I bought a Fuse a couple of weeks ago, and so far I am mostly pleased with the unit - except for one thing.
Does Sansa make a player with a UI that can be more easily seen in the sunlight?
I have also (just yesterday) tried a Fuse+, but it has the same problem.
I think if Sansa would just give us white letters on a black background it might help.
When I am outdoors, in the sunlight, these screens are almost impossible to see. In the past I bought a Nano, a Sony S series, and a Sony E series. All of these were better for viewing the menus when outside, but I returned them for other reasons. With the Nano, I returned it because the sound was…well, just not what I wanted t hear. The Sonys had better sound, but still there was just something about them…
So, in any case, I am fine with the sound from the Sansa but would sure like to be able to see the darned menus when outside.
If you are good with computers you can get an alternate firmware called Rockbox from www.rockbox.org that lets you change the theme. I don’t know if it has a white-on-black theme for you, but I’d guess it does. Search this forum for Rockbox for more info, or look on the Rockbox forums.
While it’s not official supported (USB transfer in the rockbox firmware is currently not working), it is usable. I’ve been using it on my Fuze v2 for over a month. You just need to boot into the original firmware to transfer files until the USB support for it is completed.
The instructions for a manual installation are available on the site (click the Fuze v2 link on the main page and go from there), and yes it has high-contrast themes (with a wide range of font sizes).
When I am outdoors, in the sunlight, these screens are almost impossible to see.
This is inherent with small LCD screens. Try using a digital camera with an LCD view screen on the back instead of a view-finder. Or for that matter, your cell phone. You can’t see the screen in the bright sunlight. It’s even worse with polarized sunglasses.
Sandisk can’t be faulted for this. It’s that way with all their LCD-screened players. The OLED screen of the Clip & Clip+ are a little better, but unless you’re in the shade, LCD’s outside are troublesome to see.
Tapeworm - That is one of the things I liked about the Sony. The screen on those (white lettering on a black background) was much easier to see in the sunlight. But I know what you mean. My phone is a Razor, and is all but impossible to read in the sun.
I think some sort of polarized anti-glare screen is in order for these contraptions.
