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(More customer reviews)As someone who swam competitively for about 10-13 years growing up, then a ~8-10 year break and is swimming again to keep in shape, here are my thoughts after my first use of this waterproof MP3 player. Note, I swim with goggles and no cap.
* Overall, I was impressed with how well the MP3 player worked under water. I was listening to an audiobook, and had no problem at all hearing or understanding the narrator. Considering that this option is easily 1/3 the price of anything else I could find that sounded like it might be 'better', it seems like a great value. The one feature I've seen on other options that seems like it could solve some of the problems this has are the bone-sound transmission options. I've never tried something like that, but it sounds rather uncomfortable (and, again, is at least 3x the cost). A text display to show what MP3 is playing would be a great improvement, but it's still useable without that.
* When doing real training with a swim team, I never really got bored as the workouts were intense enough to require my full attention, and there was a sense of camaraderie swimming with your teammates. However, I previously always got very bored swimming by myself, so it had been difficult to stay motivated and to get to the pool or stay in the water as long as I'd like. Having something to listen to this morning fixed that completely, and without really noticing it, I ended up swimming longer than I have been lately.
* Selecting the right ear plug and keeping ALL water out of the earplugs is critical to being able to hear underwater. The clear 'stepped' earplug seemed like it would be the best for keeping water out, but I found it difficult to get in correctly and slightly painful if fully inserted, but did a pretty decent job of forming a tight seal. It comes with 7 different earplug options; I'll be trying one of the others next time.
* The over-the-ear hooks didn't stay in place very well, and I often realized halfway down the pool that they were dangling off. Surprisingly, the earplugs generally still managed to stay in place and with a good seal in my ear, not letting any water in. This would almost certainly be a non-issue swimming with a cap, but I get too hot swimming with a cap on.
* When trying to do a bit of sprint / interval training without a cap on, I had a lot of trouble the hooks falling out. Similarly, any breaststroke or butterfly made that problem worse as well -- the rhythmic surge of the water, rather than the more constant flow with freestyle/backstroke, pulled them out more often.
* The cord from the MP3 player to your ears is very short. It's short enough that you have to first attach the mp3 player to your goggles, then put on your goggles, then insert the earbuds. This is good so you don't have a long trailing cord, but can be inconvenient if you want to check the LED or look at the device while pressing buttons. I'd recommend memorizing where all the buttons are so you can press them with your goggles still on your head. If you take off your earbuds mid-swim (which you would have to do in order to look at the buttons), it's difficult to get a good seal again in your ears since your fingers and your ear canal will be wet, but it IS possible. If the sound suddenly cuts out or gets muffled in one ear, it's because water got in.
* Swimming outdoors, the LED indicator on the power light (which tells you if you're in random or linear play; short-press the button to toggle between) is WAY too dim to see.
* My goggles have a split strap. I initially had the device hooked to the top strap in the middle of the back of my head, and often found it flipping down/rolling over during push-off from the walls. Unfortunately, it rolled over, hitting the power/play mode button in the process, and switched my audiobook to random play the first time this happened. After that, I positioned it an inch or two behind my ear and didn't have this problem any more. Next time, I think I'll also try it on the bottom strap.
* You likely won't be able to replace the waterproof earbuds with something from another manufacturer due to the threaded plug (which is needed to keep water out). According to another reviewer, you CAN order replacements from the makers of this device.
* One other note from a functional standpoint: the USB connector that comes with the device plugs into the headphone jack (to minimize external paths into the internal circuitry). You need to screw it in (just like with the earbuds) before your computer will recognize the device. Thankfully, it shows up to your computer just like a USB flash drive; no silly proprietary interface.
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