SanDisk Sansa Fuze (8GB, silver)

Manufacturer: SanDisk Corp. Part number: SDMX14R-008GS-A70

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CNET Editor rating:
3.5 stars Very good
Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 10 reviews

More product information:: Editors' review; User reviews; Specifications; Manufacturer info

Bottom Line:: The SanDisk Sansa Fuze is a great value--a slim design, simple interface, plentiful features, memory expansion capability, and solid sound quality all come with an easy-to-swallow price tag.

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CNET editors' review

SanDisk Sansa Fuze (8GB, silver)

price range: $91.95 - $143.95

The SanDisk Sansa Fuze is a great value--a slim design, simple interface, plentiful features, memory expansion capability, and solid sound quality all come with an easy-to-swallow price tag.

The good: The SanDisk Sansa Fuze is supercheap and nicely compact; it comes in a variety of colors and has an expansion slot that accepts microSDHC cards. The player offers a variety of desirable features such as an FM tuner, Rhapsody DNA integration, photo and video support, and a voice recorder. Plus, the battery life for both music and video is very good.

The bad: The Sansa Fuze uses a proprietary dock connection, the interface is blah, and the screen has a dingy look to it.

The bottom line: The SanDisk Sansa Fuze is a great value--a slim design, simple interface, plentiful features, memory expansion capability, and solid sound quality all come with an easy-to-swallow price tag.

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Editor's note: The rating of the SanDisk Sansa Fuze has been raised from a 7.3 to a 7.7 after battery life testing revealed that the player offers above average performance in this area.

Photo gallery:
SanDisk Sansa Fuze

SanDisk continues to add to its line of Sansa MP3 players, which has been attractive to consumers from the start thanks to the low price point at which the company can list its players. While cheap pricing has made SanDisk a real contender in the portable audio space, the company is not content to rest on that fact alone to draw new customers, persistently tweaking its new offerings in an attempt to make them better. Such is the case with the Sansa Fuze, a slim device with a high-quality feel and several shiny color options. Sure, it's a bit of a Nano clone, but it also sounds good, offers plentiful features, and is cheap as all get-out--just $80, $100, and $130 for the 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB models, respectively.

SanDisk thought up the perfect name for the Fuze, because the player really resembles a Sansa Clip and a Sansa View blended together. At 3.1 inches by 1.8 inches by 0.3 inch, the Fuze is only a bit bigger than the Clip overall, and it comes in the same color options: black (2GB, 4GB); blue, pink, and red (all 4GB); and silver (8GB). But the build is more like that of the View, with a clickable scroll wheel, a shiny, plastic face and smooth, metal backside--the Fuze definitely has a solid, weighty feel to it. It seems more durable and high-quality than early Sansa models.

This observation in quality unfortunately does not extend to the Fuze's interface. The icon-driven main menu is nice enough to look at, and the device is very easy to navigate, with music organized into playlist, artist, album, and so on. And yet, as with other Sansa models we've come across, the inner menus are dull, and while we appreciate the option to at least change the wallpaper color, we'd love to be able to set a favorite photo as a backdrop or otherwise tweak the look-and-feel to our personal preferences. Still, this is a minor gripe, and part of the problem is actually caused by the screen's protective coating, which casts a grainy shadow on the LCD.

This dulling shadow also affects photos and videos, slightly diminishing the overall quality of viewing. At 1.9 inches, the Fuze's screen isn't exactly optimal video viewing anyway, so this isn't too big of a deal. If you still choose to add this type of media to the player, make sure it is in JPEG or MPEG4 SP format to ensure hassle-free playback. On the audio side, the Fuze offers support for MP3, WMA, secure WMA, WAV, Audible, and Overdrive. The player operates on the Rhapsody DNA platform, so it supports not only subscription content from the service, but also Rhapsody Channels, which are essentially Internet radio on the go. If you hear a song that you like playing on a channel, pressing down on the scroll wheel brings up the contextual menu where you can rate it and/or add it to your library.

The Fuze offers a few other attributes of note, most of which add value to the player. The only one that does not is the proprietary syncing port built into the bottom of the device--we'd much prefer it if SanDisk stuck to mini USB. On either side of the Fuze, you'll find a power/hold switch and a microSD card slot for adding more memory. It accepts high-capacity cards, which are available at up to 12GB as of press time. If that still doesn't provide enough music for you, there's an FM tuner with autoscan and presets, or you can record your own beautiful voice via the built-in mic.

Let's be frank: the Sansa Fuze doesn't offer the sparklingly stellar audio quality presented by the likes of the Sony NWZ-A810 or the Samsung P2. It also wasn't quite as encompassing as the sound coming from the Creative Zen V Plus--but it comes close. The Fuze is no slouch, to be sure. We tested it out with the Shure E310 earphones and the Creative Aurvana Live headphones and were not disappointed in either case. The Fuze powered through with reasonable--though not super thumping--bass response; nice, rich mids with smooth vocals; and an impressive amount of high-end detail. Across genres, we were greeted with clear, solid sound. The battery life of 28.2 hours for audio and 6.5 hours for video is plenty impressive.

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User reviews

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Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 10 reviews

Showing opinion 1 to 10 out of 10

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9 stars

Value Packed, High Quality Player

by MayorDW on July 5, 2008

Pros: Quality feel, Loaded with features, Accepts many more formats than iPod.

Cons: Could use a little better earpods.

Summary: I have only had my Fuze a few days and have enjoyed it more than any other mp3 player I've ever owned. Sound quality is fantastic with full bass, ...

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Summary: I have only had my Fuze a few days and have enjoyed it more than any other mp3 player I've ever owned. Sound quality is fantastic with full bass, mellow mid-range and accurate treble, all of which is adjustable to your preferences. Features abound and I don't see the "dingy screen" mentioned in the reviews. Photos and movies, though small, are crystal clear. I'd recommend this to all my friends.

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2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
8 stars

Excellent Player

by sippinjoes on May 8, 2008

Pros: compact, intuitive GUI, drag-drop, good sound, good quality, good picture, Micro SD

Cons: video conversion required, earbuds uncomfortable

Summary: For what the Sansa Fuze is, it is an excellent player. Easily syncs with Windows Media Player or just drag-n-drop you songs using Windows Explorer. Video does require conversion software, ...

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Summary: For what the Sansa Fuze is, it is an excellent player. Easily syncs with Windows Media Player or just drag-n-drop you songs using Windows Explorer. Video does require conversion software, but it is easy to use and works with your videos you have (did have an issue with .avi files, have yet to troubleshoot).

The GUI (graphic user interface) is clean, simple, and intuitive. I generally look back to the manual when I can't figure something out, no need with the Fuze, the basics are intuitive and make for a short learning curve.

Sound is good, radio is clear, video good, pictures look good.

If others have to mention the Sansa specific 30pin connection to find something bad to say, you know it's good.

If you are looking for a compact portable device to listen to the radio, mp3's, keep some pics, play some vid and not be limited to proprietary software (i.e. itunes)...then this IS the player for you. It looks good and plays good.

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Just about perfect

by MSKGNW on September 2, 2008

Pros: Easy to use, great features. great price, shockingly excellent FM receiver. Expandable memory. You can watch a video and look at pictures if you want to.

Cons: On/off switch a little hard to use. non-replaceable battery

Summary: After spending TOO much time getting my kid's iPod Touch to work and dealing with the inflexibility of iTunes I looked around for the best non-iPod player out there ...

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Summary: After spending TOO much time getting my kid's iPod Touch to work and dealing with the inflexibility of iTunes I looked around for the best non-iPod player out there and found the Fuze. Paired with Creative EP640 ear buds makes the Fuze just about perfect. Sync's easily with Windows Media Player (& probably RealPlayer). You can also load stuff as though it was a disk drive. All with software you probably already have installed.

Used the FM receiver while camping in the mountains of Pennsylvania and was shocked at the quality of the audio. I could not hear a difference between the FM and the 128 Kbps MP3's I had just listened to.

Overall sound quality is excellent.

Though small, photos viewed on the screen were vivid and crisp. As for video, I probably would not want to watch a full length movie but if you wanted to catch a music video or something else short, its a nice feature to have.

Haven't used the voice recorder in a real situation yet, but that's another nice feature to have.

This is one great little player.

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9 stars

pretty good player for a decent price

by iruka* on August 10, 2008

Pros: screen protection, radio, voice recorder, scroll wheel, build

Cons: non-customizable interface

Summary: My cousin just threw the black fuze over to me after getting an iPod and I honestly don't know why he would do that since this is more capable ...

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Summary: My cousin just threw the black fuze over to me after getting an iPod and I honestly don't know why he would do that since this is more capable than an iPod.

I really like the build of it, how it has a nice shiny but not reflective face and a brushed metal back, it feels sturdy. I also loved the scroll wheel. I just like the sound of the wheel when it turns for some reason and there's a nice ring of light around it.

I don't mind the screen size for photo and videos, since for me 1.5 is the minimum for those so it was pretty good. Viewing angles were pretty good, too, and the quality was great.

Audio quality was good, too, although it's not the best, but it's pretty decent. Can't say iPods can do better.

I also liked how they put protection on the screen, it really didn't get any scratches, even when it was sort of a hand-me-down from my cousin. It wouldn't scratche no matter where I put it so that's a really good sign.

The radio and voice recorders are good extras, to me, at least. I like listening to random music once in a while and I really need voice recorders in my mp3s or else I'll die.

The half-a-star I didn't give it was for the non-customizable interface. I'm one of those people who like to play around with it and maybe change the background picture, but I guess it's ok. Maybe it was just the style I didn't like.

But overall, I really do recommend this. You get a lot for a great value and you're really paying for what you get.

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4 stars

I like the player, but support is terrible

by ra8147 on May 30, 2008

Pros: Nice size, esay to use

Cons: I could never get it to work with subscription services

Summary: I really liked the player, but after several resets and a week long wait for a response from customer service to deal with a Rhapsody compatibility issue, I returned this ...

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Summary: I really liked the player, but after several resets and a week long wait for a response from customer service to deal with a Rhapsody compatibility issue, I returned this one and bought a Zen.

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8 stars

for it's price, it's the best you can buy.

by poseygirl on May 25, 2008

Pros: easy to add music

Cons: does not play enough video and image formats
9 stars

Gotta Love the Sansa Fuze

by twoforones on May 21, 2008

Pros: screen, size, colors, usability, scroll wheel, sound clarity

Cons: i have to share it

Summary: I really like my Fuze. I got it from www.shopsansa.com with a promo code and I am really glad I did. I feel like this is the ultimate ...

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Summary: I really like my Fuze. I got it from www.shopsansa.com with a promo code and I am really glad I did. I feel like this is the ultimate value for MP3 players and I am thrilled with it.

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SanDisk Sansa Fuze (8GB, silver)

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