Review on 🏊 H2O Audio Stream 2: Waterproof MP3 Player with Bluetooth & Underwater Headphones - Ideal for Swimming Laps & Watersports, 8GB Storage by David Sokolov

I bought this in hopes I could use the Bluetooth feature to listen to Pandora while swimming. This play had mixed success. I've tried waterproof iPods in the past (they don't last long), bone conduction devices (they break down very quickly and lose their ability to connect to computers), Sirin, and a few other cheaper waterproof MP3 players. None of them are perfect yet, but this one is just as good as the others. The sound quality is excellent; better than Siryn, comparable to an iPod. The ear tips fit well and multiple sizes are included. A little petroleum jelly and a swim cap will keep the water out and the sound will stay good for over an hour. Memory playback works well, although the volume changes quickly when the up or down button is held down; It gets louder or softer very quickly, causing random overshoots and the need to retune the other way. A quick press of the same button will skip the song forward or backward, but sometimes it happens simultaneously and unintentionally with the sound settings. As I said, Bluetooth does not work underwater. This is not a device defect but a property of the Bluetooth RF wavelength; it does not penetrate the water. In addition, the distance that Bluetooth waves can travel is relatively small. I expected these limitations and found I was right: Distance Limitation: When the device is attached to the back of my goggle strap and my phone is at one end of a 25 meter pool, the audio cuts out momentarily when I look at the other end nearer. If the phone is at the edge of the pool, the sound will be maintained throughout the round trip. Underwater Restriction: Audio completely disappears during flips. If I don't skim too long before surfacing, the sound will resume. Even if I turn my head too far to breathe, so that the device at the back of the head sinks below the surface, the sound cuts off briefly. These small glitches were to be expected and did not represent a problem with the device. However, the problem occurs when the device is disconnected from Bluetooth for too long; either with a long slide after a flip or when I press pause or press the bluetooth button to switch to memory playback. In all these cases, the device does not automatically connect to the phone. I had to exit the pool and manually reconnect the phone to the device. This often happened when I was experimenting with functions. Disconnecting from the phone was caused by pressing pause during Bluetooth playback, pressing the button to switch to memory playback and then back, and being underwater for more than 1.5 seconds. The instruction states that after pairing, the device will automatically connect to the phone. That is not right. Every time it turns off and on, pauses or switches to memory and back, or stays submerged for more than 1-2 seconds, it needs to be manually reconnected to the phone. This is frustrating and involves getting out of the pool, pulling your phone out of your pocket, unlocking it, accessing the Bluetooth device screen and selecting the H2O device. After that, it kept reconnecting, but as the instructions say, it should go automatically. Eventually I stopped listening to Pandora while swimming and just finished a memory replay workout then went outside, plugged my phone back in and pedaled for 15 minutes. So this thing stayed out of the water and pocketed it while I listened to Pandora. Overall a good device with good sound quality but is largely limited to the memory playback feature when swimming unless opening turns or afraid to get out of the water after each successful tack to catch up again to connect mobile phone. For everything else, including banging your device on the head out of the water, the bluetooth will work (as long as it's at the edge of the pool and you're at the end of the path closest to the area where you are Your phone is ) but if you want to switch between bluetooth and storage you have to manually reconnect to your phone each time unless he likes your phone more than mine (iPhone 6s). I think it's still a good mp3 only device which is what I'll be using it for mostly. Updated 04/19/2019. The device is no longer recognized by my computer. I received a low battery message. I brought it home and hooked it up to my computer. The charging light came on, but the computer didn't recognize that the device was plugged in and wouldn't read any MP3 files. When this happened with other devices (ipod, Syryn) I was able to reconnect by cleaning the connector with alcohol. I tried this with a H2OAudio device and it became completely unresponsive. When plugging it back in, the charge indicator light didn't come on. Even cleaning it again didn't help. The device is dead. Too bad it was very nice while it worked. Another addition 11/18/2019 My Syryn's play/pause button was getting more and more buggy so I bought another H2OAudio 2 months ago. Since my original died, the manufacturer added a device with a plastic tube through which you connect the headphones. This makes for a fairly tight seal that (probably) keeps water out. When I first opened the package and saw the new plug I had some doubts that this would be enough. I took out the headphones that came with my first H2OAudio device (they are the same as new ones) that I had used with Syryn and plugged them in. The insulation at the base of the headphone jack cable has peeled off. This warned me to be careful with new headphones. So far 3 charging cycles without problems. As opposed to the previous advice to unplug the headphones after each use to allow the connection to dry out, the instruction now is to leave the headphones plugged in to keep water out. I did this except when it was time to charge, which is a surprisingly long time. I haven't counted the hours exactly but I usually swim at least an hour a day 5 days a week and that lasts for over two weeks. The volume controls also work better than the earlier version. The sound quality remains very good. Headphones are the best I've tried from any manufacturer. I now have quite a large collection of my fancy swim mp3 players and H2OAudio fit and sound the best so I used my old ones with Syryn. Love the voice feature that tells you when the device is on and off rather than just a light so you can tell exactly when it's one or the other by wearing it on the back of your head. Syryn doesn't have this feature, and several times I've drained the battery thinking I'd turned it off, when in fact I just paused it and didn't notice the status of the indicator. The same voice also tells you when you're in play or bluetooth mode. So I was satisfied with the device again and only use it for my workouts. Accordingly, I have upgraded the rating to 5 stars. However, it's still quite early: If it crashes again, I'll post another update. Update 08/17/2020: Except for a break of about two months when the pool was closed due to COVID, I continued to use the device for everyone. mine floats and i had no problems. By far the best floating MP3 player I've ever used.