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In Depth Product Reviews
You probably stumbled upon here looking for a review of a sports gadget. If you’re trying to decide which unit to buy – check out my in-depth reviews section. Some reviews are over 60 pages long when printed out, with hundreds of photos! I aim to leave no stone unturned.
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Read My Sports Gadget Recommendations.
Here’s my most recent GPS watch guide here, and cycling GPS computers here. Plus there are smart trainers here, all in these guides cover almost every category of sports gadgets out there. Looking for the equipment I use day-to-day? I also just put together my complete ‘Gear I Use’ equipment list, from swim to bike to run and everything in between (plus a few extra things). And to compliment that, here’s The Girl’s (my wife’s) list. Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!
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Have some fun in the travel section.
I travel a fair bit, both for work and for fun. Here’s a bunch of random trip reports and daily trip-logs that I’ve put together and posted. I’ve sorted it all by world geography, in an attempt to make it easy to figure out where I’ve been.
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My Photography Gear: The Cameras/Drones/Action Cams I Use Daily
The most common question I receive outside of the “what’s the best GPS watch for me” variant, are photography-esq based. So in efforts to combat the amount of emails I need to sort through on a daily basis, I’ve complied this “My Photography Gear” post for your curious minds (including drones & action cams!)! It’s a nice break from the day-to-day sports-tech talk, and I hope you get something out of it!
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The Swim/Bike/Run Gear I Use List
Many readers stumble into my website in search of information on the latest and greatest sports tech products. But at the end of the day, you might just be wondering “What does Ray use when not testing new products?”. So here is the most up to date list of products I like and fit the bill for me and my training needs best! DC Rainmaker 2024 swim, bike, run, and general gear list. But wait, are you a female and feel like these things might not apply to you? If that’s the case (but certainly not saying my choices aren’t good for women), and you just want to see a different gear junkies “picks”, check out The Girl’s Gear Guide too.
Do you know if it is compatible with audiobooks from Audible.com?
Hmm, not sure. Are the files DRM protected? If so, probably not. If not, I can try one. If you send one over (ray @ mydomainname.com) then I’ll give it a shot and report back.
Can’t wait for this review! I am trying to decide between SwiMP3 and Neptune, I am not sure if the additional cost is justified!
I’m also eagerly anticipating your review! There’s not a single ‘real life’ review out there yet.
Any chance you could compare to the previous swimP3 player in terms of any differences in bone conduction / sound quality as well as size? Thanks!
Will note. This one I will say is loud as all get out. Like, hear it 10 lanes away while above water loud.
I can’t believe they didn’t combine the functionality of the aqua pulse and the swimp3. A no brainer to corner both markets, and not much extra circuitry needed.
I can’t really see the point of the screen while doing swim sets. I’m suppose to stop, take this giant thing off my head, look for a different song, then put it back on?
I love the SwiMP3 and just stuff it with tunes I like. It is background,not the focus.
Looking forward to the review and learning whether there is any difference in sound quality.
It’s more for settings things up ahead of time, or just finding the right playlist/album/etc ahead of time.
So, my question is, for someone just getting started in the pool, is it worth getting the Neptune or the Swimp3? There is only a $40 price difference it appears. My concern is whether the screen in the back make it more bulky…
I wouldn’t say that being new to the pool makes much of a difference here. It’s mostly just an ease of use things in that the Neptune makes it a heck of a lot easier to navigate to specific songs/albums/tracks. That’s the main difference.
I was almost about to press “pay now”. Thank god I reached your site for the honest and real review. Please send it out soon. Swimming with music/audiobook is somewhat like a childhood dream coming true, and I really don’t want to muck up the experience, by buying the almost-awesome thing. I also wanted to know, if it feels heavy wearing it on the back of the head ‘coz it looks bulky(ish).
i went ahead and got it, and its exactly what i’d imagined, maybe a lil more too :)
I have been using my Neptune for about 2 weeks now and I quite like it. big improvement on the sound quality when I put some silicone putty ear plugs in, especially when doing front crawl all though I still drowned it out a little doing that stroke. I have an issue with the shuffle though. It plays about 4 songs randomly and then goes back to the first song and starts playing the same 4 songs. Anyone else finding this?
I just received my Neptune today and tried it out in the pool. For the past several years I’ve been using an original blue and white Swimp3 so my experience is relative.
I was excited about the new connection to iTunes and was eager to try it out. All of my music was purchased on iTunes so, no luck. You have to convert every song just like before into MP3. Only songs that you ripped off of CD’s from iTunes are directly compatible.
I wanted to be able to take advantage of playlists and figured that the addition of the big MP3 box in the middle with the screen would save me from having to listen to one linear list of songs. Nope. No playlists AT ALL. You can choose to play music by an artist. Or MANUALLY ONE BY ONE on the TINY PLAYER controls mark a song as a “favourite”. Wow. No ALBUM, no GENRE, no file structure. So basically, no real advantage over the original Swimp3 here unless you want to listen to entire albums. The extra space is kind of a waste without playlists.
The fit was about the same as the original swimp3 and the box that clips onto the back of your goggle band doesn’t really make so much of a difference to water resistance.
What I do like is being able to see what the battery level is and the less confusing interface. I bought the Neptune partly because every time I wanted to use my Swimp3 it was discharged even though it was plugged in. It takes more power to play than a charger provides I suspect and it would often strangely just turn itself on after a few minutes and drain it’s own battery when I left the room. That was pretty frustrating.
My big hope – software upgrades. Hopefully the people in charge of products care about making a good product instead of just selling the first pass to a million mildly disappointed customers.
I’ll probably keep mine. But only just…
Indeed, I found the same thing on playlists – very odd in my opinion. Was hoping for just some variant of drag and drop. The favorites piece is a bit cumbersome, especially having to do it on the unit itself.
Thanks, David. Your info about itunes is exactly what I’ve been trying to figure out.
Are they functional in sea water?
As David noted, there’s no inherent problems there. The manual specifies that fresh or salt-water is fine (page 3). The challenge is long-term corrosion of any metal contacts. One quick way to reduce that is just rinse it off in the shower post-swim (also noted on page 3 to do).
I can’t see why they wouldn’t be functional in sea water. I’m using it in a salt water swimming pool myself.
I was already checking some local stores in Belgium to order the player and then discovered this site, now after reading the comments I doubt if I should order them, 160 Euro is quite expensive
my biggest concern is that other swimmers have to listen to my music as the unit is so loud (link to youtube.com) or is the sound not hearable for others when you have them in correct position?
hopefully the full review is published soon
I wouldn’t worry about other swimmers. The sound is very much just in your own head. Anyone actively swimming around you won’t hear a thing.
It can be, but at its loudest volume setting, it’s actually loud enough that above water it’s easily heard a few lanes away. Underwater, just in your head.
Can’t wait for the review – will wait before I buy. Looking forward to the comparison to Speedo Aquabeat and SwiMP3.
Me too! Any chance of that review? Been checking your site nearly daily hoping that it would be up.. any eta?
Got my Neptune,
Only one speaker plays (one ear only) … big headache … need to replace the thing and I live in Singapore..
I also thought I can sync it directly with Itunes , but if I can only do MP3, I don’t really see the difference from previous generation. There I had to drag songs into FInis and I have to do the same now..
just bought it and I cant wait to use it. But I noticed a small problem. As i opened the box and the the player, i noticed that the USB port is open. I mean, there is no cover to put on it. Is it the way it supposed to be? Do i use the player in pool while the USB port of the player is open?
thanks!
The USB connector port itself is fully waterproofed.
I would like to see a pros and cons of the Neptune vs the latest swimp3. I am trying a buddies real old swimp3 (holds 25songs). I don’t mind the size of it until I looked and saw how small the latest swimp3 looks. Finis obviously went back to a bigger size though. It looks to be about 2/3 of the size of the one I’m currently using. Really looking forward to seeing a side by side comparison.
Since I have one of the older Swimp3’s and the Neptune I can make a few comments. I don’t have the latest swimp3.
The older swimp3 didn’t have the thing stuck on the back of your head. I find that sometimes over an hour or so the Neptune slowly drags the strap down due to water pressure. It doesn’t pull off the goggles but it’s doesn’t always stay put exactly where it was either. Not that big a deal though.
The Neptune seems to only last a few days before it’s “standby mode” discharges the unit. I was surprised by this and now keep it plugged in all the time to ensure it’s always ready. The Swimp3 would last longer but there was no way of knowing how much charge there was. I also found the Swimp3 would sometimes even discharge while plugged in. That was very frustrating. I don’t know if the new Swimp3 has the same problem.
The Neptune has more storage. Given that it’s a pain to convert and transfer files to it regularly, shuffle mode across a long list of songs seems to work the best for variety.
The old Swimp3 had a smooth bone conduction surface and the Neptune is more rubbery. Even though the Neptune method is supposed to be better, there is little real difference in sound quality between the two. Both of them could stood to have been louder. There’s a hidden volume control on the Neptune (hold next song up/down), but I leave mine at maximum all the time and still wish for a bit more. The rubber surface holds in place better than the old swimp3.
A huge difference is the way the old and new clipped to the goggle straps. The new one comes up from the bottom like alligator clips (if you know what those are in electronics). It’s actually possible to put on your goggles and then put on the Neptune. With the old Swimp3 you really had to attach it to the goggles first and then struggle to get everything onto your head all at once. I really appreciate this.
All in all, my old Swimp3 is gathering dust in a drawer and my Neptune is the one I use. I guess that means that the Neptune’s better, but could still use playlists!
Just bought my Finis Neptune yesterday. Tested it out in the pool during my set and had trouble with it stopping song play intermittently. After some time it froze and switched off by itself – I now see there is water on the inside of the device. The screen is misty on the inside. Anyone have a similar problem? I’ll have to take this up with my local distributor – it’s just worrying when you’re spending that amount of money, you’d expect the water ‘proofness’ of the device to be beyond excellent.
looking forward to the full review. I have the very old blue and white one. I pulled it out after not having used it for about 3 years and now I cant get it to turn on.
Hi Sue – and others – the review was published a couple of weeks ago: link to dcrainmaker.com
Enjoy!