Wolverine ESP 80GB Portable Multimedia Storage and Player

Comments about Wolverine ESP 80GB Portable Multimedia Storage and Player:

The directions were not easy to follow to get the photos downloaded. I have not looked at them since I loaded them. Just returned from a 2 week trip so hopefully I will learn more about this and it will work efficiently for me.

Comments about Wolverine ESP 80GB Portable Multimedia Storage and Player:

I used this on a cruise/tour to Alaska. I purchased this because I wanted to see that my pictures were actually downloaded onto the media storage. Also, I was advised by some professional photographers to have a separate storage for my photos in case my camera was lost or damaged. I had my Wolverine in a separate suitcase than my camera.
I downloaded my pictures each night, thus the files are in order by day=easy to catagorize my pictures/locations etc. I also plugged it into my 40" TV to look at them=fabulous, even though my little camera is not 1080P.
One time during download I ran out of battery charge. So, I have two downloads of the same pictures-one ending at the time the battery ran out and the other complete. This was just a minor inconvenience, as I can delete the duplicate pictures when I have them on computer.

I have recommended this product to a few other people who are interested. It is nice to see that you have actually stored your pictures. I was a bit leary about just downloading them onto a device that confirms data transfer with no visual of the photos until later. The capacity was fine for my purposes.

Comments about Wolverine ESP 80GB Portable Multimedia Storage and Player:

I use this product to backup travel shooting where I have many Gigs of photos. I have two for a double backup. It gives me peace of mind when traveling. Downloading takes about 4-5 minutes for 4 GBs of raw files. You can download music as well for trips and down time. Easy to use and dependable to date. The images are not high resolution, but that is not what I am using it for. This is likely a reason for the reasonable price.

Comments about Wolverine ESP 80GB Portable Multimedia Storage and Player:

Bought this product because I travel a lot, and I don't want to carry a notebook with me all the time. But I still want to be able to view my photos. This portable storage is great for it and easy to use. The LCD screen isn't the best quality but you can get a fairly good impression of your photos.
The battery lasts long, which is great.
You should be aware, though, that the filename is being altered when you photos are being transferred. Haven't found a fix for that.
The filename for my Canon EOS 400D is originally IMG_1234.cr2 which is stored on the CF-card in a folder called 185CANON. When you transfer the photos "img" is being replaced with "185", for no particular reason. So when you transfer, all photos of that CF-card are stored in a separate folder (that's great, no photos can be overwritten!) but instead of your photo "IMG_1234" you find the same photo under the name "185_1234".
That's not very practicall, and I don't see why that is handy.
But that being only a minor negative thing, I'm pretty satified with the ESP, and it is cheaper than the EPSON.

Comments about Wolverine ESP 80GB Portable Multimedia Storage and Player:

Carry it as a picture viewer primarily. It is a tool I can use to show work to others without having to carry prints with me.
It is an excellent tool because of the large, bright viewing screen and very large capacity. 80GB is huge but Wolverine also makes units with much more capacity. For me, I could travel for a month using the Wolverine to off load images from my Nikon D80.
One aspect that is not as great as I expected is the rate at which the images change once the joystick is pushed. Don't expect an instant response like what you get from the review feature on your digital camera. There is a brief lag.
I'm very pleased with the instrument. Good "cool factor" too!

Comments about Wolverine ESP 80GB Portable Multimedia Storage and Player:

I rarely play with modern day electronics, so I decided to step out of the cave and try the Wolverine because I do love to take pictures.

My wife and I just returned from a two week vacation in Alaska, and any one who has been there can tell you every foot is another photo opportunity.

I returned home with over 2,500 photos. The downloading onto the Wolverine was unbelievably fast and the battery life gave me more than enough time to do what I wanted. Then we could review, magnify, delete, etc., etc, etc.

We became friends with some people from New York and I saw them purchasing memory cards at stops because his wife was taking as many photos as us. I showed him the Wolverine and explained how it worked. I told him I purchased it from B&H. He stated he lived near one and was going there when he arrived back home.

So now you have one happy customer and will have another, if he has not purchased it already.

The only problem I have had so far was placing the pictures on the computer for any revisions. Again, I am in the stone age, duh, I can work with the pictures through the Wolverine, a data storage unit. So the problem was me, not the equipment.

I haven't even begun to explore the other functions of the Wolverine.

Comments about Wolverine ESP 80GB Portable Multimedia Storage and Player:

I use this product to store and/or back up images at weddings and other events.

Comments about Wolverine ESP 80GB Portable Multimedia Storage and Player:

I need a portable backup unit with a quality display for my remote shoots and wedding sessions. I'm looking for fast backup of memory cards as well as a good-resolution on the display screen.
This unit was not fast in transferring my data, nor did it have a good quality display. The transfer rate is claimed to be 1GB/minute, but my 2GB CF cards transferred in more like 5-10 minutes. The video display is horrible. It made all of my photos look like I took them with a pinhole camera instead of a 10-megapixel SLR. I'm returning the unit and purchasing one from Epson.

Comments about Wolverine ESP 80GB Portable Multimedia Storage and Player:

Taking off for a three-week visit to Germany and needed a reliable backup for the many pictures I'll be taking. So far I'm quite impressed with the ESP. It's operating controls are very intuitive- took no time at all the navigate through all the functions. I downloaded the PDF operations manual and studied up while waiting on delivery. It's easy to transfer files to and from the PC / ESP. Couple of minor disappointments- resolution is not great however, cost more than makes up for it. I knew of the limitation when I bought it and would still recommend this product.
File naming has to be done via PC. Would be nice to modify file ID as you transfer from CF to ESP.
Positives: Easy to connect to TV or PC for viewing.
Surprisingly good MP3 sound quality with the ear phones that came with the unit. I bought an expensive set which didn't sound as good and ended up returning them. File transfer from my ipod files to the ESP couldn't be easier.
I would strongly recommend getting the base adapter to take full advantage of all the ESP capabilities, especially the DVR function.
Overall a good value for the $$ investment.

Comments about Wolverine ESP 80GB Portable Multimedia Storage and Player:

Primarily I purchased the Wolverine ESP for traveling. It allows me to download my images and at the same time listen to music along the way. It has been easy to use and so far has met my expectations.

Comments about Wolverine ESP 80GB Portable Multimedia Storage and Player:

This product is great. I purchased it in lie of purchasing piles of Compact Flash cards for my SLR camera. It transfers the content of my 1 gig cards very fast and offers the ability to run a compare after the transfer is complete. The compare along with the fact that I can view files gives me the security and comfort feeling I wanted so I knew the images are properly backed up before I reformat the card to use again. The view screen is a greater size not too small that its hard to see detail and not too big that it is clunking to carry around. The viewer allows for zooming into see detail close-up and the color is great. It works just like a external hard drive when connected to the computer which makes it very easy to copy photos, videos, music, ... to and from the Wolverine device. I like the lock feature which allows you to lock out the keys so when its in your back it can not accidentally be turned on. The included case gives it great protection in your bag or pocket. The only issue I have had with it is I wish I could get it to name the backed up photos with the date/time taken, it just gives the sequential number names, but I can live with that (all the data is in the files information). I have no intention on doing edits or anything other than storing and viewing on this product and those features are on many of the similar alterative more expensive products with half the storage capacity. Video and sound are also smooth and clear.

Comments about Wolverine ESP 80GB Portable Multimedia Storage and Player:

It's hard to call the Wolverine ESP 80GB a portable media player when it does so much more. Like many other portable media players the ESP has MP3, video and picture viewing capabilities.

Comments about Wolverine ESP 80GB Portable Multimedia Storage and Player:

This is a nice device. It's fast, affordable, has an easyreplaceable battery so you can use it indefinitely and thebuilt-in battery has good life. The screen is very brightalthough only 320x240 resolution. It handles RAW files.The downsides are an awkward user interface, built-inspeaker is nearly useless, play back volume is low, doesn'tplay QuickTime and several other movie formats, movie scrollis awful. Audio recordings are in AAC format not MP3 or WAVor even AIFF. Bottom line is if you're traveling and want a portable drivefor backing up your compact flash and/or sd cards andchecking your photos, it's okay. All the other functionsare marginal but they do work. Fortunately, I bought it forphoto backup first and other uses were just an afterthought. Other media players will leave it in the dust in terms ofresolution and user interface and sometimes value. Niceunit, just limited.

Expertise: Semi-professional photo/video

Problems Encountered: Won't play many video formats such as .MOV or VOB withouttime consuming conversion. Cannot rotate photos permanentlyin unit. Don't know if it supports Adobe DNG or not.

Previous Equivalent Item Owned: Replaces X's Drive

Items I Recommend: Amplified headphones for listening to MP3 or Video

Comments about Wolverine ESP 80GB Portable Multimedia Storage and Player:

By far the best combination of features and performance forthe dollar. I'll mostly be using the unit for backing up my CF cards during travel and as a quick view. The resolution isn't as crisp as the Epson, but price per Gb is almost half. I was very impressed with ease of use. No problem loading photo's from my PC or backing up CF's. The compact size is great for travel. The unit is reasonably fast. Controls aren't totally intuitive, but they are easy to learn. Nice menu structure. Battery life is about 4 hours when viewing photos or video, much more for music.

Problems Encountered: Nothing major. Upgrade the Firmware from the Wolverine Website if you have a D200. Also be very careful mounting and unmounting CF cards. Their isn't much in the way of guides and the pins are very close to the top of the unit. It would be very easy to tilt the card and bend the pins.

Previous Equivalent Items Owned: None

Items I Recommend: Wall Mount Charger and Second Battery