Fabulous!

I was given the Swimp3 as an early Christmas present by my in-laws, who knew that my daily mile swim had become monotonous.

I did some research and discovered that this was the best reviewed underwater mp3 player, so this was the one I asked for.


THE PACKAGING:

The Swimp3 came neatly packaged, securely and safely wrapped, and included all the promised equipment.

Included were some blue Lane 4 goggles, the Swimp3 player (attached to the goggles), a small nylon bag for carrying, a USB to player cord, a little handbook, and a disc for music management (if desired).

Opening the package was a little difficult, but that's because it is a plastic nightmare, and things were packed securely inside.

THE PRODUCT:

I plugged the Swimp3 into my computer, as suggested, and it immediately began charging.

However, after a few minutes, I accidentally brushed against my computer and the Swimp3 became unplugged. It then wouldn't do anything. It wouldn't turn on, and when I went to connect it to my computer (as well as to a co-workers and a mac), it came up as an unrecognized.

I panicked, and phoned the Finis hotline, only to discover that the person answering the questions wasn't there. His voice mail suggested I email him, which I did. It was several hours before he could respond, but when he did, he was very helpful and thorough in his response.

I was able to reset the Swimp3, charged it, loaded it with music, and took it swimming the next day.

It was fabulous. Sound quality in the pool was incredible, far better than I expected. I expected that the people around me could hear the music, but they couldn't (I asked them).

The way the Swimp3 is set up, it is not an annoying fanny pack or thing dangling on your arm, but sits on the head, and is really just a part of you. I can't imagine using any other format.

The controls are a little difficult to work at first, but after a few swims, I've become a master at them. I've learned how to turn it off, turn the volume down, switch the mode to shuffle, all without taking the Swimp3 off.

One bummer is that every time you turn on the Swimp3, it restarts at the first song. Not a big deal, but a little disappointing.

The goggles that came with the machine are great. I was using bulk buy crappy goggles, so I don't know how they compare to "pro" goggles. Occasionally they fill up with water, and I'm not sure why, but it's easy to clear them out and keep swimming.

Transferring music to the player is really easy. You can use an existing program like i-tunes to drag and drop the music onto the player, or install the software that came and do it that way.

The battery life has been fine, so far, I've used it about an hour and a half straight with no problems. I always make sure to charge the machine by plugging it into my computer. You can also buy a car or wall charger (and in January of 2006, a combo car and wall charger) to charge it other ways.

The only indication that the battery is charged however, is a "slower blinking red light" - not truly indicative of a "full charge" or not.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

I completely recommend this product. I swim a mile a day recreationally and suffer from "lap boredom." This immediately made me feel like I had company in the water with me.

The unit is easy to use, easy for a computer newbie to use, and has only a few buttons to learn how to master.

The sound quality is great, though there is a little bit of shift when you bring your head out of the water for breathing.