SHOKZ OpenSwim(formerly Xtrainerz) Swimming MP3 Headphones, Open-Ear Bone Conduction Headset, IP68 Waterproof, 4 GB Memory, MP3 Player For Swimming, Surfing, Running【No Bluetooth】（Sapphire Blue）

The awesome: These things are witchcraft. When swimming, with the 'speakers' pressed against the top of your jaw/cheek next to your ear rather than in your ear - the sound hits your brain perfectly as if you had proper headphones in. But you maintain a general awareness of other sound as your ears aren't blocked. It is the weirdest thing - but it works astonishingly well. These have been a real game changer for me in keeping me swimming longer - boredom is my enement. The not so good: If listening on them is like going into the future, getting music to listen to on to them is like going back in time. Think how you got music onto an ipod in 2010, and that is what you need to do with these. Drag and drop MP3 files from a playlist on a music media manager software, onto a folder for this. If like me you have long since moved to streaming services - this wasn't at all straightforward. And getting Audiobooks or podcasts easily in the right format to listen to on this offline, isn't straightforward either - I just gave up. As it happens though I have transferred from my old huge MP3 library, about 100 songs I rate as 5 stars, each of which is upbeat, and I just have these on as a single playlist set to shuffle, and I find this is honestly all I will ever need for my swims. Also note, that whilst the sound is AMAZING when in the water it is a little tinny out of it- so, I wouldn't use it to replace my normal buds for anything other than swimming, and perhaps cycling where you want the peripheral hearing too. I nearly knocked off a star for the niggle of getting music on, as it really is faff. However, now I am set up these have brought such a new lease of life and joy to my swimming, that they deserve to be praised! I really am happy with my purchase.

These have transformed my swimming , now I dont get bored and start looking at the clock , in fact I stay in the pool longer. They sound great , the buttons are easy to use though I prefer not to use them, they stay on No more itunes or sonic stage etc to manage music just drop it onto the drive in windows you can drop whole folders but I prefer one big flat list of songs now for the caveats They are not a bluetooth device (there is one in the range but who leaves their phone by the side of the pool) You need a physical copy of the music , whether that is MP3 , flac or any of the other formats , Most of my music now comes from Amazon Music as a stream , but I did have enough stuff off an old drive and used that , there are other ways to obtain music files I swim mainly crawl and there is little or no change in the music when I breathe (every other stroke) however if I do breast stroke the music tone changes when my head is out of the water , If I swam breaststroke that would drive me mad. Unless of course you swim with your head out of the water all the time in which case they are ok I think the way I breathe doesnt allow time for the water to run off the speaker Really a fantastic product update battery has lasted more than enough for my six half hour swims per week , battery level say high medium or low so after 3 hours swimming it said it was on medium. very easy to charge though Better to adjust the sound to 'water' mode I had a few songs on I didnt like , the buttons are easy to use so I can skip a song while I wait to delete it if you squash too much stuff in your kit bag they can turn themselves on so far top notch product Update : after nearly nine months continuous use still would give it 5 stars Super reliable I saw some reviews listing misgivings about battery life , I did share that a little , but I would often wear them after swimming so I decided to track their usage This week I swam for 250 minutes over 6 sessions and only wore them while swimming For each session the battery showed as high and now after the last session they are now showing medium I dont like to swim without them so have decided to stop at that and recharge them so that is slightly better than I stated in an earlier review So just over 4 hours and still going When using them at very high volume they positively massage your head so I cant imagine getting the stated battery life at full volume As the battery charger is very proprietary and I dont want to be without them I decided also to buy another charger for about 15 quid from the web site They do transform your swim I am just about to crack 30 mins for 1500 meters (no tumble turning) which is a time I achieved a couple of years ago I cant stress enough how much they occupy your mind while swimming the only issue I can see for some is having your music available (locally) to transfer there are numerous ways to solve this , ripping existing CD's for instance update Nov 24 still going !

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.

Sound quality is good considering you’re under water.

OK, I swim a lot. Daily, in fact. I do laps and swim long distances in my local 25m pool. However, swimming and excercise gets boring because I've got nothing to engage my mind. The Shokz have stepped in and solved this problem. They're brilliant in the water and work well as a source for audio books while I swim. My process is to wear the Shokz with ear plugs and it makes the audiobook nice and clear to listen to. The Shokz sit over my ears perfectly and are tight against my head, making good contact. Absolutely love them! The battery life is plenty for what I need and I make sure to upload audiobooks in a single file so there's not worries with the tracks being out of order (there's no controls apart from on/off, volume up/down) which is fine. Once I turn it on, the audiobook starts from where I left off and away I go! Great investment for a swimmer or athlete who wants to keep themselves entertained during long exercise sessions.

This is a 'like for like" replacement for previous pair of headphones. The original ones were used on a fairly regular basis before physically breaking after about 3.5 years. The only reason I bought the same pair again is that I found the newer supposedly better models were difficult to operate in water when you rely on touch rather than sight to navigate the buttons. Also, the new models come with ridiculously small buttons the ones on this device are easy to identify. The device DOES NOT support Bluetooth mode which the others do by DEFAULT. Bluetooth doesn't work in water so you would always have press two buttons to reset them back to use the local storage. With this basic model you simply switch them on and they are "good to go". This model has the really useful "repeat" track function which the newer models don't have. If only ShokZ would make a newer product based on this model but with more than 4GB storage capacity and a more competitive price. I have bought this item again out of desperation and frustration. Do Shokz ever consult users to find out what they really want rather than making products they think we want?

If your main concern, like mine, was whether they remain in position when swimming, then DO NOT WORRY. These things stay where they're meant to be for cruising freestyle, tumble turns, flat out butterfly, the lot! It's impressive. As for the sound they're meant to deliver, water is a tough environment to work with so we should temper our expectations. But the sound is good. Controls easy to find and use. Music is clear, and the volume is satisfactory - don't expect it to ever reach that level of party you sometimes need for workout encouragement. Having said that you certainly get those surreal moments when underwater, like having a soundtrack to your life. Wearing earplugs isn't essential but unless you're a fish and are constantly submerged, they definitely improve the sound consistency. The ones supplied are pretty good. For some reason, I became more sensitive to sploshing water when using the headphone/earplug combo. But like anything you can zone out and concentrate on a great music experience. If you're intending to use these for podcasts, you may want to borrow some first. I find it really hard to pick out lyrics and voices, so that may detract from listening to conversations. But I am middle aged and so my acoustic range probably doesn't help. I got my pair in a sale for £119. Whilst I don't think there will be any better swim headphones, if I had paid full price for these, I think my verdict on value for money would not be quite as high. Would definitley recommend though.

I originally wrote a mediocre review (I'll leave it below). What annoyed me most was the lack of bluetooth connectivity (read old review below, but the pro version now have Bluetooth so it doesn’t matter anyway!). But in fact Bluetooth isn’t great in water so why bother? I have had many headphones for surfing and wing foiling. In truth the bluetooth never works in the water. My "old" H20 headphones stopped working again....anyway I got these Shockz out of the top draw and I downloaded a load of music to these and started using them.....it was supposed to be temporary. Well....they haven't broken, they sound the best and are still going strong. In short they are great, I was wrong..... Old 2-star Review below that I have revoked! I have everything Apple, but needed some waterproof headphones for wingfoiling. I use my Apple Watch to monitor my speed, heart rate etc... which is fully waterproof also of course. I bought these becasue they seemed the best waterproof headphones, I thought that with them being a standalone MP3 player I wouldnt need to waste the battery on my Apple Watch or worry if I forgot it or it ran out of batteries. I assumed that putting songs on the headphones would have been as simple as syncing an old Nano Ipod or something like this. But in truth it's much harder. I have all my old CD's boxed away and I burnt them onto a harddrive long ago that doesn't work anymore. If like me you stream from Apple Music, you're stuffed. You can;t put that music on headphones. Presumably it's the same problem for every streaming service. So without bluetooth these headphones are in fact useless for me. I didn't realise this. Anyway I have sent them back, but not after I spent a goos couple hours convinced it couldn't be this hard. But it is. They sound good, seem good quality, but getting music into them is next to impossible in this day and age. I'm going to get some waterproof Bluetooth headphones and use my apple watch. After all that they brought out Bluetooth anyway!