FINIS SwiMP3.1G Waterproof MP3 Player
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Our Price: $134.99
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Category: Sports
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Equipment Details
Manufacturer: FINISBrand: FINIS
Release Date: 2009-10-06
Model: 1.30.030
Color: Blue
Product features:
- Transmits high-fidelity sound through the cheekbone to the inner ear
- Has a sleek design with an MP3 control panel built into the side paddle
- Plays both MP3 and WMA files with new playlist functionality
- Comes with expanded 1-gigabyte memory
- Designed to hold approximately 240 songs
- For technical assistance on Finis Electronics, contact the Finis Support Team at 1-888-333-4647
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Sports reviews of FINIS SwiMP3.1G Waterproof MP3 Player
Customer Review: Complicated but Impressive
Sport shop rating: 5 Stars
A lot of other comments on here cover the many tricks of this device, but I'll summarize and add my own feedback.
* Firstly, it's a legit waterproof MP3 player. It does what it's supposed to do. Imagine that.
* It plays by being placed just in front of your ear. I get the best experience having it touch the front of my ear, shifted just a bit downwards.
* Ear plugs make it easier to hear (kind cool).
* The default volume isn't loud. Above the water it's pretty hard to hear, and below the water it's quite clear, but can be difficult to hear over the sound of you swimming if you don't wear ear plugs. That said, I swim with the volume turned up just 1 notch and no ear plugs and am very happy listening to music I've heard before (I already know the words in case I miss a few).
* Changing the volume is not obvious. You press and hold the Next Track button for several seconds. The volume increases. Release, then press and hold again to repeat. You can make it pretty loud this way - be nice to your ears! I don't think most reviewers figured out this functionality, and I'm not surprised.
* The buttons have to be memorized before clipping it on, or you're going to have to ignore the buttons until you take it off. You can however easily feel the difference between Power and the Next/Prev buttons because the button below Power is recessed.
* The power LED is pretty hard to see, and it turns off both for Standby mode and for Off. In Standby mode, it will die in about a week. Off, it will last for months and months. You can guarantee you're in the Off mode by first confirming it's playing, then pressing and holding the Power button for at least 5 seconds (count them out slow).
* Other reviewers have complained the device only lasts for one 1-hour swimming session. I found it lasted through 5 1.5-hour swims over the course of 2 months, and I think the difference comes down to the Off vs Standby issue. You need to get that right to get much life out of this.
* The device is a little laggy. It can take a second or 2 before it starts playing, and it can take a second or 2 for Next or Previous Track to kick in. I think this might be part of why some reviewers are frustrated with it - the lag can make learning it difficult.
* It clips solidly to your goggles - I kickturn repeatedly each time I swim and it stays put. It's important after clipping the 2 ear pieces on to then tuck the small white portion (USB plug and cover) behind your head so your goggle strap is holding onto it, or it's going to flip up and hit you in the face when you kickturn (it doesn't hurt, but it is confusing).
* You plug the USB plug into your PC and the device opens up like any USB thumb drive.
* You can't have any folders on the drive. Technically there's a playlist feature that allows exactly one level of folders, but it's really confusing and not worth dealing with. Just don't use folders. All music files should go directly in the root drive of the device.
* The order it plays tracks is alphabetical, so you may want to rename your files to get them to play in the order you prefer.
* For the curious, all the major components of the device are in the left half. You can feel the battery in it get hot when charging while the right stays cool, which seems to be hollow other than the speaker.
* If you're going to listen to podcasts you have some work ahead of you:
1. You can't fast forward or back, so if there are long segments, you'll probably want to break them down into smaller chunks so you can skip through them like tracks. For example, if there's a 60 minute segment and you miss a detail at minute 59, you'll have to press Prev to start all over from the beginning. Broken down to 5 minute segments or even 1 minute segments - not so bad!
2. Songs nowadays are made louder by producers. Podcasts are not, so you'll have to do it yourself or you won't be able to hear quiet speakers. You can use tools like MP3 Gain or Audacity's Dynamic Compression Filter (I use 4x in Audacity) to get this same loudness out of your podcasts. Audacity is free, and can also be used to slice up long tracks.
3. You'll want to name your sliced up podcasts in a way that guarantees they play in the right order on the device, or you're going to be annoyed.
I recommend reading SanjeevP's review as well if you haven't already.
If by some strange event the FINIS SwiMP3 engineers read this, I have 3 suggestions:
1. Make the plastic in front of the power LED clear, so it's easier to see. I don't know why they went with opaque white there, but it sure makes it nearly impossible to see if it's lit - in the sun, you definitely are not going to see it.
2. The LED should only light up in Standby/Pause. It's not very useful when Playing since you can just listen long enough to determine that much, but Standby vs Off need to be differentiated. If the power draw is low relative to the battery life, it could light up blue when playing and green for Standby, red in either case if it's low on power.
3. SanjeevP's suggestion of etching the buttons is pretty smart - if they were slightly bigger and etched with circle, arrow forward, arrow backward, it would be slightly easier to use.
Description of FINIS SwiMP3.1G Waterproof MP3 Player
Provides the same high quality sound and features as the FINIS SwiMP3 v2 Waterproof MP3 player with an upgraded processor and memory (1 GB). Unlike standard waterproof MP3 players--which transmit sound through the air or water and produce only a muffled noise when submerged--the SwiMP3.1G relies on your bones to conduct the sound. This direct transfer of sound vibrations from the cheekbone to the inner ear produces exceptional sound clarity, so you can listen to all of your favorite tunes while working out or taking a leisurely swim. And you needn't worry about damaging your hearing, as bone conduction hearing is a safe, well-established hearing mechanism in humans. Rather, this is the first time an audio company has leveraged the technology to enhance the experience of swimmers, tri-athletes, surfers, synchronized swimmers, and anyone else involved in general water activities.Ideal for swimmers, triathletes, surfers, synchronized swimmers, and anyone else involved in general water activities, the Finis SwiMP3 1G waterproof MP3 player allows you to listen to music underwater. Unlike standard waterproof MP3 players--which transmit sound through the air or water and produce only a muffled noise when submerged--the SwiMP3 1G relies on your bones to conduct the sound. This direct transfer of sound vibrations from the cheekbone to the inner ear produces exceptional sound clarity, so you can listen to all of your favorite tunes while working out or taking a leisurely swim.
 The SwiMP3 1G attaches to your swim goggles or snorkeling mask. |
Features:
- Patented Bone-Conduction Technology: Directly vibrates the inner ear to create the highest quality of music underwater
- New Sleek Design with Strap Clip: Allows unit to be attached easily to any swim goggle or snorkeling mask
- Integrated MP3 Panel: Incorporates On/Off, Volume, Next/Previous Track, Pause, and Shuffle functions
- 8-Hour Rechargeable Battery: Lithium-ion battery charges directly from a USB port for plenty of continuous high-fidelity music
- Windows and MAC Compatible: Easily drag and drop any MP3 or WMA files directly on to the device
- Expanded 1GB of Storage: Allows for approximately 240 songs to be stored
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