Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This item is NOT worth the high price tag associated with it. As an ex-Olympic caliber swimmer, I bought three gizmos to test in my ppool. The first was the Home Swimmer portable stationary swimming system; the second was this Swim Tether Stationary Swimming Belt and the third was Mark Spitz PRO-SWIMMER 3 in 1 Stationary Trainer. Here is my assessment of all three. 1) Home Swimmer Portable Stationary swimming system. Garbage. Don't even order it. Flimsy design; pole can not remotely handle 'strong swimming' 2) Swim Tether Stationary Swimming Belt. This item on first glance and with the photos, makes it look impressive - especially with the kids training on these things by the pool. There is nothing worthy of this. Here's the catch. You will pay over $200 for nothing more than a flexible pole and a belt, that you need to 'anchor'. This means Drill a hole in the side of your pool, fill it with a bag of sand and cement and jam a rod in. What is WRONG with this after you've pissed away over $200 for a pvc pole and a bag of sand (of course you need to drill to make that part work), is that the 'cord' extends from a flimsy belt with a plastic buckle. If you are really a GOOD swimmer, you will see in the main picture here that kicking will hit the cord. In fact, don't even attempt backstroke unless you want the 'bungee cord' trapped between your crotch and getting caught. Butterfly is out of the question. Breastroke sucks if you actually do the stroke correctly which means a frog leg kick and a butterfly flutter at the end. Your toes will get caught. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS 3) Mark Spits PRO-SWIMMER 3 in 1 stationary Trainer. Now this is a $30 dollar gizmo that is actually worth its money. Solid belt, with a fan floaty behind the swimmer keeping the cord away from the feet so you can do breastroke, backstroke, fly and freestyle without a hitch. Whats really cool about this is that you can anchor this gizmo however you choose. You can attach the bungee cord loop and through a skimmer, around the side of a diving board, or if you have an umbrella by the side of the pool, or a tree or pillar from your outside deck, you are GOOD TO GO. This gizmo servers two other purposes. If you are new to working out in the water, you can use the fan floaty as a brace to strenthen your legs. If you're a young swimmer, take off the bungee and let the fan behind your legs, provide a 'drag'. My 2 cents.