Home > Consumer Reviews > INTOVA INWP-HS256 H2O Man 256MB Waterproof MP3 Player

It was difficult getting it to work properly at first. The manual is almost useless and the buttons don't work as you'd expect. For instance, to turn it on you have to press and hold PLAY for several seconds.

Quirks aside, once in the water the sound quality is surprisingly good. I had several iPod cases and expensive waterproof headphones and this devices beats them all hands down.

The problem is that the headphone cable is flimsy and from normal use it broke at the base where it connects to the unit. These are not replaceable, so now I need a new unit.

Great Value. I still can't get over how it sounds terrible until you get in the water and then sounds really good.
I wanted something basic, that could play 20 minutes of music while I did laps in the pool and this is just what the doctor ordered.
I already own an iPod that I didn't want to risk in a waterproof housing, so I wasn't after something really cool with lots of bells and whistles.
The fact that it doesn't have rechargeable batteries has not been an issue. I've only changed the battery once so far, as I only use it about 3 days a week for 20 minutes or less, I'm glad to have one less thing to worry about keeping charged up.
If this one broke, I'd buy another right away.

Before I bought this player I loved to swim but it got really boring without some sort of distraction.
Now that I have it an hour and a half swim goes by like nothing. The only issue that I have, and it's a small
one but annoying none the less, is that if the headphone cords go then you have to buy an completely new unit.
But that is a small issue compared to being able to listen to music while you swim.

I have a hard time hearing because of the noise of the water and breathing underwater - - - plus I have difficulty keeping the earphones seated in my ear -- water gets in there and then the sound is muffled, etc. So frustrating! The adapters don't fit my ears at all -- such is life. Nonetheless, it's a cool thing, and when I can get it to work, it helps break the boredom.

I've learned to put vaseline on the gasket and threads EVERY time -- it got wet on one of my first uses, but I put it on a vent that was blowing fresh air, and it seemed to be fine afterwards. Lucky me . . . !

The volume buttons serve 2 functions -- fast push and you go to the next selection . . .slow push, you get an increase or decrease in volume as appropriate ----- SOOOO frustrating to try to adjust the volume and accidentally advance to the next selection --- .

I don't think I would go with a 256mb again because I listen to a lot of NPR hour programs, and it will only hold about 6 of them --- but . . . the price was right on this one, and it got me started.

I should have known better, but ordered it despite the negative reviews. I set it up, put on two songs as test, it worked fine, put on a few more songs, it completely stopped working. This is before it went anywhere near any water. DO NOT BUY THIS THING.