Not designed for fitness enthusiast
Written: Sep 21 '03 (Updated Sep 22 '03)
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Pros: One of the few "sport MP3 players" with a belt clip.
Cons: Poorly designed controls.
The Bottom Line: Avoid this product if your exercise involves brisk cardio activities. You'll fumble with the controls.
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| erayser's Full Review: Rio Sport S30S (64 MB) MP3 Player |
I bought this product 3 months ago.
As a former electronics products tester and a runner/gym rat who works out at least 4-5 times per week, I've come to despise this poorly engineered product.
It certainly wasn’t designed with the fitness enthusiast’s vigorous activities in mind. .
Back in more innocent times, I bought this product based on the following criteria:
1. Its designation as a "sports MP3 player" (i.e., water resistance and ruggedness).
2. Integral belt clip: I, for one, do not like mounting players on armbands for it interferes with my arm mobility during upper body workouts.
3. Relative low-cost ($100.00 at time of purchase). I needed a "disposable" MP3 player knowing that the player would get banged around or dropped during my workouts.
I did not care for the bells and whistles that come with more expensive players.
Over the course of time, I've cursed the designers of this product, wondering if they even tested this product during extended real-life physical fitness activities.
Here are my biggest bones of contention with the product’s design:
1. The aforementioned belt clip is actually a holster that snaps onto the back of the player in a form fitting fashion. With this holster, accessibility to the power switch and the volume control buttons becomes blatantly cumbersome to everyone whose fingers are thicker than a 2 year-old toddler’s when adjusting the volume while sweaty and exhausted running at a moderate speed, especially on a treadmill.
2. Although the player resembles a giant kidney bean, it is relatively round. If that player fall off while you’re running, it’ll, in all likelihood, land on its edge and roll away like a runaway train. It’s reminiscent of a car chase in a 1970s movie where a car’s hubcap flies off in one direction as the car makes a short turn eluding the fuzz. Now imagine that you’re the car and your $100 mp3 player is a hubcap. The flimsy plastic belt clip is a useful aid in recreating an episode of "Starsky and Hutch". The clip is simply a flexible plastic strip that isn’t spring-loaded as are most quality cell phone holsters.
3. MY BIGGEST COMPLAINT: That oversized circular button which controls four functions: 1. play/pause, 2. stop, 3. previous track, 4. next track. Each of the four functions is placed at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock positions of the button, which is about the size of a quarter. It is extremely easy to push the pause button (12 o’clock position) as opposed to moving to the next or previous track (3 and 9 o’clock positions respectively).. It appears that pressing the button at either the 11 or 1-o’clock positions will cause the player to pause as opposed to changing the track. VERY ANNOYING and distracting as you attempt to fumble through the controls while running. Additionally, the surface of the button is raised as opposed to recessed within the player. Consequently, it is TOOOOOOO easy for the button to be inadvertently pressed by the side of your arm (especially during dumbbell arm curls or even by your love handles). The button overly sensitive. Inasmuch as it is difficult to avoid touching an over stimulated “body parts” during rigorous sexual activity, it is all too easy to inadvertently press the sensitive button on the S30S during intense exercise. I guarantee that nothing is more disruptive to the pace of your cardio workout than having to fumble with the S30S when that damn button is accidentally pressed to resume playback of a song.
Of course, SonicBlue will defend the product by asserting that it has a lock function that disables the functionality of that button. Too bad it also disables the volume control as well. To unlock it, you will need to unclip the player, and press two buttons simultaneously using both hands. That is nearly as awkward as trying to thread a needle while running on a treadmill. As a workaround, I purchased a set of Sony MDR-E829V ($14.99 at Circuit City) ear bud headphones: the audio quality is far superior to the stock headphones and as an added bonus, it has its own volume control unit.
On another note, the FM tuner on the S30S has horrible reception. I live in Los Angeles, and had absolutely no success in getting reception from the stations that broadcat with the most powerful signals. For stations that can be received, static can be heard in the background. I’ve gotten superior reception from those cheesy no-name FM radios that you win at school fundraisers for selling a certain amount of candy bars, magazines, raffle tickets, etc. as opposed to this $100+ player. SonicBlue claims that the version 1.84 firmware upgrade offered for download on their website improves the reception of the tuner. Poppycock!! I heard no difference whatsoever.
Oh, and if you listen to an MP3 song at a nominal volume and switch to the tuner, you will blow your eardrums out from all the static in tuner mode. Strange how the tuner’s volume level is significantly louder than even the highest file-quality MP3 songs.
I am extremely disappointed with SonicBlue’s design of the S30S MP3 player for it is not convenient to use for fitness enthusiasts, especially runners. I am contemplating sending a box of complimentary passes to a local gym to the product design team in the hope that they test future products at a gym, not in some sedentary test lab with empty pizza boxes and cans of Mountain Dew all over the place.
Thanks for reading.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 120.00
Recommended for: Beginners - Easy Enough for Tech Newbies
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Epinions.com ID:
erayser
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Reviews written: 1
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