Looking to buy a Sansa Fuze (Advice Needed)

I’m looking to buy a MP3 Player for basic playback. I was looking at ipods but I want a Drag & Drop access (not iTunes or Anapod). I have a few questions before I buy one, could any Fuze users reply to my questions please?

  1. The On/Off switch I saw some say its not easy to use after time, will this be after months of daily use or faster? I will be using mine every week for about 2 or 4 hours (light use).

  2. How long does charging with USB take??? I have a UK Plug to USB converter (saves using PC, so will this be ok?)

  3. Should I buy the Power Plug to use the Fuze? If the Battery dies after 1 yr or longer, I can still use it powered right?? (I only want to use this in my office so no issue of wire conected to it)

  4. The Internal Memory & SD Card, if I have say 3GB internal & 2 GB on SD Card, will it load Slowly as I think I saw the SD Card is slow to update everytime I power up…

  5. Is the Fuze my best option from the SanDisk family? I saw the Clip on QVC UK, but the Fuze took my fancy. I would like the “Wheel” option like iPods. But am open to ideas… Whats the advantage of Clip or the E range over Fuze??

Cheers.

Then what colour lol… Red looks like my FAV :slight_smile:

EDIT

Forgot to say. I have Windows XP & want to use a MP3 Player on my iPod HiFi and my Home Audio setup via 3.5mm Jack (not a Dock)

Message Edited by CelebrityVIP on 12-18-2008 06:49 AM

I can answer a few of your questions.

On the onoff switch there’s a little notch and it wears off.  But there is space above and below.  The space below you can use your fingernail, pen, toothpick, etc., to switch it up.  The space below allows you to lock it, so it can’t accidentally be turned off (I’ve only locked it by accident).

Charging doesn’t take too long.  I’ve never timed it, but it’s not too long.  You can always carge it while you’re not using it.  And I’m not sure about the UK plug.  If it says it’s for a USB cord, then it should be fine.  I bought a general one at a store and it works for mine.  I think my coworker who has an ipod bought the same unit (we talked about it after).

Not sure about the 1 year as the Fuze hasn’t been out that long.  Someone on a battery post said he had an ipod that has a 12 hour battery to start with and lasted 3-4 years.  Fuze starts out at 20-24 hours.  So we have a few years before we find that out. 

The RED fuze comes in 4gb internal.  I believe you have a choice of 2, 4 or 8gb internal (not sure about the 2, I don’t think many peole get that if there is one, but I thought I read it somewhere).   If you use a 2gb card and leave it in, you don’t have to worry about anything loading or unloading.  Only when you take a card out and put it in, does it take a while to refresh.  Depending how much you have on the card.  I have 11 movies on one (8 gb) and it takes about a minute to load, but with lots of songs it takes longer to reload.  Again, if you leave it in, then no worries.  When you power up it should not reload or refresh memory.

Not sure about the other sandisk products, I only have the fuze. 

Again the red comes in 4gb. 

Message Edited by Dalaug234 on 12-18-2008 08:42 AM

The on/off switch is a bit annoying. I guess some people exaggerate how easy it is to wear this out. I guess if someone turns it on and off sevaral times a day they might wear it out soon enough. They could set the idle shut off time to a low number and let the player turn itself off, so the on/off switch only gets half the wear it would otherwise get.

I guess USB charging could take up to around 3 hours if the battery is completely depleted. In real world usage, charging is often quick, since many people charge it well before the battery is near empty. This is also a good idea for the long term durability of the battery.

The battery usually never completely dies, but instead typically will start holding a smaller and smaller amount of charge when it is old. The one thing to watch out for is keeping the player at a high temperature. This is very damaging to the battery, especially if it is stored for long periods of time with a full charge at high temperatures.

The database doesn’t update every time the player is turned on. It updates after files are added or removed, or when it is turned on if the card was removed and reinserted(even if no files on it changed).

The Clip has a clip on the back so it is more convenient to use in a gym or other place where you may not have a pocket to put the player in, so the Clip can be clipped to your shirt. The Clip has no card slot though, and is listed as having 15 hors of battery life vs 24 hours for the Fuze. The Clip is smaller than the Fuze in two dimensions, but is thicker. The Fuze has a much larger screen than the Clip. 

Message Edited by JK98 on 12-18-2008 10:46 AM

thanks all for the helpful advice.

can i transfer mp3 to the sd card without reoving it from fuze?

"thanks all for the helpful advice.

can i transfer mp3 to the sd card without removing it from fuze?"

Yes.

 

@celebrityvip wrote:

  1. The On/Off switch I saw some say its not easy to use after time, will this be after months of daily use or faster? I will be using mine every week for about 2 or 4 hours (light use).

I’ve been using mine near-constantly for several months now, and I’ve never had a problem with the power / hold switch, and the little notch on the switch doesn’t show any signs of wear whatsoever.  

Some people say they use their fingernail / headphone plug to move the switch, but I can use it fine just with the tip of my finger. 

As for the battery charge time… I usually just plug mine in overnight whenever I see the battery indicator turn red.

I have a couple of 2 GB microSD cards (Kingston) and it isn’t slow to database refresh.  Takes probably about 15 seconds, if that, and it only happens if you add an SD card.  The delight of being able to swap SD cards around to add/subtract music far outweighs any slowing.

It is a good player, especially if you can find a good price point.  I bought my E280 for $79US last year and my Fuze for $59US this year.  You can get more features with some other players, but you’ll pay a good share more, and you might not get as good of community support as you get here.

@mydd wrote:

 

.  You can get more features with some other players, but you’ll pay a good share more, and you might not get as good of community support as you get here.

Well my Fuze has, which the ipods don’t:  FM radio, voice recording, card extension slot.  So mine has a few more features.  I don’t think the ipods had any additional features that the Fuze doesn’t, except the newest ones which you’re suppose to be able to shake with your hand to shuffle the music and it has widescreen.  But those features I’m not really interested in at the moment (except sometimes widescreen movies I watch on my fuze, but I usually avoid buying the dvd version anyway).   I’m not sure what other players you were thinking about.  I’m sure some others have more or different features. 

There are players not made by Sandisk that have folder navigation, a full sized SDHC card slot, or much longer battery life than the Fuze. These other players aren’t perfect either though, and either have a very small screen, are much thicker and heavier than the Fuze, lower sound quality, and/or are much more expensive than than the Fuze. I considered buying one of those other players, but after considering all the factors I decided that the Fuze was the best choice. Hopefully Sandisk will add folder navigation to its players sometime in 2009.

@mydd wrote:

I have a couple of 2 GB microSD cards (Kingston) and it isn’t slow to database refresh.  Takes probably about 15 seconds, if that, and it only happens if you add an SD card.  The delight of being able to swap SD cards around to add/subtract music far outweighs any slowing.

 

 

Once you get up to an 8GB card, then the refresh time can become an issue, depending on how full it is, and how many files it has on it. But, unless you’re constantly getting new stuff, with a bigger card, you might not have to refresh as often(that’s why I started using my Clip for  podcasts:wink: )

On charging: like many players, it seems the Fuze charges quickly up to about 60-70% (within a couple of hours), then begins slow charging to top off (this can take a few hours). It just takes so long to discharge the battery on this thing, charging doesn’t tend to be the factor that it was with my older players.

I’m the one with the iPod that slowly lost its battery life starting at about three years (a normal situation). Its still not dead - the battery lasts about 2 hours from full charge. I still used it plugged in, as you had mentioned - I’m sure the Fuze will be able to do the same thing. The Fuze has a Lithium Polymer battery that should outlast the Lithium Ion battery in my iPod, plus the battery life is twice as much to begin with. I wouldn’t expect battery life to be an issue for some 3-5 years.

The refresh time is the biggest shortcoming of the Fuze, though it wouldn’t be so bad if you don’t change your music a lot or don’t have a lot of files on it. I have an 8GB Fuze with an 8GB flash card (almost full of music files), and it just goes dumb for about 4 minutes when I change anything on it. If you’re only looking at ~6GB of music, it’ll refresh in a minute or two. If you turn it off and haven’t changed anything, no refresh occurs.

You can do drag & drop with iTunes/iPod (that’s how I used it), but iTunes has become horribly bloated and slow. I’m so glad I don’t have to deal with iTunes anymore!

“5) Is the Fuze my best option from the SanDisk family? I saw the Clip on QVC UK, but the Fuze took my fancy. I would like the “Wheel” option like iPods. But am open to ideas… Whats the advantage of Clip or the E range over Fuze?”

The clip has a 4 line display in a few colors. The Fuze has a 1.9" color TFT screen. They have the same high quality audio chip. Fuze has better battery life.

 " want a Drag & Drop access"

That works here, 2 USB modes: MTP for use with Windows Media Player, and MSC for explorer interface and this functions with µSD slot cards as well.

“want to use a MP3 Player on my iPod HiFi and my Home Audio setup via 3.5mm Jack (not a Dock)”

Unless you hardwire connections, while the Fuze is hooked to the USB charging cable, it is turned off from play mode by default. The Griffin Dock is available and is made to charge and play music at the same time, via the Fuze line out, in lieu of headphone out connector of the Fuze, and has a 3.5mm stereo output from the dock to hook to speakers etc. The line out has a cleaner audio signal for the discerning ear. This, of course, fits in with your comment I only want to use this in my office so no issue of wire conected to it).

@sgthawker wrote:

"“want to use a MP3 Player on my iPod HiFi and my Home Audio setup via 3.5mm Jack (not a Dock)”

 

This should be no problem.

 

Unless you hardwire connections, while the Fuze is hooked to the USB charging cable, it is turned off from play mode by default.

 

Not true. While you cannot simultaneously play music while the Fuze is connected to your computer (because it also establishes a data connection), you can listen to it while connected to an ordinary AC wall charger. Just make sure that A.) The charger is designed for use with Sansas, or B.) It is a charger for USB devices where you can plug the Fuze’s cable into it, as you would plug it into your computer. DO NOT use anything designed for an I-pod and try and force it into the bottom 30-pin connector port!