Shokz OpenSwim Swimming MP3 Player - Waterproof Bone Conduction Headphones for Swimming, Running & Workouts - Open-Ear Wireless MP3 with 8GB Storage, No Bluetooth - Includes Nose Clip & Earplugs (Black) - Perfect for Pool, Ocean & Triathlon Training

In the beginning, there was the Finis mp3 swimming devices. And it was good in that conducted sound through the bone next to the ears. It was expensive ($100+) but worked well. Until it didn't. After my third one died in as many years, I moved to a relatively inexpensive Syrn swim buds. It, too, was good but are in-the-ear buds. At times, the ear plugs would flood or come loose during a swim. Annoying, but for the price, it was what it was. In truth, I liked them so much, I bought one as a gift.Then a friend raved about the Shokz swim device (then called Aftershokz), which is nearly 3x the price of the Syrn buds. I bought one two swim seasons ago (I swim nearly every day) and they've been flawless, at least so far. The convenience of bone conducting sound and the music quality itself are sooo much better that, to me, it's worth the extra coin. If you can afford them, go for it. If not, the Syrn is a cost-effective optionI am so happy that I bought this player. It is light, comfortable, easy to use, clear sound for freestyle swimming when you need to have a lot of motion of the head when rotation.Very intuitive, just connect to computer and it will show up as an external drive, just drag and drop your music files, podcasts in it. Buttons are easy to use with alert voice explaining what you are doing, such as swimming mode/general mode.... It is clear enough for podcast listening in freestyle when one ear is in and out of water, not to mention just music. I tried other cheaper bone underwater earphone, it was ok for music but not clear in listening to podcasts when freestyle. It is very light, I find myself use it a lot now, sort of replacing Apple airpods. It makes my swimming laps more enjoyable. Great. Though a bit pricey, but it is like you get what you pay.I have been swimming with these headphones for about a month and they are absolutely perfect. I swim for about 70 minutes three times a week and so far have only had to charge them once. They were fully charged when I received them. When you turn them on it will say whether the battery level is low, medium or high. The last time I swam with them I got a "low" reading and charged them when I got home.Copying and dragging MP3 files is easy breezy even for a non techy like me. I have the SYRYN as a back up but will probably only use it to keep the battery sound. I highly recommend this brand and have a pair for walking as well. Five stars!I waited to write a review of these until I got them to fit correctly. I use them to swim and I found it best to put them on after my goggles and tuck them under the goggle strap. The sound is excellent and yes even better under water. Very easy to ad music also. My only criticism is the battery life could be longer, but I can still get at least 3 swims out of 1 charge.I swim laps with these on. They are very comfortable. I don't even realize I am wearing them. I swim 1 to 2 hours at a time and haven't had to charge them yet and the battery is still on high after at least 10 hours of use. The only downsides I have with them are having to convert audiobooks to mp3 files to play and there is no way to fast forward or rewind so if I hit the wrong button I will have to start the book back from the beginning. I'm still super happy with them and they make my swim more enjoyable.I previously had in ear MP3 players for swimming. Usually after 2 or 3 laps with my old set the sound would be like an echo.The quality of the sound in these is far superior. I only use them for swimming; the sound is actually better under water than above water. There is a little bit of a leaning curve in wearing them and trying to stabilize them with my goggles but they are overall comfortable. I am very pleased with them. I also really like having a carrying case; my previous pair were in a Ziplock bag.I love these headphones. They have helped my pace and longevity in the pool. I understand that Bluetooth doesn’t work under water but for as expensive as these are it’s ridiculous that it isn’t included. As much as I love them they are a one trick pony.I spent hours researching swimming headphones and finally went with these. I cannot believe how great these sound - they sound better in the water than they do out of it.I tucked them under my goggle strap right over my ear and they were plenty secure, even diving in. I did not use a swim cap.I swam every stroke with them and had no issues. Sound is more consistent when you use ear plugs - the ones that come with the headphones work great - but honestly they work great without as well (I only did freestyle without ear plugs, though - I did not try other strokes without).To obtain mp3s, you can find an application to pull audio off of YouTube.My only complaint is that I wish these also came with bluetooth so I could use them for other things and have the bluetooth option. Other models I looked at had onboard mp3 for swimming but also came with bluetooth.I spent a day reading reviews and all competing models had their pros and cons, good and bad reviews. Decided on these and I’m writing this review after only one swimming session but I’ve got to tell someone what a brilliant bit of kit these headphones are. I loaded a couple of mp3 and aac files, familiarized myself with the controls within a couple of minutes and headed to the pool. Sounds best when doing front crawl or backstroke with the continuous submersion. Doing breaststroke it’s a constant variant in sound (but that’s from water going in and out your ear each time you submerge, not any variation in sound output). Placed my goggles on over the band to secure them. A mile swim felt so easy with these, and makes me want to swim more, so they’re worth their weight in gold.I have a pair of Shokz for running so already knew I’d like them. These are for swimming, just swimming. Even surfacing for breaststroke the sound quality drops from excellent to poor. But oh my, when you are tumble turning whilst rocking out they are pure magic. Can’t rate these highly enough.They do have a second mode for non-swimming. Here the sound quality for walking/running is much better than the swim mode but not as good as the Openrun headphones. So for me, these will be for swimming only.Would obviously love Bluetooth, the only music I own is >10yrs old, but as I only swim an couple of hours a week this isn’t a problem, just a case of resetting expectations and enjoying some 90s jam.I've had it for four weeks, swam around 30 km and biked a few too. It been a huge motivation boost as it makes both activities such a pleasure. It leaves the ear canal open so you can maintain some situational awareness, which is good for cycling. Great sound quality, although a small number of songs aren't perfect under water - very bass heavy music may become more so under water (too much for me) and you might miss some higher frequency melodies in classical for example, but I'd say 95%+ of pop, rock and dance are great. Strokes where your head is in and out of the water, like breast-stroke, also effect the consistency of transmission which is fine for most music but might make spoken word difficult to follow (I haven't tried spoken word). There's a remarkable amount of control with so few buttons, with the ability to switch between folders easily, so I have one with about 1000 tunes to shuffle, and one where I can stick the latest dance podcast. Its rock solid on my head - you really can just forget its there and enjoy. It seems really well made with no loose, flexible bits that would break easily and the two year warranty provides additional reassurance. Battery life is as advertised - I estimate around 8 hours. Overall - its amazing and my best buy for ages. I really look forward to swimming now and I'll be down the pool tonight.I was looking for a new set of MP3 bone conduction headphones for running and decided to look at Shokz, as a friend of mine has a set of bluetooth ones. The only ones I could find were these and although the product name says they are for swimming, the description says they can be used for running. They were a little more than I was looking to pay, but from the short time I have had them, they are well worth the money. Very easy to use, very comfortable and great sound quality. The headphones also look great, come with a handy storage pouch and the USB charging station is easy to use and has a light to indicate when the headphones are fully charged. Battery life is very good and you get an audible message when you turn them on saying what level the battery is at. The majority of bone conduction headphones are bluetooth, but I prefer MP3 to avoid any connection issues and the process of loading music on to them is very easy. I can't comment as to what they would be like for swimming, but they are ideal for running and I would definitely recommend them to any runners who are looking for an easy to use and comfortable set of headphones with great sound quality.I've head cheap swim player before, but the moment I got water in my ears I heard nothing so became more nuisance. I decided to invest in this one and it's epic!They stay in place, I can hear everything clearly even during spin turns and butterfly swims.The reason for 4 starts only is: I haven't managed to get it fully charged yet and it always says it needs charging though it plays for an hour in the pool. It cannot read folders. That is the most annoying thing on this as I have all my music in folders by artist and albums so I need to go through all and extract to play in the player properly! Once that's all done though all is great in the world!