Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought this hoping to be able to use the bluetooth feature to listen to Pandora while swimming laps. That part is a mixed success. I have previously tried the waterproof ipods (they don't last), the finis bone-conduction devices (they get glitchy really quick and lose the ability to connect to computers), the Syryn, and several other cheaper waterproof mp3 players. None yet are perfect, but this one so far is as good as any. The sound quality is excellent; better than the Syryn, comparable to the ipod. The earbuds fit well and it comes with several sizes included. A bit of vaseline and a swim cap keeps the water out and the sound good for over an hour. The play from memory works well, although the volume changes rapidly when the up or down buttons are held; it gets louder or softer really fast causing occasional overshoots and the necessity of readjusting the other way. A single brief push of the same buttons skips a song ahead or back, but sometime this happens simultaneously, and unintentionally, with the sound adjustments. As advertised, bluetooth does not work underwater. This is not a defect of the device, it's a property of the bluetooth RF wavelength; it doesn't penetrate water. Also, the distance bluetooth waves can travel is relatively short. I expected these limitations and found I was right: Distance limitation: With the device strapped to the back of my goggle strap and my phone at one end of a 25 yard pool, the sound does momentary cut-outs as I approach the far end. With the phone to the side of the pool, the sound lasts the whole way back and forth. Underwater limitation: The sound to disappears entirely during flip turns. If I don't glide too long before resurfacing, the sound resumes. Also, if I turn my head too far to breath such that the device on the back of my head dips under the surface the sound is briefly interrupted. These minor interruptions were expected and not a problem with the device. However, a problem does arise if the device is disconnected from bluetooth for too long; either with a long glide after flip turn, or if I push pause, or press the bluetooth button to switch to memory play. In all of these cases the device does not automatically reconnect with the phone. I had to get out of the pool and manually reconnect the phone to the device. This happened numerous times as I experimented with the functions. Disconnection from the phone was caused by pushing pause while playing on bluetooth, pushing the button to switch to memory play and then back, and staying under water for more than about 1.5 seconds. The instruction sheet says that once the device is paired it will automatically connect to the phone thereafter. This is not correct. Each time it's turned off and on, or paused, or switched to memory and back, or remains under water for more than 1-2 seconds it has to be manually reconnected to the phone. This is a nuisance, and involves getting out of the pool, pulling the phone out of the bag, unlocking it, getting to the bluetooth devices screen, and selecting the H2O device. It always reconnected after doing this, but it should be automatic as the instructions say. Finally I gave up listening to Pandora while swimming laps and just finished my workout on memory play, then got out, reconnected the phone, and did 15 minutes of kicking so the thing would stay out of the water and connected while I listened to Pandora. Bottom line: a good device with good sound quality, but for swimming laps it's pretty much limited to the memory play feature, unless you do open turns or don't mind getting out of the water after each good flip turn to reconnect to your phone. For anything else, including doing kicks with the device on your head out of the water, the bluetooth feature works (if it's on the side of the pool and you're in the end lane closest to the deck where your phone is), but if you want to switch back and forth between bluetooth and memory you'll have to manually reconnect to your phone each time, unless it likes your phone better than it does mine (iphone 6s). I think it's still a good device just for the mp3 playback, which is what I'll be mostly using it for. Addendum 4/19/2019. The device stopped being recognized by my computer. I got the battery low message. I took it home and plugged it into the computer. The charge light came on but the computer did not recognize the device was plugged in and did not read the mp3 files. When this has happened with other devices (ipod, Syryn) I have been able to restore connectivity by cleaning the port with rubbing alcohol. I tried that with the H2OAudio device and it became completely unresponsive; the charge light did not come on when plugged back in. Cleaning again did not help. The device is dead. Too bad, it was very nice while it worked. Another Addendum 11/18/2019 My Syryn's power/pause button became increasingly glitchy so 2 months ago I bought another H2OAudio. Since my original one died the manufacturer has added a plastic tube device through which you plug the earbuds. It makes a quite tight seal that (probably) keeps out water. When I first opened the package and saw the new connector I was a bit doubtful that would be sufficient. I got out the earbuds that came with my first H2OAudio device (they are the same as the new one) which I had been using with the Syryn, and plugged those in. It made such a tight seal that when I tried pulling it out the insulation at the base of the earbud connector wire split. That warned me to be more careful with the new earbuds. It has been through 3 charge cycles now and no problems so far. Contrary to prior advice to disconnect the earbuds after each use so the connection can dry, the instructions now are to leave the earbuds connected to keep out water. I've done that except when it was time to charge, which is surprisingly long. I haven't counted the hours exactly but I swim usually 5 days per week for at least an hour a day and it lasts over two weeks. The volume controls also work better than on the earlier version. The sound quality remains very good. The earbuds are the best I've tried from any manufacturer. I now have a fairly large collection from my failed swimming mp3 players and the H2OAudio ones are the best fitting and best sounding, which is why I was using my old ones with the Syryn. I like the feature of a voice telling you when the device turns off and on, rather than just a light, so you can tell when it's one or the other for sure while wearing it on the back of your head. The Syryn does not have that feature and several times I've run the battery down thinking I'd turned it off when I'd actually only paused it and hadn't noticed the light status. The same voice also tells you when you're in playback or bluetooth mode. So I've again become happy with the device and use it exclusively for my workouts. I accordingly upgraded the rating to 5 stars. It's still fairly early days, however: if it fails again I'll post another update. Update 8/17/2020 Except for about a 2 month break when the pool was shut down due to COVID I have continued to use the device for all my swims and have had zero problems. By far the best swim mp3 player I have ever used.