First product review for a while. In the last few months I've developed a liking for swimming, and I've had an ipod for listening to mp3s on for years. But until recently I didn't know you could put the two together; after all, if I got into the pool with my ipod in its usual condition, my enjoyment of the music would be short-lived, water and electronics not being a great mix and all that. But there is a company (and they may well not be the only ones that make them) that sell waterproof armbands and headphones which allow you to do just this.
But does it work? When I told someone I'd bought the H20 Audio Amphibex Armband and the H3 headphones, they grinned and said 'Are you going to trust that?' I must confess I gulped and said, after a slight pause, 'Er...yeah?' in a rather uncertain tone. Well, I did ten lengths of the condo pool yesterday, and I have to report that my ipod is still fully functional. H20 Audio guarantee usability down to ten feet, so you could conceivably do a little light scuba diving with it even. You could certainly surf, waterski, play water polo, go canoeing, or whatever with it.
The one major downside (based on this single initial test) is that if you don't get an absolutely watertight seal between your ear and the headphones, when the water gets into your ears the sound becomes muffled and is sometimes even (literally) drowned out altogether. But maybe it's possible to get the very pointy rubber earbuds that they supply deeper into your ear canal than I managed to do when I first tried to use them. Still, even hearing a muffled sound in your ears is an amazing thing when you are swimming underwater; it definitely transforms the experience for the better. I swam for longer than I normally would but noticed the effort less, though this may be down to the novelty factor.
The only other gripe is that the cord from the armband to the headphones is a trifle short, and I'm not the tallest of people either, so you may find there's a slightly irritating pulling between them from time to time unless you keep the armband very high on your arm. But it has a strap with very strong velcro that does keep it in place pretty effectively (though I was only swimming a steady breast stroke and not really making any violent movements), and I have to say you don't really notice it when you're actually swimming; it feels a bit bulky out of the pool but once you're in, you hardly feel it. Certainly worth considering if you like music and water but have never been able to bring the two together before.
