Customer Reviews

Creative Labs Armband for Zen X-Fi (Black)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

but, i did have some problems with it at first. for one thing the player doesn't fit all the way in, so you can't quite reach all the controls, or you can put it in backwards and then the screen is partially blocked. also there's no way to reach the power button if for some reason your player idled off (two words: PHONE CALL). on the plus side it is the most comfortable armband I've found for a workout, and with a little creative surgery all the other issues are resolved too :)

The Creative armband for Zen X-FI is a near miss. It looks good,well built and you can use the Zen controls through the screen protector. The problem I have with this item is it won't stay on. First you can only attach the velcro with one hand to your other arm. You can make it as tight as you want but as soon as you let go, it falls down around your elbow. This makes it pretty worthless to me. HMMm! Maybe around the neck would work.

Good quality arm band, has a small opening for the speaker and a small pocket on the side for what I do not know. The only problem I have with it is that my Zen X-Fi doesn't fit in the band all the way, a little bit of it sticks out. Other than that, if you listen to music while working out, it is a must.

I love this armband - it's very convenient when working out. There is a plastic cover that protects the screen. The only 'con' (if I had to pick one) is that it shifts a little and I miss the end button. No big deal though.

The only thing i can say is your arm will get hot. Tha armband does not let your arm breath.

This is a very poorly designed product. The first thing that surprised me was that you need to remove the Zen from the case to access the buttons. If you are designing a case specifically for the one MP3 player, don't you think you would make sure you can operate it without taking it out?

The second shortcoming which is the most severe, is the strap is extremely difficult to put on and will not stay in place. Similar products I have used in the past have a velcro strap with a buckle so you bring the strap back through the buckle and then it folds back on itself and you can cinch it tight. This doesn't have the buckle, so you have two piecec of velcro that you are trying to wrap around your bicep and pull tight with one hand. When you do get it on, the unit has very little stretch, so once you start working out and you muscle starts flexing, it will slide down to you elbow or below.

So in summary, this is pretty useless for running or weight lifing.

Seriously, what was Creative thinking about when they designed this armband?

Allow me to explain. I purchased the Creative Zen X-Fi player and thought it would be nice to have an armband to not only protect it, but also be able to use it while excercising, doing yardwork, etc. Instead of ordering something off eBay, like I normally do for items such as this, I ordered it from Amazon at the same time as ordering the player.

When the player arrived, I was surprised by it's small size (I purchased the 32gb player). After learning how to use it (and it does have a slight learning curve), I decided to put it to use. I opened up my armband and inserted the player. The armband's construction is excellent, with nothing but the best materials being used. That's where the positives stop. I inserted the player into its compartment on the armband. It slides in and fits snugly in there. It is protected by a clear plastic sheet, which still allows operation of the player's functions. Just below the plastic protective sheet is a 1/2" opening. My guess is that this is for the heaphones. The location is odd, since the heaphone jack is on the side of the player, not on the bottom, so using it would make no sense.

Here's where it gets interesting. In order to put it on you must either posess 3 arms (1 for the armband and 2 to put it on) or have some assistance, as there is no other way to put it on. This makes it very difficult to put when alone. Once on, if it isn't tight enough, it will slip down fairly easily, which means you have to find your buddy again to put it back on.

Frankly, I don't believe the designers ever tried one on. Or they believed there would always be someone around to help put it on.

Anyway, don't waste your money. The player is great. The armband is not.

Oh, I did find one on eBay for half the price that does what it's supposed to.

This was a gift for my son who will be in the 2011 Iron Man Triathlon. He said it functions with all the workouts that can be download to the computer and compare each workout. He can transfer the info to his coach to review. The GPS gives detail info for how far, how long you ran or biked and tracks where you went. Easy to charge, large enough to see. Just a great unit for any athlete that needs their workout recorded and reviewed.

This armband was clearly not designed for the creative X-Fi...and here's why.

1) There's an access port in the arm bad to plug in headphones...that the x-fi doesn't have. The X-Fi plugs into the end (that sticks out of the arm band), not into the bottom, where this opening is in the armband.

2)The last row (and most important play/pause) buttons are covered up by the fabric/plastic edge of the armband.

3)Unless the people in the Creative design department are predominately left handed, they totally missed the boat on designing it. Most people are right handed and like to use their right hand to adjust small little buttons on small MP3 players....which means strapping it to your left arm so your right hand can do the adjusting. Only to do so, means you have to mount the Zen armband upside down (so the MP3 player could fall out...and it eventually will if you are running) if you want to be able to read the display right side up.

4)Can't access the power button while it's in the armband.

Since this is an armband made by Creative, you think they'd know their own specs on their products...I lost my old original creative zen on a plane, otherwise I'd have tried it in the armband and probably still gotten the same poor results.

Fail.

End of Line.

We bought this to for our toddler's media player and wish the armband would close on the "top" side so the player won't slide out.