,

SONOS have always had an issue with ‘Power’ … I hate the fact that I cannot turn off my other SONOS speakers from a central control. All of the plugs are difficult to access and when I travel sometimes for weeks the system is left ON in SLEEP mode but nonetheless still ON. Now that we are all so much more aware of climate change, energy usage etc BOSE should introduce this capability.