Customer Reviews

INTOVA INWP-HS512 H2O Man 512MB Waterproof MP3 Player

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Don't know what "Picasso" was talking about, since first of all the H20 Man is 512 MB, not 128 (which was, I think, an old original product). Secondly, the bubble - which has all the controls on the outside; easily pressed in the water - is small, and fits on the front or the back of my bathing suit (or even on the band of a scuba mask if you snorkel, which I do) or on the velcro armband that comes with it.

Third, this little thing has great stereo sound - even better under water! - and best of all the silicone earplugs don't fall out of your ears when you're moving fast.

It's drag and drop too, so I just connect it to my laptop and drag all my MP3's on it. The 512 MB holds a ton, and sometimes I put an entire audio book on it for a different kind of workout instead. The price is amazing - though I admit I got it for a bit less on The Writers' Collective site, and the one I got a year ago is still going strong.

I was dubious but when it went on sale at Amazon for $44, I thought what the heck. I'm a lap swimmer, and there are a couple of setup tricks that will help.

1. Forget the armband, the wires are constantly getting in the way and the band is just a distraction. Forget doing a butterfly stroke with this puppy strapped like a torpedo to your arm.
2. Clip it to the back of your suit or get a swim belt.
3. Tuck the heaphone wire through your google strap to keep the headphones in place.
3. Push the headphones into the ear canal to get a water tight seal. If you have large ear canals and the earplugs insert too far, clip a piece of the end.

Getting songs onto the player couldn't be simpler. I use Linux, and Window$ computers. Just plug the player into the USB port and drag/drop your mp3 folders. The player is USB 2.0 compliant so transfer is relatively fast.

As noted in other reviews, it has limited operation features. One thing was a pleasant surprise to me, it defaults to shuffle play.

Headphone wires are thin, so try your best to protect them. Vigorous strokes and flip turns should probably be avoided.

The music is surprisingly easy to hear and made the workout 10X more enjoyable.

I bought this over a year ago (cost me $75!) and I loved it while it lasted. The plastic bubble may not be slick or pretty, but the player is not at all cumbersome while swimming; the sound is quite good and the batteries last a long time. The player functions suddenly stopped about a month ago, but for the price now, I would definitely get another one. I am not upset that it stopped working, actually I put it through a LOT because I was using it heavily for memory as well as playing music outside the water all this time. If anything I am surprised at its sturdiness.

I was surprised by the size of the mp3 player and case combination when it arrived, however i've used it twice in the few weeks that i've had it and it works great. I use it for lap swimming, and I always enter the pool by diving in, and have no problems. I also use it for water aerobics.

After a few months of use I was no longer able to get the mp3 player to power on.

I can't figure out how to change my stars from 4 to 2. At first I would have given it a 4, but as powering it on and off became more and more difficult and now I can't get it to power on, I would give it a 2.

6 month update - no longer works

The mini cd doesn't fit into cd drive so I couldn't test loading the drivers. I got it to work exactly once with my MacIntosh and iTunes converted to mp3 files. After that...nothing... Very disappointed.

Had this for 2 years. Was working fine at the beginning, but very difficult to turn on and off and to change songs. The wire is cheap and broke after a couple of months. Then water entered and that was the end of it. This player was bigger than expected too. I won't recommend it.

This is one tough item, except the waterproof headphones.

I have dropped the usb drives at least 15 different times while jogging and it still works great. Battery life is excelent and I find it very nice that you don't have to recharge the device. I have both the 512 and 256mb drives.
I primarily use them to swim laps (a mile a day) and both set of waterproof headphones shorted out after I owned them for a year and a half. The wires are very thin and there isn't a easy way to replace them.
The headphones would come out of my ears on occasion but this was not too annoying.
I still give this item a 5 because of the price and the fact that the mp3 players still work great. I did not have any problems with the devices leaking water like the wireless h20 man I just bought. The item clips easily to the back of my swim suit and does not get in the way. Super easy to use and you can turn the volume up really high.
So for the price and the time it lasted I've decided to stick with this type and buy my 3rd.

I've used this product now for a few weeks and I am really pleased. I have some arthritis problems and lap swimming is the only way I can exercise. I needed something to relieve the boredom and I found it. The sound is perfect and the unit is watertight and rugged. I am very happy with this product and I have already recommended it to other swimmers. The directions are worthless, but all you do is plug the unit into the USB drive and drop your songs or podcasts into the drive. It takes a single AAA battery which I have changed only once since I started using the device.

I purchased this product to do some lap swimming at my wellness center and have the ability to listen to some music while doing so. The device is easy enough to load your mp3's onto with the included software. The sound quality is mediocre at best which is the fault of the poor quality of the ear buds. The ear buds are often difficult to keep in your ears at all times as they tend to slide out of your ear during quick underwater movement. I have a slight problem with the price of this device considering its small size and the fact that it is basically a USB flash drive inside of a water tight container.

Final Word:
This waterproof mp3 player is probably a better bet in its price range than other models from other companies, so if you don't need perfect quality sound then this is the player for you!

I was excited by the positive reviews of this product, and immediately loaded music in WMA format on it when I received it. The instruction manual appears to have been written by someone who is not proficient in English, and it doesn't tell you how to load music until the last page. Most of the manual is spent telling you how to load software onto Windows 98 (I have an XP computer). After I finally was able to fill the drive with music, I put a battery in, and nothing happened. The light came on and would not power off unless I took the battery out. Music would not play when the play button was pressed. I re-checked to make sure I hadn't made a mistake and not successfully loaded my music, but it was all there. The device is defective, and I'm going to try to get my money back, but the return policy from the seller makes it seem like they'll even charge a restocking fee for this defective device. Don't waste your money or valuable time on this.