Customer Reviews

Nu Dolphin Touch Waterproof 4 GB MP3 Player with FM Radio

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Had the Dolphin in the pool 4 times now after a couple of weeks of hesitation. Touch screen works well enough. Screen locks after a few seconds so you don't trigger a song change by accident. Still learning the system, and as a novice MP3 user (yes, at 47 I did not grow up with one in my crib), I find the instructions rather lame. That may be less of a problem for more tech-wise folks. I saw the volume control option on the touchscreen exactly one time in several attempts to locate it. Luckily, I set it at a tolerable level the one time I saw it as I've never been able to find it again! Controls are managed through the on/select/off button and a touch screen with 4 "buttons" and buried menus. Confuses the hell out of me, but I never learned how to use Windows Media Player to set up a playlist to give you some perspective! Need to rent a teenager to explain how to move around on it...

If you screw the waterproof headphone jack in WELL, I can't imagine having leakage (as per other review). I am not thrilled by the earplug headset, but am getting used to it. There are a number of different size earplug covers included so perhaps I am just trying to shove too large a plug in. Mine came with a better quality normal set of earbuds for out of water fun. In the water, you aren't getting high-fidelity, but you DO GET MUSIC. I am a right side breather when doing the crawl, and my right earplug doesn't fit as well as might be possible. I get water in that ear (as it is often held upward and acts as a water trap) that gets past the earplug. Surprisingly, that doesn't much affect the sound. Generally better sound when ears are submerged, but in all cases, I can hear the music clearly enough to keep my head occupied with something other than counting laps. Tonight for the first time, I eliminated the slower songs from my initial upload and swam HARD for 6-7, 3-4 minute songs. While I can swim a mile without too much trouble, I swim fairly casually. I am sure I did at least a half mile in at least 20 minutes of hard swimming and was hardly aware of the strain. The power of music!

Finally, there are wires on this of course. And the unit is designed to be attached to swimming goggle strap. No goggles would be less than ideal I think, though mine also came with an armband I have not used. With goggles, the wires can be tucked up under the strap in the rear to get them out of the way. With the Dolphin strapped onto the goggle strap with the included flexible clips, and the wires tucked into the goggle strap as well, it has held up for 4 long and/or hard swims. I don't notice the Dolphin at all while swimming. Others certainly do. Been asked about it a bunch already at the pool after swimming! I'm quite pleased in general. Wish me luck on getting past my technical limitations with navigating the menus.

I bought this as a gift. The sound is great and yes, it is waterproof, but there are some issues. First of all, what you really cannot tell from pictures or the description is how small the screen is. Had the person I bought this for not had excellent closeup vision, we may have had to return it. I don't need glasses at all and had a very hard time. Second of all, it seems that the player requires charging a bit more often than usual and uses the same mini jack the headphones use to charge so if that cable becomes lost or damaged you will probably need to get that from the manufacturer. The controls take some getting used to, but are fine once you do. Also, the headphones, since they use a mini jack, if you need to replace them, you will either have to order them from the manufacturer, use an adapter or find ones with mini a mini jack. Hopefully the jack and headphones will last. All in all it is an okay buy and a good value. If the manufacturer finds a way to make the changes to the mini jack and enlarge the screen, it could be great.

I had an older Dolphin Underwater MP3 player, but it was only .5 GB. It was great! It lasted approximately 1 1/2 to 2 years and then failed to hold a charge. I decided to get the new 4 GB with stereo headphones. It is wonderful!!!!! I haven't had it long enough to really determine how long it's going to last and whether I will encounter any problems, but so far, it's even better than the old one. I loaded my whole music library onto it, and the stereo earphones have an excellent sound quality - MUCH better than my old Dolphin.

I swim laps usually at least 3 times a week, and it helps liven up my workout. It also comes with regular earphones if you want to use it as a normal MP3 player. It's lightweight, fits on my goggles, and is fairly easy to use. The display is bright and visible, but not for older eyes like mine (I have to wear reading glasses). My solution is to just memorize the sequences and deal with it. So far that has worked just fine. If the readout were larger, the whole unit would have to be larger, and I wouldn't want that, so I don't mind the display size. It's pretty easy to download from my music library and it didn't take long to charge it up and get it loaded.

The only drawback to this product (and my last Dolphin) are the earplugs. They go out occasionally, and I did have to buy new ones for the old player. The ones that came with this were defective, but the return/replace was pretty easy. As I said before, the sound quality is excellent. I have tried other ear plugs, but the Dolphin in-your-ear plug is still my favorite. This new stereo version is even better.

I really can't say enough good things about this. It makes my swimming experience so much better!

Update 4-22-11: I've been using this for a solid month for at least 1 hour in the pool twice a week. Last week there seemed to be some internal condensation on the LED screen which caused the display to stop working. After I let it sit for 2 days, the unit started working properly. I do like the sound quality, the earplugs are a bit big (stick out pretty far), but it works well. If this was $60 or less, I would recommend it to a friend but this product is too sensitive to be made for the water. Also, there is no indication that, when the headphones are connected to the device, it is a sealed connection. I just make sure I make that sucker as tight as it can be.


..... Amazon is being very help and sending me a new one. If this one doesn't break, I will update my review.


I am an electrical engineer, I AM very careful about my electronics in H20.

I used this device two times. The first time, was the break in period for me - learning how to use the device before going into the water & letting it play while swimming. (It's not a device made to switch music/songs while in the h20..even says so on the box) The 2nd day, worked great! Sound was better than the headphones I used for my ipod swimming device. (That was December 25 & 26)[I had PRK eye surgery, so I was banned from h20 until my eyes healed] Now it is March 5th and I want to use this tomorrow ...my device didn't turn on. So, I thought it needed to be charged - but it won't charge on my laptop and it didn't come with any other charging device! I paid "Grand Total: $137.25" FOR CRAP.

DO NOT BUY.

We orded the "dolphin" after an extensive search of options other than the very expensive and fragile waterproofed iPod nanos. The expectations were basic...would the MP3 player be easy to operate, easy to affix to goggles, and would it sound good? The product was attractively packaged with seemingly everything necessary for operation and utilization. Like many Chinese made products today, the instructions left a lot to be desired. The full instructions were available via the enclosed mini-CD. Lacking in the instructions were guides for utilizing the player with iTunes and converting ACC files to MP3. Once that was figured out and done, I moved about 5 albums over to the dolphin as it charged.

I was excited to plug in (and twist!) the headphones and listen to the music on dry land. With some review of the menu system and practice with the touch controls, I arrived at "play." The sound quality was good and it rivaled my previous nano. I quickly figured a way to mount the unit on my goggles and clipped the headphone wires into place. Unlike the nano, the controls are largely unusable by feel - one must look at the unit and touch the controls above the water. I finally slipped in and swam for 45 minutes enjoying the limited music I'd loaded. There was some water leakage into my ears, but for the most part it seemed ok.

When I arrived home, I noticed browsing the menus that the battery was a bit down (after one use), so I plugged the unit into my USB port. The unit neither indicated a charging battery nor did it auto-start a window to exchange MP3's. It did not connect to my computer. I tried other computers...no connection. I now owned a $110 disposable MP3 player with 50 songs on it. I went, got the box and packaging materials together and shipped it back to AMAZON.COM...which has to be the greatest company on Earth! Then I ordered a new waterproof iPod nano from the other guys...for over twice the price. Order the dolphin at some risk of disappointment, and keep your packaging together, because I'm sure you'll end up sending it somewhere for return, repair, or replacement.

This is a great waterproof mp3 player--while it lasts. The waterproof headphones have a very flimsy cord and one one of my earphones cut out in three weeks. Also if you want to make a claim under the 1 year warranty you have to go to: [...] Check out that link and that says everything.

Also, you should know that the headphone input is proprietary so there is no way to substitute another headphone. You'll have to figure out if there is another way to buy a waterproof headphone.

To be honest it is a great product but you must treat it delicately, don't expect any warranty support and be prepared to pay up if it breaks or just live with a defective product (which you can't hear anymore given one input).

The company and quality of the product are great however I was a bit sad to find that every time my husband tried to use it... it would immediately fall out of his ears while swimming. We tried all of the ear piece sizes that it came with and tried adjusting it several different ways on his goggles. Unfortunately unless you wear a swim cap, you cannot use this product.

I received this today and have been working to use it. My review has not been done with it underwater but rather in setting it up. Like some reviewers, my first problem was not having the USB recognnized, even after installing the drivers. It took over an hour of fiddling with it, shutting it down, restarting etc before the USB could be recognized. The instruction manuals with it and online were woefully inadequate. Further issues are for users that have itunes store downloaded music that needs to be converted for the m3p player. Otherwise the itune format was not recognized by the player. Finally as other reviewers have noted, the buttons and menu are extremely difficult to use. All in all, I have worked out the issues with it, but took quite a bit of time. Not easy to set up so prepare for some issues.

This is my first MP3 player; I'm 69 and was really concerned about making files, transferring files, and even liking to use one. This is easy to use, sounds good in the water, and makes doing laps and water exercises more fun. I recharge it regularly so I'm not sure how long the battery really lasts. I do have trouble negotiating the menus; not sure why I haven't got that figured out yet. But transferring the songs is easy. It comes with everything you need: attachments for goggles, arm strap, two sets of earplugs, and UBS plug for computer. Maybe if I were more sophisticated I would be able to cite specific issues with its use. I did read all the comments and decided to try it. I'm glad that I did.

I'm not sure we were intended to listen to music underwater - so the fact this works at all is fairly impressive. Charging the device and loading music is a breeze. Once you get everything set up you start swimming and never touch the controls.....which is a good thing because the controls are rather weak.

The "buttons" are lighted areas that you cover up with your finger to select. This is excellent from a waterproofing viewpoint, but inconvenient for usability. The band that ties the device to your goggle strap interferes with button operation. It would be nice if at least the volume control was usable while the unit is out of site on the back of your head.

The selection for ear pieces is limited. Two options that look like they were designed for water plus three more that look like standard ear buds. I found the one that works for me, but there isn't a good fit for my wife. I don't have nearly the problems I saw from other reviewers; I rarely lose sound though I do periodically re-seat the left ear piece in particular.

The ear phone cord is WAY too long and I folded it up several times before clamping it to my goggle strap. The unit stays nicely tied to your goggle strap and you can't even feel it on your head. I see no need for the arm-mounted case - which is the reason for the long cord.

My guess is that there isn't a huge difference between the makers of underwater mp3 gear. I bought this one because it has a `shuffle' feature (many don't) and it does have a (difficult to read) display that will at least show you if the battery is low. In the end, I'm happy with the underwater sound.