“Sound quality here is sharp and clear”. These waterproof headphones scored 92% in testing

Shokz (previously known as Aftershokz) are likely the brand best-known in the bone conduction market. Founded in 2004, they launched the first bone conduction headphones in 2011 and have expanded the range and developed the technology since then with several models now available to suit the swim, run and fitness markets as well as general daily use.

The OpenSwim Pro is the current flagship model in the brand’s swimming headphones range – also available are the OpenSwim (£139), which only feature MP3 playback and 4GB, whereas the Pro version here includes Bluetooth and a larger (in fact huge!) 32GB of storage. Not that I’d imagine you’d ever need this much music, but it’s an impressive capacity!

What’s in the box

The battery life here is equally impressive. You get an average of 9 hours in Bluetooth mode and 6 hours in MP3 mode (with slight variations based on things like volume) and a quick 10-minute charge will give you three hours of playback, which is really good if you forgot to charge them but are about to go out for a long session.

Included in the package here is the headphone unit, available in the red shown here or grey, as well as a soft pouch case with a zip and earplugs in a hard case, as well as a charging cable.

I actually thought the charging cable here was a plus point – many on test here used a four-pin magnetic one which had a tendency to come loose if accidentally nudged, whereas the one here had a much more secure connection.

Performance and sound quality

In use, the sound quality here is sharp and clear and I was impressed by the playback underwater, with no muffling of the sound.

Operation is via two buttons on one side for on/off and volume and a single multifunction button on the other which controls play/ pause, fast-forward and rewind tracks and answering phone calls.

It’s pretty intuitive, and I quickly got used to using the controls while swimming. A note on manufacturer’s recommendations.

Here, this unit is waterproofed to IP68 and Shokz tell us it can be used up to 2 meters deep for up to 2 hours. Again, some of my swims in testing were longer than this and I didn’t experience any problems, but if you want to ensure the longevity of your device and keep the guarantee in place, you should follow the guidelines!

Like most on test, they are only recommended for use in freshwater. None of the units here were tested in the sea as I do my training in a lake, but it’s worth being mindful of if you sea swim.

These were comfortable to wear on dry land, though like all headphones of this design, the top of my ears did get a little sore on longer swims as the ear hook pressed on to them and was compressed by my swim cap.

Shokz Openswim Pro specs

Price	$179.95 / £169
Waterproof rating	IP68
Bluetooth	Yes + MP3 Dual Modes
Storage	32GB