SanDisk Sansa Fuze (4GB, black)

• Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 40 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars

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• 9 stars

  Glad I didn't get a Creative Zen

  by woatrace on January 2, 2009

  Pros: The Micro SD slot is FULLY integrated with the Fuze, unlike the Creative Zen, so you can download subscription tracks and channels onto external memory up to 16gb. Excellent audio, good looking construction, feels solid, great price.

  Cons: Graphically, you get what you pay for: The GUI isn't very pretty and the interface looks like a low resolution iPod. Video playback is a joke (photos look decent, however). Micro SD cost more than regular SD, so memory expansion can be expensive.

  Summary: Many people, spoiled by plug-and-play functionality, simply jammed the player's USB right into the computer without first installing the software or following instructions, resulting in the variety of problems ...

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  Summary: Many people, spoiled by plug-and-play functionality, simply jammed the player's USB right into the computer without first installing the software or following instructions, resulting in the variety of problems common to flash-based mp3 players. My Fuze installed without a hitch, and I filled it up with music from Rhapsody in minutes.
  
  The two key features of the Fuze are its ability to work with subscription services and the complete functionality of the Micro SD slot.
  
  If you haven't used a subscription service like Rhapsody or Napster to Go before, you're missing out. Instead of buying single tracks off of a service like iTunes (which is still an option), you can pay a flat rate of $15 a month and have unlimited access to millions of songs. Better yet, services like Rhapsody offers Channels: 4 hour blocks of music with tracks chosen based on up to ten artists you name and can be updated whenever you sync your Fuze. This is a simple, flexible, and convenient way to find great new music or automatically compile playlists to suit all your moods.
  
  Its closest competitor, the Creative Zen, is advertised to be able to use up to 32gb of external SD memory. However, that SD memory is limited to simple playback: no playlists, no subscription services, nothing. If you bought a Zen hoping to expand its memory and download a ton of subscription music, you're out of luck. Although the Fuze can only accept Micro SDs up to 16gb, it offers complete use of its external memory, so you can put subscription tracks, channels, and playlists onto the Micro SD without issue.
  
  The Fuze is an attractive looking device with a smooth facade and a flat, solid back cover. It feels substantial enough to not feel cheap in your hands, but is light enough to be forgotten in your breast pocket. The audio quality was excellent, although you have to turn it up all the way in order to get its signal through to big receivers (I plug it into the Aux port of my Acura TL, and it sounds absolutely fantastic through the ELS system). The main downside is the GUI, which is one place where the Zen trumps the Fuze. The home screen looks decent, but the animation is choppy and unattractive. The lists and playback screens look pixelated, much worse than early generation color iPods. The video playback was harsh on the eyes and extremely low resolution. Photos, surprisingly, looked fine.
  
  Overall, the Sansa Fuze is a great value, reliable, sturdy, and fully capable of expanding its memory and taking advantage of great subscription services. For the price and quality, its hard to beat. As long as you follow the instructions.

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  6 out of 6 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 9 stars

  Excellent player for the price and great features!

  by nickphotoguy on May 28, 2009

  Pros: Long battery life
  iPod like click wheel
  expandable memory
  FM radio + recording!
  built in voice recording
  Excellent sound quality

  Cons: Unit face scratches easily
  Nav wheel doubles as volume wheel
  Exclusive USB connection - not MiniUSB
  Headphone jack on bottom of unit

  Summary: I am actually a rep for the MP3 displays at Best Buy and after I installed the demo models for the latest reset, I discovered how much I really kind ...

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  Summary: I am actually a rep for the MP3 displays at Best Buy and after I installed the demo models for the latest reset, I discovered how much I really kind of like the Sansa Fuze that I bought my own! By far the cheapest quality MP3 player that had iPod like features, good sound quality, video support (even though its not as nice as the video for iPod or even Walkman) and the 'special' USB connection. Would really have preferred to have something more universal. Although you can pick up a 3rd party Sansa cable on eBay for less than $6, which I did as a backup to take with me to keep it charged and upload new music to when I'm on the road. Media Convertor is really kind of slow and the video sometimes isn't completely synced to the audio, but its not bad.
  I've had a 2 Gig Walkman that I have used for over a year and I really kind of prefer this one, due to its nice BRIGHT screen and light up controls, slightly larger size, fits nicer in the hand and video does look nice and bright. The recording from FM radio feature is pretty neat. That's one thing I wished I had since the days when I used to have a stero tape recorder that could be used like a walkman. And the voice recorder is surprisingly decent, the tiny mic picks up quite a bit.
  The navigation is kind of eh... not iPod like, but its decent. For the price, its a surprisingly workable player. Although if I did want to spend a bit more I could have gotten an iPod, but at least I'm not tied to iTunes.
  My only gripe is the fact that the screen scratches easily, so a good screen protector is definately needed. And I wish the headphone jack was on the top like my Walkman instead of on the bottom like an iPod.
  
  I'd consider this a good 'intro to MP3 players' unit for someone who may not want to invest in the whole 'iPod experience' but wants a solid player that's fairly easy to use and has some nice features that the iPod simply does not have. Its like getting an MP3 player and good digital voice recorder with the added feature of an FM radio and video support.

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  2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 7 stars

  Great value for money!!

  by naxxramaz on April 23, 2009

  Pros: Small, cheap, very good sound quality, expandable memory and with some of the cheapest memory cards, radio and video.

  Cons: Not really well built, bad interface, AWFUL video possibilities, no pc software, no usb.

  Summary: When I first read the specifications of this mp3 player in the site of sandisk I thought: the best thing ever! And because I'm sad I didn't have ...

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  Summary: When I first read the specifications of this mp3 player in the site of sandisk I thought: the best thing ever! And because I'm sad I didn't have money to buy a zen here I go:
  1st of all, the battery capacity it is NOT 24 hours of music, it's around 20-21.
  2nd NO USB? O - M -G
  3rd the buttons make an annoying click!!!
  4th about the scroll thing...it is scaled (like a mouse) and not free to spin (like a logitech with micro gear) and you can't even change its sensitivity
  5th the software is pretty bad, it's not friendly and there aren't any "fun" things, not even a changeable background
  6th compared zen the ways of reproduction are not many (repeat, repeat one, only one, all once etc.)
  7th and last but less least, the video thing SUCKS! only mpeg4? give me a damn break! and the sansa media converter sucks (it doesn't recognise some formats like flv)..
  
  Now about the good things.
  1st Pretty good sound...
  2nd nice headphones
  3rd the microsdhc slot rocks ;)
  4th it has radio (iPods don't)
  5th no computer software needed (although I'd like one)
  6th many colours available and it's pretty beautiful for a pretty low price.
  
  
  -CONCLUSION-
  Actually the best thing you can't buy with 79$
  3,5/5

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  2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 9 stars

  Great MP3 player, best value for your $$

  by shlurpee on September 22, 2008

  Pros: Features are great, size, feel, sound, and price, expandable memory. I like everything about the Fuze once you get all the media onto it

  Cons: The media conversion process is laborious and time consuming. Also, I miss the ease of creating playlists in Itunes.

  Summary: I love this device, it has everything I wanted in a device, FM radio was big for me, being able to watch video podcasts and occasional full-lenght videos was also ...

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  Summary: I love this device, it has everything I wanted in a device, FM radio was big for me, being able to watch video podcasts and occasional full-lenght videos was also important. It also needed to be small and good battery life. The Fuze met all these requirements. The only problem is the conversion process to get video onto the Fuze. Sandisk has it's one free software that will convert the video for the player but the player has to be plugged into your computer for the software to run. So you can just have your computer converting during the day while you are out using your Fuze. You must have it plugged in during the whole process. I have a decent laptop and it takes about 45 minutes to convert a full length video. It also makes it hard to get up-to-date video podcasts because I download them in the morning and it takes too long for them to convert and load onto my Fuze, so I end up watching the podcast from the previous day which makes it old news.
  
  Other than that it is great, this gripe is really a pretty small one, I don't watch too much video anyway and I would rather have an FM tuner then have a seamless video podcast found on the Ipod. So I'm happy, great value for your money.

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  2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 10 stars

  Best Mp3 I've used or seen

  by tinmancr on April 11, 2011

  Pros: Easy, Compatible "Music and sounds", Great battery with power saving options, Good head phone sound, Phenomenal as a PC sound source "Plugged into PC speakers"
  Good capacity very upgradeable

  Cons: Poor video playback "fixed in newer models?"
  Poor text display
  Mediocre photo display

  Summary: I love mine had it a bit over a year, no serious problems.
  I recommend getting a non pc charger as many USB ports esp on a mac or poorly ...

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  Summary: I love mine had it a bit over a year, no serious problems.
  I recommend getting a non pc charger as many USB ports esp on a mac or poorly made pcs lack sufficient power to charge properly.
  Car chargers work super fast and well, USB to wall is the way I charge mine take only 45mins for an average charge and you can listen while it does so.
  I also don't use the software that you can download from sandisk it is pretty weak and unnecessary just use windows media or equivalent syncing software.
  The radio is pretty standard but you can record from it, and an external mic.
  Great buy for the money but get it on sale I got a 4 and an 8 I gifted for under $75 new.

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• 9 stars

  Absolutely wonderful little media player!

  by Fuze_Man on December 20, 2010

  Pros: 1. Sound quality
  2. Clickwheel
  3. General feel and look of the device

  Cons: 1. Screen quality (but this is about music, after all)
  2. Navigation is tricky at times

  Summary: If you're looking for a more than adequate player, which features FM radio, EQ, SD card slot, mic for voice recordings, and looks/feels wonderful, then you can't ...

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  Summary: If you're looking for a more than adequate player, which features FM radio, EQ, SD card slot, mic for voice recordings, and looks/feels wonderful, then you can't go wrong with this little guy. However, there are some issues with the menu setup: In order to get back to a song list, you have to hit the bottom button of the clickwheel, hit the center button, and then hit the left button on the clickwheel. This takes you back to a list of the artists, which is pretty much the most used list format for me and many others. This can become cumbersome after awhile. However, the clickwheel stands as one of the best user interface systems I've used. Subtle clicks let you know when you're scrolling, and can only be felt, not heard. Overall, I will be keeping this device even after I receive my Zune HD, for exercising and storing extra music. Cheap, gets the job done, and then some.

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• 10 stars

  This mp3 players great

  by GSmatt18 on November 17, 2010

  Pros: everything its a really good player it has a good battery life loved the scroll wheel

  Cons: had a bit of a proplem getting video on it becuase i had to download the sansa media converter and then another video converter that was only a trial but i found a 100% free sansa fuze media converter that worked so its all good now

  Summary: Great player sansa are a real good quility make

  Summary: Great player sansa are a real good quility make

• 10 stars

  Great value! A shift for the music player industry

  by NicholasTimothy on October 1, 2010

  Pros: Great sound!
  Good Battery life!
  Supports many file types!
  SD-HC compatible (up to 64 gigs now, perhaps sd-xc later??)

  Cons: Mediocre included earphones,
  no wall charger included
  No docking solutions
  proprietary adapter

  Summary: Great value, good durability. Only under $100 option for video 8gb+ SD slot that I found.
  
  The micro SD slot was long overdue...IPod, Sony, and SHOULD have come out ...

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  Summary: Great value, good durability. Only under $100 option for video 8gb+ SD slot that I found.
  
  The micro SD slot was long overdue...IPod, Sony, and SHOULD have come out with a model before. The industry wants us to be buying new music players every 1-2 years and I'm glad there's a company breaking the trend. When will IPod become upgradable?

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• 2 stars

  Very Poor Reliability and Company Support

  by Jimdidy on September 4, 2010

  Pros: Nice controls.

  Cons: Very poor reliability.

  Summary: I started having screen problems around 12 months. Then the screen went totally dead at 15 months and can no longer be used. SanDisk?s support policy after 12 months ...

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  Summary: I started having screen problems around 12 months. Then the screen went totally dead at 15 months and can no longer be used. SanDisk?s support policy after 12 months is no repair, no pro-rated exchange, nothing, but an insincere ?that?s unfortunate.? $62 for 15 months is pretty poor value.

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• 8 stars

  Great sound Great price Can't beat

  by boswd on April 23, 2010

  Pros: Sound Quality is among the best on the market even beyond it's price point. Plenty of formats supported especially Ogg and FLAC, nice additions there, micro SD Card slot.
  Still pictures look nice.

  Cons: User interface is rather plain, It does the job and it still displays Album Art and has a scroll of what is playing now, which is nice but beyond that it nothign to woo you over but it's still look good and does the job.

  Summary: Great alternative to the iPod Nano, Sound Quilty of this is truely amazing once you upgrade to better headphones.
  The iPod Nano has more "fun fluff" but in terms of ...

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  Summary: Great alternative to the iPod Nano, Sound Quilty of this is truely amazing once you upgrade to better headphones.
  The iPod Nano has more "fun fluff" but in terms of sound quality, formats supported, and an Micro SD card slot, beyond the Fluff of the Nano, this is head and shoulders above it and a fraction of the cost.
  
  Great great product.

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