Electronics, Health, Fitness and Beauty, Product Reviews, Techy Stuff

Need Music While Swimming? YES you can!

Finis Duo was provided for the purposes of this review. All opinions are 100% unbiased and our true feelings about this product. 

I have recently taken up swimming, after a pretty decent knee injury. I was never a strong swimmer. In fact, I was lucky enough to float, or be able to backstroke just to get from one end of a pool to another… But that’s all changed, and now I’m swimming 1100-1600 meters, 2-3 times a week…. The only issue I had was entertainment.

When I run, I need music. When I bike, I need music. When I swim… well… Music would be nice. The pool does play music overhead, but when your ears are under water, you can’t hear any of it. All I can hear is my bubbles, and sometimes my splashes from my kicks… Kinda boring, if you ask me. My husband also swims, and I figured he was having similar thoughts about this whole entertainment while your head is underwater thing… so I reached out to a company to see if they’d be interested in letting us try out their Waterproof MP3 player, the Finis Duo. They were, and this post is our thoughts on it!

Finis Duo Dark Grey/Mint

I was able to try out the Finis Duo during one of my swim practices, and it really made a difference in my swim.

I loved being able to use the music to take my mind off of the fact that I was exercising. I wasn’t sure what to think about the bone conduction idea, but it really is pretty cool! I love that I DON’T have something in my ears that could potentially hold water in and drive me crazy.

Finis placement on goggles
Finis placement on goggles

When you first put the Finis Duo Underwater MP3 Player on, it feels a little strange, and it plays music quite loud. Adjust it to where it is comfortable in front of your ears, not on them, and once you go under the water, you’ll notice the sound changes drastically! It sounds pretty darn great! Once I got used to placement with my goggles, I truly didn’t even notice it was there, aside from the awesome music coming from it.

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Hubby swimming with music!

The only bad thing is that I was only able to use the Finis Duo for half of my workout. It’s rated for Waterproof-ness at IPX8… which means it’s tested to perform at a depth of 3 meters (10 feet) for 30 minutes. 30 minutes is not a long workout for me, so I either had to cut it short, distancewise or stop half way through, and take off the Duo, and complete my workout without music. Either way, it was a little disappointing. 

After a couple of months of use, I wanted to change out the music, and had trouble doing so. The charger wasn’t working, and it wasn’t recognizing the device on my computer, so I took a look at their website and saw that they had a new charger dock available for people within a certain serial number. We just happened to have a set within their number range, and so I requested the new dock. It arrived within a week and gave it a try. The device now charged without any issues, but I still can’t get it to recognize on my laptop. I went through some trouble shooting with the customer service folks, only to not get anywhere. I am now sending the device back for inspection. They do not send a label for you to ship it back. They suggest sending it via a trackable method, and they’ll either repair or replace it at their discretion. 

I am waiting to see what happens from here, and I’ll update with a follow up post at that point. 

I really was loving having music for my swims. They truly aren’t the same without them. 

Finis Duo Features: 

 

  • BONE CONDUCTION AUDIO TRANSMISSION
    Amazingly clear sound in the water without the use of ear buds
  • SUPPORTS MP3 & WMA AUDIO FORMATS
    Compatible with iTunes®; listen to music, audiobooks, podcasts and more
  • 4GB OF STORAGE
    Stores approximately up to 1000 songs or 60 hours of playback
  • INTEGRATED CLIP DESIGN
    Secures the device to goggle straps to rest on the cheekbones for a comfortable and streamlined fit
  • RECHARGEABLE LITHIUM-ION BATTERY
    Up to 7 hours of battery life
  • WATERPROOF IPX8
    Tested to perform at a depth of 3 meters (10 feet) for 30 minutes. If immersion at 3 meters (10 feet), or deeper, occurs for longer than 30 minutes, damage may occur. 

 

 

 

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