Sandisk Sansa Fuze Review

The Sansa Fuze is the latest addition to Sandisk’s MP3 player family. It competes directly with Apple’s hugely popular iPod Nano and Creative’s Zen. Sandisk has been known to create affordable MP3 players with superb sound quality and an array of features all put together in a stylish package. It bridges the gap between the Sansa Clip and the Sansa View. It is available in 2 GB, 4 GB and 8 GB versions available for $79, $99 and $129 respectively. Let’s see if the Sandisk Sansa Fuze lives up to its family name and whether it does manage to beat the Apple iPod Nano and the Creative Zen.

Sandisk Sansa Fuze Specs

• Capacity : 2 GB / 4 GB / 8 GB
• Dimensions : 1.9″ x 0.3″ x 3.1″
• Weight : 59 gms
• Display : 1.9″ LCD, 220 x 176 pixels
• Battery : Built Li Ion, 24 hrs Audio playback, 5 hrs Video playback
• Audio Formats : MP3, WAV, WMA, Audible
• Other Features : Voice recording, Built-in FM radio, USB 2.0, Micro SD
• Bundled Accessories : USB 2.0 cable, Earphones, Carry case, Quick start guide, Driver CD

Price : 2 GB - $79, 4 GB - $99, 8 GB - $129.

Design and Interface

The Sandisk Sansa Fuze has a design which is very similar to the iPod Nano. At dimensions of 1.9″ x 0.3″ x 3.1″, it is just slightly bigger than the iPod Nano, but still is very much portable. It is very light in weight, weighing in at just about 60 gms. It has a nice shiny black front plate and a rubberized black back plate. The build quality is superb and the Fuze feels sturdy enough to survive quite a few rough bumps, not that we have tried that out. The Fuze’s body is scratch resistant.

On the front of the Sansa Fuze, you have the 1.9″ display screen and the clickable scroll wheel similar to the iPod Nano. The wheel is very easy to operate and has smoother rotations compared to the Sansa View. On the right, you will find the Power and a Hold switch. The left edge sports the Micro SD slot and the integrated mic.

The Sansa Fuze sports a 1.9″ LCD display with a resolution of 220 x 176 px. It is adequately bright with good contrast levels. It is not very legible under direct sunlight, but does quite well indoors. The Sansa Fuze’s display is amongst the best Sandisk has ever produced.

The Sansa Fuze sports a new User Interface, which looks much the same as the older ones, but is much more responsive with almost zero lags in menu openings. The UI shouldn’t faze even first time users, it is very intuitive and easy to use. The new firmware is very stable and doesn’t freeze up at all. There are still some bugs left, but those can easily be squashed by a firmware update.

It supports Windows XP and Vista out of the box but you can enable Linux and Mac with some hacks. You can use any Media Player like Windows Media player or Winamp to create playlists in Windows using the MTP mode. For simple Drag and Drop, use the MSC mode. You can expand the memory of the Fuze by upto 32 GB using the Micro SD slot.

Audio and Video playback

The Sansa Fuze has a great sound quality with decent levels of volume. It is almost similar to the Sansa Clip. The Music player has a cool interface which is easy to use. The Music menu is sorted into categories like Album, Artist, Song, Genre etc. It also has a Recently Added and Most Rated items which sort songs according to the date of addition and the rating. You can change the equaliser settings to your liking if you don’t like the presets it comes with - Normal, Rock, Classical, Funk, Pop, Jazz, Full Bass, Full Treble, Hip Hop, Dance etc. It supports the MP3, WMA and Audible formats. The Fuze also supports Albumart Audiobooks and Podcasts. The bundled earphones are good enough for most users. If you are an audiophile, you may want to replace them with some higher end earphones like the Shure SE 530.

The video playback on the Sansa Fuze isn’t much to speak of, you wouldn’t want it as your only video playing PMP. The videos look watchable on the 1.9″ screen with decent quality. It supports only the MPEG-4 codec for video playback. You can convert videos using the bundled Sandisk Media Converter application.

Other Features

The Sansa Fuze comes with many additional features like a FM Radio, Voice Recorder and a Image Viewer, which give it an edge over the iPod Nano. The FM radio reception is good with minimum static. It can auto scan and save radio stations. It can also record radio in the WAV format. This is a nifty little feature which may come quite handy. You can also record voice using the voice recorder. The mic is placed next to the Micro SD slot and has nice audio quality. The Fuze also doubles up as an image viewer. All JPEG files can be viewed in list or thumbnail modes and also in a slideshow. The images look good even on the tiny 1.9″ screen.

The Sansa Fuze can also has a lot of customizable settings, you can change the wallpaper, brightness, language, date, time and power settings. It is bundled with just the basic stuff - a USB 2.0 cable, earphones, a carry case, a quick start guide, and a CD. However you can get many accessories for the Sansa Fuze online - docking accessories, protective cases, earphones etc. The battery life of the Sansa Fuze is officially rated at 24 hours for audio and 5 hours for video playback. Under normal usage you can get about 22 hours for audio and about 4.5 hours for video.

Pros

• Great sound quality
• FM radio, Micro SD slot, Voice recorder
• Responsive User Interface
• Great Build quality and Design

Cons

• Average Video playback
• Mediocre Display quality

Conclusion

The Sansa Fuze is a great substitute for the iPod Nano with many more features and at a lower price- $99 for the 4 GB. Overall, the Fuze is great DAP with minimal video capabilities as well. Sandisk has learned from its previous mistakes and has added many improved features - most importantly the responsive user interface. It also has a cool design and great build quality. At this price, there isn’t much to complain about from it either.

Our Rating: 3.5 / 5.