- Listen, watch, and play all day with 24 hours of battery life and room for up to 1,000 songs
- Watch your favorite video clips or share your photos on the 1.9-inch color screen
- Digital FM radio with 40 preset stations
- Voice recording with built-in microphone
- Expand your existing 4 GB memory with the microSD/microSDHC slot
Pros
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Very nice screen and just big enough that if you were stuck on a plane, watching a movie still is an enjoyable experience.
Simple and very intuitive interface. I love the fact that the iPod-like wheel actually rotates.
Expansion via MicroSD cards is a great feature. I was able to swap the MicroSD card between my BlackBerry and the Fuze and be able to share images, and music.
The FM Radio and ability to record from it is one of the coolest features. There's something about the randomness about radio that I still really like. And the ability to record a song that I don't already have can save you some money.
I haven't used the external mic yet, but I think that's a neat feature to have when you have a thought and want to record it. I can think of several times where I've had a thought and wasn't able to write it down.
Cons
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The most frustrating experience I've had with the Fuze is the ability to get Video transferred. I've tried multiple formats and have been very unsuccessful in finding the right format to use. This is the main reason I've not given it a full 5 star review. Of course it's ridiculous to think that this would be a 'Movie' player. However, I have some great concerts that I would love being able to watch as well as listen to. I'm not interested in watching a movie.
The on/off switch is great if you want to make sure that you don't accidentially turn on/off. However, I think it's overly difficult. Especially if you have large fingers. I would have preferred to press the Play button for a couple of seconds.
The device 'hiccups' when scrolling through music that has album art. For some reason, when you get to the list of albums, the select button doesn't work until the album art appears. Often requiring you to double-click. Not a big deal, unless you're quickly trying to find a song to add to the play list.
Finally, the device is either too new or not popular enough to warrant accessories. I really want to buy a protective cover, but they don't exist. I've read that some people are using Nano covers, but they don't fit well enough. This is really bad if you want to use the Fuze while exercising or cutting the lawn.
Overall, I would highly recommend the Fuze to anyone looking for a low-cost small media device. The cons shouldn't sway you away from buying it, but they are good to know. I'll update my review when I figure out the right combination of video formats for the device.
Buy SanDisk Sansa Fuze 4 GB Video MP3 Player (Black) Now
This player has really just become available. I ordered thru an Amazon seller, before it became available. Shipping was a little higher. But I wanted it right away. This thing is a perfect size, but beware..little if any accessories exist for it at the moment. I am sure this will change. A skin would be nice to protect the front face..which is very attractive to scratching. The thumb wheel works great, and I have big thumbs. All the menus are easily accessible and it syncs with Windows MediaPlayer 11 quickly and easily. I have mostly older CD's that I wanted to rip to file and then sync. Most all of the cover art was available with WMP11 and it rolled seamlessly into the Fuze. Several view modes while playing , one with the EQ, one with the cover art enlarged, one with time of song and time left etc;. Screen is big enough to suit my needs and it plays very well through the aux jack in my car. Battery seems to last longer than some. I would say the only drawback is that this battery is NOT replaceable according to Sansa, so hope it lasts awhile. Overall the price is great and the ease of carrying a few Micro SDHC cards give it unlimited potential. Great unit.
UPDATE: After having this a couple weeks, I would give it 5 stars, GREAT little unit...With the Fuze itself and the 4 Gig Micro SDHC card, I now have 2163 songs on it. I also had a 2 gig card with a 150 songs on it and counting. Performs flawlessly.
UPDATE 2: Dec.19,2008. I still have had no problems with mine. No skipping, or ticks. And no problem with a myriad of different headsets.
I'm sure its possible to get defective units, as anything produced in mass quantity is going to have a few slip through with a defect or two. But, from my point of view.....no problem
UPDATE 3: Jul 10, 2009. One minor drawback. With the Fuze volume all the way to max and my car volume on max, it still...on some songs is not loud enough for me. Some rock music, you know.....you just might like loud. This does not always allow that, especially over road noises. Sitting still it is fine, but if you like loud music through the car stereo, this could be a little lacking.
Read Best Reviews of SanDisk Sansa Fuze 4 GB Video MP3 Player (Black) Here
Before my purchase, I compared the Sansa Fuze with the iPod Nano (3G) and came away thinking the Fuze has a number of advantages. Its very nearly the same size as the Nano but the screen is negligibly smaller. The resolution is also a bit less (220 x 176 vs 320 x 240) but I think it is more than acceptable for most purposes. If you are going to watch a lot of videos you might want to opt for the Nano. Personally, I don't anticipate watching many videos on such a small display. The scroll wheel is also similar to the iPod but has a more tactile feel since it is mechanical and actually moves. Overall, the user interface is very responsive and easy to use. Advertised battery life is virtually identical. Some of the features that pushed me over to the Fuze are: Micro SD card expandable memory; built-in Audio Recording and FM radio; ability to use subscription services; works with MS Media Player; and, of course, significantly lower cost. The only disadvantages I can think of are the much more limited availability of accessories compared to the iPod. At this point I am very happy with the features, build quality and sound quality of the Fuze. I would highly recommend it.Want SanDisk Sansa Fuze 4 GB Video MP3 Player (Black) Discount?
The Sandisk Sansa Fuze is a quality MP3 player. I've had the 4GB model for about a month. I've got about 1500 songs on it, with about half a gig of space left. I only use it for music -I don't have any need or desire to see pictures or movies on a less than 2 inch screen. Paired with a pair of Audioengine 5 speakers Audioengine 5 PC multimedia speakers for iPod 45 Watt (total) 2-way black, it now serves as my primary stereo system. The sound is as good as or better than any component stereo system I've had. It plays for hours -I think the claim of 24 hour battery life is probably reasonable, although I haven't let it run the battery all the way down before recharging. You can get a wall charger for it for next to nothing -I got this one:SANDISK SANSA Premium Black Travel Wall A/C Charger for SanDisk Sansa c100 / c200 / e200 Series (although the Fuze is not listed, it does use the same input connection). This charger works great, and it's never taken more than a few minutes to charge the Fuze, much faster than using the computer to charge via USB connection.The display is plenty large and legible. The controls have a good, solid feel, and navigation is really fairly intuitive once you get used to using the thumb wheel.
Although you can drag and drop music to the Fuze using Windows Explorer, I recommend creating playlists on Windows Media Player 11 and syncing them to the Fuze. The output leveling capability of WMP11 greatly reduces the problem of different volume levels among music files so you can shuffle your music without having to constantly adjust the volume.
I definitely recommend the Sansa Fuze. It's a bargain for its quality.
Previously, I had been an iPod owner for about three consecutive years. I had owned the first generation Shuffle, the first generation Nano with a 1GB capacity, and the second generation Nano with a 4GB capacity. After only owning my 2nd Gen Nano for about a year and a half, it completely stopped working on me, and I was out of an MP3 player for a while.
I could have bought another iPod, but I am oh-so-glad I bought this little baby instead. First of all, it's considerably cheaper because you're not paying for the 'name.' But, more importantly, it has a ton of features that the iPods (for right now) could only dream of having. Most notable are:
1. FM Radio and the ability to record songs from it. When I first started using the Radio portion of this device, I was a little wary of how the reception would sound. I was pleasantly surprised--the sound is clear and beautiful, and it's less fuzzy than if I were listening in my car or stereo in my room. I haven't tried out the recording feature yet, and not sure if I ever will--I own a lot of music and don't really feel the need to do this.
2. EXPANDABLE MEMORY. Hallelujah! This factor is the reason why I owned so many iPods--I would fill one up too fast, and want more space...so I would have to go out and buy another one, and ended up wasting a lot of money. The Fuze is much like the iPod in the fact that it is offered in different capacities (2GB, 4GB, 8GB) BUT, if you find that your capacity of choice isn't enough space, you have the option of buying a microSD card to increase capacity. I'm going to do this tomorrow; my 4 gigs is already almost filled up and I still have a ton of music I'd like to have on it. The Fuze is capable of using microSDHC cards, so I plan on buying an 8GB one.
3. You have the ability to delete songs/photos/videos/recordings/audiobooks/podcasts DIRECTLY from the device. With the iPod, you must plug it into your iTunes library on your PC/Mac to delete items. (I'm not sure if the newer generations of iPods have this capability or not...I'm only speaking for the older gens. here)
4. Synching is SO much easier than it was for the iPod! With the iPod, you were basically limited to synching with one computer, and only with iTunes (There IS third-party software that you can use to synch your iPod with, but it's not very attractive and it tends to format songs differently than in the standard mp3). The Fuze, however, can be synched to any computer (and multiple computers at that) with no problem, and there are multiple ways to synch. Windows Media Player 11 is the fastest and easiest way to synch, but you aren't limited to it. You can also drag and drop your files directly into the device's directory in My Computer without even NEEDING specific software to synch, which is incredibly convenient.
5. The Fuze comes with a built-in mic so you can record your own memos, or whatever else you might need. I haven't tried this feature out yet, so I can't comment on if it does it well or not, but again, it's something that the iPod doesn't have, so I had to point it out.
Those five features are what makes this product stand out from the iPod. Now I'll move on to the technical side of the device.
The screen is fairly big and the color is vibrant. The sound is clear, and the device comes with decent headphones. The Fuze is also very quick to charge. I can't comment on battery life just yet, but it hasn't drained in the day that I've had it, so that's good. :) The wheel is nice, and in my opinion, better than the iPod's--it's not as sensitive and it actually turns when you scroll.
And, as with anything that is great, there are a few things that I don't like about the Fuze:
1. Adding videos and photos. To do this, you have to download the Sansa Media Converter from Sansa's website. Even after you do that, however, some video formats are STILL not compatible with SMC, which is a bit frustrating. It took me a while to figure out that avi files worked best with this program. However, I'm going to stick with using the Fuze primarily as a musical device, so it's not that big of an issue to me, but I thought I would point it out.
2. This is a minor quip, but all the same, I'm not that fond of the graphic interface. This is something that I feel the iPod does better. I DO like the scrolling animation through the main menu, but I wish the icons, background, and menus looked a bit more sophisticated. Maybe I'm just being picky because I was a design major in college. At least you can change the color of the wallpaper. :)
3. Finally, I dislike how shortly the device remains on any screen other than the default menu or the 'now playing' screen. This is a feature about the iPod that I do miss. With the iPod, I was able to find the next song I wanted to listen to, and leave it on the screen so that when the current song was finished, all I had to do was press the menu button and the center button and voila!--my song of choice starts playing. Not so with the Fuze. Yes, I can still 'set up' my listening experience the same way, but the Fuze spends little to no time on these 'secondary screens' so that not only do I have to move fast to find the song I want, but to locate to that song again I have to hit the home/menu button and go through all of the motions again. Also, if I'm just perusing through the device (like on settings, info, etc), I have to constantly keep turning the wheel or hitting a button of some sort or the device quickly reverts back to the default or now playing screen. This is my biggest qualm and the major thing that I think the iPod is superior in: interface and usability.
However, the pros far outweigh the cons and I'm extremely happy that I chose this over and iPod. Granted, I've only owned it for a day, but I've still had plenty of time to test most, if not all, of the features and get a feel for how it works. I highly recommend this product if you've owned iPods for a while and you're looking for something fresh that has more features than what you're used to. And, if you're someone who's new to the whole mp3 scene and can't decide if it's worth spending the extra money for the iPod, or saving it for something that's not necessarily name brand but works just as well (if not better)--I'd say give the Fuze a shot. You won't be disappointed. And, if you are, at least you didn't spend $150+ on it like you would have the iPod. :)
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