The Future is Now - Finis Swimp3v2 product review

Aside from being a hectic week at school, this week brought some good news and welcome changes. Specifically, my swimming pool opened up after being closed for cleaning since early December. (It still looks dirty, but at least it's open so I'm not complaining).


Also, a belated Christmas present arrived in the mail and I got to go try it out. I'd like to introduce you to the Finis Swimp3 - the mp3 player for swimmers.


I didn't think such an awesome thing existed and I always told myself that sometime in the future they would invent some sort of waterproof headphones. Ladies and Gentlemen, the future is here. Before decideing on this model I researched a few different options. For example, there is a company that can waterproof your ipod for about the same price as the swimp3v2, but the online reviews I read weren't very positive. The Swimp3v2 works better in water because the sound doesn't go through your external auditory meadus (fancy word for ear-hole), but instead it sends the sound vibrations into your cheek bones and they pass it along to your eardrum. Every review I read online about this product seemed positive. During my maiden voyage I was really impressed with several things:

First, it was extremely easy to use. You just plug it into a USB port and drag the mp3 tracks into the folder. That's it. There is optional free software from the company website to help manage your media, but I didn't really find it necessary. There are three little buttons to use while swimming and they allow you to skip forward/backward, adjust the volume, pause, shuffle, and turn on or off.

Second, it worked. The sound quality wasn't superb but it was pretty good, and considering that I was swimming laps I'd say it was downright amazing. I would compare the quality of sound to having a small stereo system across the room. When I was listening to my rap music the bass wasn't incredibly powerful, and when I was listening to an LDS general conference talk I missed one or two words every couple of minutes but it was good enough for me to follow along. I even lost track of my lap count and just swam until I was tired! That is so much better than just staring at the bottom of the pool counting and thinking for an hour. (And yes, my playlist has a little variety to it).

Third, the design of the Swimp3 made it so I didn't even realize it was there. It looks a little weird but while I was swimming it didn't add any resistance or pull on the goggles at all. I should also point out that while I was doing the breast stroke (where your whole head is underwater and then above water) I noticed that the sound quality was much better underwater. How 'bout that?

With the Swimp3, you too could look this good:

Update: After reading some more reviews, I feel it would be helpful to remind you that you need earplugs while you use this or it won't work very well. Most serious swimmers swim with either a swim-cap or earplugs anyway, but if you're new to the sport, now you know.