While the V1 Fuze doesn’t have the clicking noise you describe, it is still not good at voice recording, especially when the player is more than 4 feet away. The mike on the Fuze is low quality, and there is no way to adjust the sensitivity. Those interested in voice recording should get a separate voice recorder.
I don’t consider my comments to you to be condescending. I am sorry if you do.
The Fuze is an excellent audio player, but a low quality voice recorder and a low quality video player. I encourage people to ignore the voice recording and video playing functions on the player.
I beg to differ. The Sansa Fuze V1 was an excellent voice recorder for the price, especially when you consider size and additional functions. If Sandisk had maintained the V1 quality, I surely wouldn’t find fault with them for its minor imperfections. I am disapointed because they ruined a great inexpensive recorder. Alas.
If voice recording is your need, definitely a refurbished (and inexpensive!) v1 Fuze is the hot ticket. For distant voices, lectures in a room with lousy acoustics, or a mumbly professor reminiscent of that dude in “Office Space”, there are more refined recorders out there, with sensitive (and external) microphone capabilities.
I still prefer the e200 series, with its dedicated Record button, one-touch recording mode option, and a mike capsule mounted at the top of the device. The v2 variant of the e200 has the quietest system, in terms of background noise.
As well as the Sansa e200 performed at recording, I pondered how cool it would have been to have microphone input via the docking port, and a cool input level adjust / display available when in recording mode. Though quite possible, the average sansa customer is most likely interested in the digital playback functions, of course.
The recorder is great as a dictation tool, useful to catch that fleeting thought, then running back to that cool Iron Maiden track.
I was able to get a V1, and its Voice Recording function works great. No ticketing noise. The rest of the recorders limitations are to be expected. However, I’m really happy with my V1. I’d buy another if I could find one.
I first noticed the ticking sound on my Fuze about a year ago but only just now thought to investigate whether it others had the same problem. For the type of things I generally record it doesn’t matter all that much, but it’s annoying.
I seem to be able to make short voice recordings without the ticking. It’s only when I record something long–maybe 40 minutes or more–that I start to hear ticking in the later part of the recording. It’s not terribly loud but sounds as if a softly ticking clock had been placed somewhere nearby. I thought it might just be my particular recorder but I guess it’s a common, or perhaps universal, problem with these models.
Can anyone tell me whether SanDisk pays attention to these posted concerns, or should I be writing or calling their customer service directly?
I have always had the same problem and always thought it was just my unit. However, once I discovered that others have the same exact issue I reported it to support and received the following very unhelpful message. A shame they don’t stand behind their product by issuing a full recall.
…
Response Via Email (Clauber B.)
05/07/2013 11:30 AM
Thanks for contacting SanDisk Technical Support. It is our goal to make sure you have all the resources you need to get the most from your product.
I understand that the voice recording of your Sansa Fuze has a internal ticking sounds that overlay every voice recording. We are really sorry to hear that and since you have mentioned the issue existed from the start, you would have needed to ask for a replacement within the first 30 days at the place of purchase.
Unfortunately, we are not able to replace the player or refund once our warranty is already voided.
Please refer to your My SanDisk at http://kb.sandisk.com anytime to see all of your incident history and product registration information. You can log in using your email address as your login and the password that you created.
Also, you can visit http://kb.sandisk.com our online keyword searchable Knowledgebase, to easily find answers to your Technical Support and Customer Service questions for all of SanDisk's products. Simply enter your search terms and our Knowledgebase will search an extensive database of commonly asked questions as well as our online forums at http://forums.sandisk.com to provide you with the most complete answers possible. Best regards,
The Fuze isn’t made any more. Hasn’t been made in years. I’m not sure if the length of time since they were last manufactured is now longer than the warranty period, but if it’s not, it will be soon.
So somehow I doubt they’re going to restart the assembly line for a complete recall.
If you “thought it was just my unit” then…that’s what a warranty repair is for.
From the thread, it looks like it’s a problem with V2 units and you would have preferred a V1. But if the function is of paramount importance to you, then you could probably have gotten a refund–years ago–and bought a diferent brand of player.
Just out of curiosity…have you upgraded to the final firmware? It’s not outside the realm of possibility that the problem was fixed. Worth a try. Don’t use the Updater; there have been no more updates since 2010. Use the manual method.
You could also, if you are computer-friendly, try the alternative firmware Rockbox at www.rockbox.org, which did fix a ticking problem in the recordings of another gadget I had, the iRiver H140.
I mean, yes, it would be great if this were also a perfect little recorder (through its dinky microphone or iffy FM) but it’s a little late to be getting so outraged.
I use mine as a music player, so I haven’t had any occasion to check out its recording capabilities. Any serious recorder is going to have an outboard microphone input, though…
