HDD-based Walkman (NW-HD5, NW-A3000) in tropical climate

[steve.ch]

hello

as i referred in my other threads i will be staying for some weeks in the tropics (maldives) and plan to take a walkman with me.

there are still some (paranoid?) doubts of me, if the player can be regularly used in such climate conditions. i think not really the temperature is a problem, but the humidity in the air (80-90%) could very well be. especially since SONY officially advised me not bring my player there. on the other hand they sell their products also in such tropic countries, which is in my opinion very contadictionary.

i now many people there use computers and laptops but do this often in air-conditioned areas. but i will be using the player mostly outside.

So does anybody lives in the tropics or have benn spending time in such areas (for example thailand, maldives, carribean, south east asia) and has been using his gear (can also be laptops etc. any HDD) and confirm here that he/she never had a problem resulting from this.

i would be glad to here your experiences

thanks a lot, steve

[Guest Stuge]

hello Steve.Ch..I nto living in Tropic But as I have already Told you in my last post that even in Winters the Maximum Humidity in Delhi Is 86%.And I was using my player outdoor without any problems & It is still working fine .

Also go to

http://www.sony.net/.

Click on Select Region Asia & See they are selling their walkmans in Maldives as well.

[iggs]

I work south of Mombassa during july and august. Friends of mine who live out there permenantly find that as long as you don't live too close to the beach (i.e. beach front) electronics fair ok although not as well as they do in a less humid enviroment. If your staying long term on the beach front then expect EVERYTHING to deteriorate suprisingly quickly, especially electronics and cd's etc

[Guest Stuge]

Also I would like to add something further Yes Iggs is right .I forgot to tell you something Last year when I was Listen my music on D-NE900 outside during rainy season for One week .But just after one week all my front buttons stopped working .Even Jog dial was also not working properly but since my Walkman was in Wrrenty I gave my Walkman ito sony .When I asked the Engg waht was the problem he told me that there was some problem with bottons so we replaced all the buttons .Amazing So i will like to tell you that keep your player always inside the Cover .

[Kit]

I don't think there will be any problems with such climate, I come from Malaysia and I've used my HD3 during jogs in the evenings and I haven't experienced any problem with my machine. I do however had problems with my MDR-EX71s once when one of the earbuds stop functioning. I reckon it was my sweat that got into the earbuds.

[steve.ch]

thanks to everybody so far for your answers!

it helps a littel bit.

the thing now is, i in fact will be staying for two weeks on very small island (800 meters long 200 meters wide) so i will be definately stay REALLY ON THE BEACHFRONT!!

Of course my walkman will be staying a lot of time inside the bungalow (air-conditioned), but also will come outside everyday for some time!

so i wonder.... whats in this matter is considered "long time", i guess two weeks is not that long...or is it??

well if i take a player with me, i trust the NW-HD5 more to be stable than the AW-3000, what you guys think?

greetings (specailly to my friend stugee and also to all the other "internationals"

question to kit: are you jogging on the beachfront in malaisya?

[Guest Stuge]

Hi & Greetings to you as well

I know that HD5 is thinner than A3000 & Has Less weight THan A3000.But I will still advise you to take your A3000

instead of Nw-HD5.Reason behind is simple if anything goes wrong(God forbids) with your A3000 then it will be easier for Sony to exchange the A3000 than HD5 . By the time you will return from Maldives there is a chance that Sony might stop the production of HD5 & It will be difficult for Sony to Exchange HD5(Due to shortage) .Like in my case ,Hard Disk of my HD3 stopped working .So initially they(Sony ) thought of Exchanging the player but since it was not available they could not replace it instead they repaired it (Hard disk was changed ) but when i got the player back the packing was loose which irritated me a lot .So i contacted the dealer & I was lucky that dealer was having the last piece of it & He exchanged it .

Steve think of worst Possible Scenario & Be on the safer side .Take your A3000 instead.

[steve.ch]

hello stugee my friend!

well i understand your reasons.

i trust the nw-hd 5 more, because i read here in the forum that the aw-3000 has a little problem with its coverage. it seems to happen that for some people it in fact cracked sort of open, so i was thinking that the nw-hd 5 is better sealed (it has also a covered usb and electricity port) and so it would be more resistant to the humidity.

i also start worry about the salt there on the beach!!!

i look on the internet for more people who have any experience with their sony or even ipods in this einviroments, and i found not much, some ipods users had a (temporary) failure and some others had no problems, i hope still that more people with experience will answer here in the forum! well if i take it with me i will buy even a small neopren bag, which is waterproof and will also add there a small bag of silicate gel to pick up the moisture, but maybe i am just crazy, sometimes i think that many travellers there have an ipod or sony with them and nothing happens.....

anyway, take good care, a big hello to new-delhi

greetings steve