H2O Audio Sonar IPX8 - Bluetooth Bone Conduction Headphones with MP3 Player - Wireless, Open Ear Waterproof Headset for Swimming, Underwater Activities, Sports, Workouts

This is a detailed review of the device. It is not a superficial critique of bone conduction technology. Some people prefer bone conduction, some don't. Inevitably, many negative reviews critique the bone conduction technology vs. standard speakers, rather than the devices themselves and their implementation of bone conduction technology. This is like buying a sports car and complaining that it doesn't get good gas mileage. I prefer bone conduction technology for my open lake swims and want the absolute best bone conduction headset specifically designed for swimming. I have tried them all, and the Sonar is at present the best available.I was a longtime Finis customer. I used their bone conduction SwiMP3. I kept 2, so I would have a backup in case 1 failed. Both failed within a week. They were older, but the rapid failure of the brand new (but older) backup device seemed curious. I could not get Finis to help me troubleshoot. The person at Finis I talked to was surly and argumentative. I did not expect warranty replacement of the Finis, it was old, but I paid more than $100 for it and wanted to understand the problem. I believe the problem was a short in the power cord that fried both devices. Finis does not sell replacement cords on Amazon and the cords were exorbitantly priced on their site. I didn't want to buy new cords at exorbitant prices for dead devices until I knew this was the problem. It again appears that a short in the power cord on the Finis fried both devices. The cord was pristine, not cut, damaged, frayed, etc. Bottom line, the entire process with Finis disgusted me and I will never buy another one of their products just on principle.The one glaring deficiency in the old Finis, besides abysmal battery life, was the lack of folder support. You must dump all the files into one directory and this makes it difficult to play different music selections at different times. The simple ability to create different folders and then move to another folder while swimming is a HUGE plus and I consider this feature mandatory in any swimming mp3 player I buy now. Finis does not have this folder support. It seems to be offering the same product from 5 or 10 years ago and resting on its laurels.The Sonar is smaller than the Finis and louder and clearer sounding. I have used both for hundreds of hours in the water. The battery on the Sonar lasts longer. The storage space is double the Finis. The Sonar has folder support, the Finis does not. The Sonar is quite simply superior to the Finis in every aspect, while having a retail price of $99.99 vs. $120 for the Finis, not that retail prices mean anything anymore. I never would have tried the Sonar if my Finis hadn't failed, so their shoddy products and awful support actually did me a favor. In the future, I'll pass on the garbage legacy Finis with half the memory, shorter battery life, a larger cumbersome size, no folder support, which will fail with NO support from the company. This is my honest opinion and no one paid or compensated me for it.I do long 1-3 hour open water swims and music is essential. Earpiece players are simply too much of a pain for me on long water swims, versus something I simply attach to my goggles, which stays put, and which provides steady and continuous sound even if I get pummeled by waves or wind.The actual resonator on the Sonar, the speaker for lack of a better term, is smaller than on the Finis. Because this is not a literal speaker, bigger is not necessarily better (not that it always is with speakers). So long as the device sits on the bone leading to the ear, the bone in front of your ear, it does not need to be huge to achieve the desired effect. Rather, I find that the smaller resonator on the Sonar produces louder volume than the Finis, perhaps because it can resonate more intensely with similar power at a smaller size. Regardless, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the sound of the smaller Sonar was louder and clearer than the Finis. The battery also lasts longer than the Finis, again perhaps because the smaller resonator takes less power to drive.Overall, if you know what bone conduction is, and want it, this is the best swimming player currently available. Given how much time I spend in the water swimming, having the best player possible is a pretty big deal. This is the best bone conduction player period. I actually dealt with tech support at the company to try and get additional charging cords and they were the exact opposite of Finis--friendly and helpful in other words. A better product, better support, Sonar wins hands down.I consider the bluetooth feature in all devices like this a waste of time and wish they would simply offer devices without it. Bluetooth doesn't penetrate water. Such features inevitably work sporadic at best, unless you have a phone or something right next to the pool. Some people doubtless love this feature, I could care less and I wish there were a way to turn it off permanently on my device. It does not impede simple, normal playback of songs loaded onto the device, however.

Alright, for me to write a review, I have to love it or hate it. In this case, it's a sad amalgam of both. I am dispositionally incapable of writing laconically so, for those who don't want to read the following, the headline pretty much says it all. For those interested in the details, read on:I used these headphones for many months before writing this review but am, as of the time of posting, still well WITHIN the warranty period for this device. I spend a lot of time working underwater at depths less than 10 foot deep, and am not in chlorinated water. I bought these headphones to make better use of my time down there than simply ruminating on how to save the world or on whatever stupid thing I said to someone within the last six hours and, for that purpose, they were in no small way absolutely revelatory. It's wonderful to be able to digest a several thousand page book while working underwater for hours on end and, while they worked, these headphones beautifully permitted such activities. I could listen to music with remarkable sound resolution and clarity, given the environment, and the interface was relatively easy to learn and employ. All things considered, this was a very worthwhile product and purchase...on its face.A few months into ownership, I began to have difficulty with the charger. The charger is also the upload cable that allows you to connect the headphones to a device for new uploads, and it is a four-pronged magnetic connector that, unfortunately, becomes increasingly spotty in its connection with time. Now, I diligently washed these headphones in fresh water after EVERY single use, as I would just take the mask with me into the shower when I got home and rinse them off. I could visually see that there was no corrosion on the contacts, but that didn't seem to make an ounce of difference, as I would sometimes spend many minutes clipping and unclipping the charger to the headphones in an attempt to get them to engage the little connection LED - sometimes I would just give up and move on with the rest of my night. I tried the eraser trick for the contacts, a cleaning cloth, all of the usual tricks one might employ, but I've finally decided that it's just a terrible design, as many others (including an employee) corroborated this finding with their own set of these headphones.Accepting the charger as a significant but tolerable annoyance on an otherwise great product, I continued to employ them until this previous December, when one side of the headphones spontaneously began to quit functioning. It began cutting in and out, then altogether failed, leaving only one side functioning. There are piece of music that operate in stereo, where I could miss entire parts of the song, as they were broadcast through the failed side of the headphone...this was no longer a tolerable annoyance. So I attempted to contact the company. As ever, Amazon doesn't exactly make it easy to do this, but the company does provide an email to contact them directly for product assistance. Given that I was well within the warranty period, never abused the product (doesn't have a scratch on it), and have diligently cared for it, I didn't think there would be a problem in procuring a replacement. Spoiler alert - there was.The problem? I couldn't get a response from the company AT ALL. I contacted the company email, followed up to the email, attempted every way I could think to get in touch with them, but have gotten exactly ZERO response from the company at all. Two months later, these headphones dangle uselessly off the handle of my nightstand, and have been relegated to eventual trash status, as there is no product support to get them back online and, though I can see no sign of a leak or other damage, they have malfunctioned to the point of uselessness.So, do I recommend these? Well, that's really your gamble, but I don't personally recommend products when the manufacturer provides no support. So sadly, I'm going to have to climb down off of my initial elation with these, and recommend against purchasing them. There are other options, and some of those options have reports of better product support and reliability. I'd look elsewhere.Verdict? A few great months, but in the end, a significant waste of money.