Bluetooth doesn’t transmit well in the water, which is why many swimmers use waterproof headphones with built-in music players when they want to do laps with some music playing. Shokz already makes one of the most popular option in the category with their OpenSwim model. Problem is, it’s strictly a music player, so you’ll have to switch to regular Bluetooth headphones for your listening needs the rest of the day. The Shokz OpenSwim Pro changes that.
Like the regular OpenSwim, these swim headphones have a built-in music player, so you can load it up with music files and listen to those during your laps. Unlike it, though, this one actually gets Bluetooth support, so you can use it even after you finish your swim training, sparing you from having to carry another pair of headphones for when you’re out of the water.
The Shokz OpenSwim Pro are bone conduction headphones, so you place them right outside the ear canals, allowing you to hear environmental sounds while enjoying your playlists. It looks very similar to the original OpenSwim, so it should wear just as comfortably and carry just as conveniently. As with the standard version, it comes with a built-in music player, albeit with a larger 32GB storage, allowing you to cram in up to 8,000 songs for your listening enjoyment, with no need to pair with an external music source.
Being designed for swimming, it boasts a triple-sealed design that gives it an IP68 waterproof rating, allowing it to submerge in two meters of water for up to two hours without taking any damage. Combined with the built-in music player, this makes it ideal for use in the water, since you don’t have to worry about maintaining a Bluetooth signal whether you’re swimming at a local pool or the open sea.
The Shokz OpenSwim Pro’s big selling point, though, is the integrated Bluetooth, so you can use it like any pair of wireless headphones. That means, you can stream Spotify, Pandora, or any other music service from your phone while you run, commute, or hit the weights room. Since it uses an open-ear design, you can even use it while driving without leaving you impervious to what’s going on in your immediate surroundings. Even better, it supports multipoint pairing, allowing you to simultaneously keep it connected to two devices while switching seamlessly between them.
Sadly, it still doesn’t solve the problem of transmitting Bluetooth signals in the water, so you still won’t be able to stream music from your phone when doing laps at the pool. Battery life is rated at nine hours when used with Bluetooth, which goes down to six hours when used with the built-in music player, although it does have a quick-charge mode that puts in three hours’ worth of juice in just 10 minutes of plugging in. Other features include a nickel-titanium alloy construction, a secure pinch-free fit, sports-optimized physical buttons for tactile control, and a companion app where you can switch audio modes, toggle between paired devices, and personalize sound settings.
The Shokz OpenSwim Pro is available now.