Wolverine ESP 80 GB Portable Multimedia Storage Player
By: Wolverine Average Rating: 4.5 Total Reviews: 29
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 On: 2008-07-06
The menus take awhile to figure out and the advance toggle button could be better-- when you hand it to someone that wants to look at pix its hard for them to maneuver. But that said, its a great small package that holds many different formats. Absolutely indispensible for back ups when travleing and for weddings--
 On: 2008-06-16
The Wolverine ESP has immediately become an essential camera accessory. I am a travel photographer, and while I would love to carry all my equipment with me at all times, I am most frequently deciding what I can do without on this trip to cut weight and space. The Wolverine has never and will never be cut out. It works so well and does such a great job backing up my memory cards, and displaying my photos, I just love working with it. I have upgraded my camera several times in the past few years and each time the files get larger and larger and the memory cards fill up faster and faster. I carry enough cards to get thru a days shooting and then load the files into the Wolverine in the evening. This gives me a great opportunity to review the days shooting on a big beautiful screen without hauling the laptop on every trip.
On: 2008-06-09
easy to use and lots of extra features. offers a slide show option for picture review with 1, 3 or 5 second intervals.
On: 2008-03-25
I bought this for a 2-week trip to Italy. I had been advised to not take a laptop. The Wolverine did a great job of filling in, plus it has so many other features it is just fun to operate. I liked not only the ease of download but also the fact that separate files were set up each time. I downloaded each day, so it was easy to keep each location in a separate file. Fellow travelers were impressed. One downside, I wish the screen was sharper. Customer service is excellent, also. Downloading to computer is simple. Battery life is great.
On: 2008-03-20
This will never win any awards for industrial design. It looks as if it was styled by a bunch of engineers. But thats what I like about it. Sturdy, functional, practical. Create a folder tree on the hard drive any way you want. Swap out the hard drive for a bigger one if you need more capacity. Run it for hours from the industry-standard battery. Buy additional batteries cheap. Swap them easily. And, it has BUTTONS. No dinky little wheel to make selections; you get a 4-direction joystick AND four buttons, one of them labelled an Escape key (which functions as such). Separate on-off button and Hold slider-switch to lock out the button functions when the unit is jostling around in your pocket. Everything really simple, really convenient. So who cares if the screen font looks like a 1980s Atari 400? The Wolverine also has multiple flash-memory i/o, USB, TV adapter port, and will display numerous RAW formats for those of us who have high-end digital cameras. And it displays current compressed video formats.
I use mine for spoken-word MP3s during a 5-hour drive from Calif to Ariz every few weeks. The battery still has one-third charge at the end of that trip. Also I load it with digital photos that I take while traveling, thus giving myself a secure backup. And I watch movies on it when I fly. It has everything I need except wireless internet.
The unit is heavy and is finished in battleship gray. Steve Jobs would hate the look of it, and thats another reason I like it. It does not pretend to be more than it is.
 On: 2008-03-17
I bought the Wolverine ESP 5080 (80 GB) version less than 1 year ago (9 months ago). Ive been using it predominantly for travel and as back-up for images. I currently have -- now had -- about 55 gigs stored on it when the device experienced a partition failure.
My computer cannot recognize the device and I cannot see any of the images or music stored on the device, including those recently transferred, but not copied to my desktop. The only message when trying to access is "path does not exist".
Most of the reviews appeared to be short-term use of the product which I found satisfactory for storage and simple viewing. I was thinking that I should have purchased a larger version, but after this experience maybe not.
Ive email customer support, but I am left wondering about the longer term reliability. 300+ bucks seems rather pricy for 9 months.
On: 2008-03-11
The analogy drawn by previous reviewer as to this being like a Swiss army knife has some merit.
It does the upload from Flash cards very well however and I think this was the main design objective. The MP3 player works well provided your ripping is done on a machine that does not have anything else going on. Otherwise its error correction facilities seem to not be able to resolve the issues.
Many of my older MP3 files that I ripped on a busy machine and which WOULD play on dedicated MP3 players would not work on this one.
The radio seems to works well enough provided you plug earphones in as I think it requires the cord to act as an antenna. I did not test the Video player and recorder and so cannot comment.
So on balance an excellent flash card photo backup. Fine radio and usable MP3 player. 5 stars for the backup 3-4 starts on other features. The size and weight are not exactly small and light but not a knockout.
On: 2008-02-08
I have had the Wolverine ESP80 for about a month now. It is well made, very reliable and based on other similar units the best value I could find. It is compact enough to fit in my camera bag. I would recommend this unit.
On: 2007-12-22
I am a serious amateur photagraher. I was looking for a way to store my digital photos from my two digital camaeras without buying numerous cards or bringing a laptop PC. Each camera is a different brand and uses a different card. After charging up the device, I was able to quickly download the pictures from each camera. The device is intuitive to use and I did not need to read the directions and was able to use it in a few minutes. It allows me to preview the pictures on screen also. I even downloaded some music and a movie. For my uses (photo storage) this is an exellent item that beats bringing along a portable PC. There is plenty of storage space and this item performed flawlessly. I would defintely buy this item again.
On: 2007-12-21
I am a serious amateur photagraher. I was looking for a way to store my digital photos from my two digital camaeras without buying numerous cards or bringing a laptop PC. Each camera is a different brand and uses a different card. After charging up the device, I was able to quickly download the pictures from each camera. The device is intuitive to use and I did not need to read the directions and was able to use it in a few minutes. It allows me to preview the pictures on screen also. I even downloaded some music and a movie. For my uses (photo storage) this is an exellent item that beats bringing along a portable PC. There is plenty of storage space and this item performed flawlessly. I would defintely buy this item again.
 On: 2007-09-17
If all you want to do is backup photos this is a great product. If you hope to also use it as a portable media player be warned - it does not support .mpeg2 files which is the most common mpg format for video.
It will not play videos taken on some digital cameras.
The resolution is far poorer than that on digital cameras so you are best off reviewing photos on your camera.
In short, if you want a spare hard drive to store your photos on, buy it. Other than its pretty much useless.
On: 2007-09-16
If all you want to do is backup photos this is a great product. If you hope to also use it as a portable media player be warned - it does not support .mpeg2 files which is the most common mpg format for video.
It will not play videos taken on some digital cameras.
The resolution is far poorer than that on digital cameras so you are best off reviewing photos on your camera.
In short, if you want a spare hard drive to store your photos on, buy it. Other than its pretty much useless.
On: 2007-09-04
Perfect for travel/storage when a laptop is too much. Handles my digital RAW photos easily.
On: 2007-09-03
This product is really versatile for my needs. I can listen to music, watch videos, and most importantly store my photos while on the go!!
On: 2007-08-31
I bought the Wolverine ESP mainly for use as a backup for my laptop for storing pictures while on an upcoming European vacation and cruise. I was intrigued by the large viewing screen, the 80 Gigs of memory, and the built in card readers (one for each of our two cameras). The trip is still 3 wks off, but I have tested it with a trip to Disneyland, and family gatherings. It is EXACTLY what I wanted...and more. I still havent gotten used to the little joy stick control, and at times I will push it in instead toggling L or R, but that is a minimal concern. And it seems like the battery wants to run down pretty quick, so I guess I better buy a back-up before the trip. It doesnt have alpha-numeric key pad capability, so when you back-up your cards they are saved exactly as named by your camera. It is then hard to tell what is what if you have a lot saved folders. But then you simply download the pics to your PC, create folders with easy to understand names, and upload the picture folders back into the ESP. That way you can quickly get to pics of events, or kids (or in my case...grand-kids) for sharing.
I have taken it to work several times (using it as a portable hard drive) as it easily fits in your jacket pocket or it has a belt loop on the case (OK, that is a little tacky...but it works) and then have shared pictures at the same time. Very cool little toy.
I can just imagine the first night on the cruise when we meet new people at our dinner table, and they ask if we have pictures of the grand-kids...boy do we! LOL
The built-in game, FM radio and MP3 capabilities are fluff as far as I am concerned, and figure it would just be another battery drain (but wait, Im getting a back-up, so maybe I will start using those features...especially on the long plane ride!)
 On: 2007-08-12
The concept of the product is good. Functionally, it works as advertised. I recently purchased the 80GB version and used it on location where electricity was scarce. I uploaded as many as 10,000 photos daily while camping. I was able to review my photos with ease. However, upon my return to my studio, the hard drive within the unit failed completely, unable to recognize the primary partition. My 63,000 plus photos which I could not re shoot were gone. Thank goodness for third party data recovery companies. Wolverine tech support was sympathetic and helpful, saying that I should have taken two units with me on location. They quickly replaced my new unit with a refurbished one. Many hundreds of dollars later, I was able to recover my data, but my confidence in this product was shaken. How can a new unit, less than a week old, always hand carried, fail so completely?
On: 2007-07-25
I picked up this storage device for a recent trip, and it was great to have. This unit makes it easy to download from flash media cards. If youre a traveling digital photographer you gotta have an external storage device as a back up for photos, and this one is great unit to have. The price is right especially in relation to the pricier Epson devices. It also does double duty as a media player, for those MP3s/videos that you want to access on the long flights.
Just two minor points: 1 - Theres a small joy stick that sticks out - its easy to accidentally press this button if the unit is in a shirt pocket.
2 - I wish the carrying case was a bit bigger, so it could stash the usb cable and small ear plugs.
Other than that this is a great unit to carry around.....
On: 2007-07-12
Im an amateur photographer shooting only monstrous RAW formats (13 MP, from a Canon 5D). I bought the Wolverine to transfer the pictures from the CF card to a portable hard drive while in vacations. The transfer speed is adequate (faster than any laptop I used previously) and it does open the Canon RAW formats, just like advertised. Im very happy with this. The mp3 side is average, but I don care too much (I have smaller players which I carry). I did test some movies - clips downloaded from Internet and works fine, except the ones protected. The charger is good for 100-220 V, so I had no problem using it in Australia. The CF interface is not the sturdiest, attention should be paid when the card is inserted or removed. Recently tried the Wolverine with an SD card from Canon G7, it works just fine. The radio has no antenna - only through the audio output. If nothing plugged in, there is no signal. The built in speaker sound just like a cell phone speaker.
On: 2007-07-12
I love this thing. I recently went on vacation and never had to worry about filling up the memory on my camera and then having to plug into my computer. I just shot them and immediately loaded them into my Wolverine.
And Im putting all my Netflix movies on here to watch when I go on vacation in a few weeks. I love it. Love it. Love. It.
On: 2007-07-04
I took this device on a trip to France and used it to back up 3 cameras -
1 with an SD card, 1 with an SDHC card and 1 with a memory stick card.
All told, I backed up about 10GB of images without a problem with plenty of battery power left. The ESP worked flawlessly.
On: 2007-07-03
This is an excellent gadget for travel. It is very easy to use. You can quickly transfer all of your photos to the ESP and then reuse your memory card. It is fun to sit around with friends and look at the days travel pictures. I carry pictures of my family and pets with me and look at them when I am traveling and (if appropriate) even share a few with people I meet when traveling. It is amazing what happens when I look at my pictures on an airplane - the Wolverine ESP becomes the center of attention and everyone wants to see it and then buy one after they see what it is capable of. For me, it is as much a camera accessory as is my camera battery charger.
On: 2007-07-01
Purchased primarily for family photo backup on trips and vacations since it can read and backup almost any card. (ie; Everyone can use it with their respective cameras) I loaded about 15 documentaries into the video folder for viewing at our isolated vacation house. About 20% of them were incompatible file formats so Im glad its firmware upgradable. Easily hooks up to TVs for viewing on larger screen. The controls are completely logical. It automatically switches to Mass Storage Device when the USB cable is used to connect computer. The 3.6" screen is amazingly clear. I actually watched a couple of the videos in the car. The Linux operating system allows you to create your own folder structure or view and inserted media card as a separate folder if you just want to view your photos. Great little MP3 player. The AC charger works on 110volt or european 220volt (with a 3d party socket adapter). Finally, can read text files. I dump my entire Palm content into a text file and have it available.
On: 2007-05-31
In one word: fantastic. While I primarily use this device for backing up my flash cards, I loaded an unbelievable amount of MP3s on the Wolverine and listened for over 24 hours during my trip to Europe before the batteries ran out. User interface is excellent and very intuitive.
On: 2007-05-29
We just got back from 12 days in Costa Rica and used the Wolverine to store JPG and RAW image photos from our digital cameras. The process of storing them was very easy and the ability to get a good image upon review, including being able to zoom in to study the focus, was wonderful.
On: 2007-05-12
I bought the ESP 80 primarily so that I could back up photos while traveling, AND see they were actually saved before erasing my memory cards. However, Im finding that its a great way to share photos with other people, too. (It also works fine for me as an MP3 player.) Its a bit heavy to carry all the time, or I probably would.
The user interface took a little getting used to (sometimes I have trouble figuring out where you have to be in order for particular commands to be available) but it seems to be pretty consistent once you get the hang of it.
The biggest problem Ive had is when people ask me, "What is it?" A photo magazine referred to the similar Epson device as a "storage viewer" and thats what Im going to call it.
On: 2007-04-01
This thing amazes me. Mp3 player, Memory Card Reader, Video Player, Voice Recorder, DVR (With optional Cradle), External hard drive, and like always I am sure Im forgetting a few things this little baby can do. I love being able to plop my CF card in and transferring data to it very quickly. I have put images up on my LCD TV that look great and my family has enjoyed my little slide shows. I dont see much that this thing is lacking except an onboard camera, being a cell phone, and a pda but then we would be talking $1000 dollars plus to pack all that into such a small package very nice addition to my tech collection.
On: 2007-03-31
This thing amazes me. Mp3 player, Memory Card Reader, Video Player, Voice Recorder, DVR (With optional Cradle), External hard drive, and like always I am sure Im forgetting a few things this little baby can do. I love being able to plop my CF card in and transferring data to it very quickly. I have put images up on my LCD TV that look great and my family has enjoyed my little slide shows. I dont see much that this thing is lacking except an onboard camera, being a cell phone, and a pda but then we would be talking $1000 dollars plus to pack all that into such a small package very nice addition to my tech collection.
On: 2007-02-07
I bought this for a friend. He is quite pleased with the product. It does everything it claims.
On: 2007-02-06
I bought this for a friend. He is quite pleased with the product. It does everything it claims.
On: 2007-01-23
My wife and I ordered the Wolverine for a vacation so we could download pictures from our digital camera. The wolverine is very user friendly and downloads a 4g memory card without any problems. We also recorded several movies and tv shows to watch on the plane using the cradle. We used the large screen to review pictures to decide which ones to keep. When we returned from our trip, we showed family the pictures by attaching the wolverine to the tv and then using the remote control to scroll through the pictures like a slide show. I highly recommend this produce.
On: 2007-01-21
I spent a while trying to find a multimedia device that could read multiple types of flash memory cards (Compact flash cards, SD cards), read the raw files from my Canon EOS 5D camera and have at least 80 GB storage.
This device met all those requirements and also has a big vivid screen. In addition to the above, it is an mp3 player, video player and has an FM radio.
I have the 100 GB version that I purchased from costco for $ 350. I took this along on a long trip (3 weeks), along with a couple of spare batteries.
It performed wonderfully. I downloaded the pictures from my 2 GB compact flash cards at least 15 times. It stored all my RAW files without a hitch. It could also read the raw files generated from my camera and display it. The download speed was very fast.
The Canon EOS 5D generates large files at it highest resolution and fills up my 2 GB compact flash cards quickly. It is too impractical and expensive to carry too many compact flash cards. This device really helps to bridge this gap.
It also has a tetris game, music and video capability in it, to keep my kids happy during long drives.
Highly recommended for digital photographers and also for people looking for a verstile multi media device that can do more than the ipod.
On: 2007-01-20
I spent a while trying to find a multimedia device that could read multiple types of flash memory cards (Compact flash cards, SD cards), read the raw files from my Canon EOS 5D camera and have at least 80 GB storage.
This device met all those requirements and also has a big vivid screen. In addition to the above, it is an mp3 player, video player and has an FM radio.
I have the 100 GB version that I purchased from costco for $ 350. I took this along on a long trip (3 weeks), along with a couple of spare batteries.
It performed wonderfully. I downloaded the pictures from my 2 GB compact flash cards at least 15 times. It stored all my RAW files without a hitch. It could also read the raw files generated from my camera and display it. The download speed was very fast.
The Canon EOS 5D generates large files at it highest resolution and fills up my 2 GB compact flash cards quickly. It is too impractical and expensive to carry too many compact flash cards. This device really helps to bridge this gap.
It also has a tetris game, music and video capability in it, to keep my kids happy during long drives.
Highly recommended for digital photographers and also for people looking for a verstile multi media device that can do more than the ipod.
On: 2007-01-14
I bought this device to be a temporary storage device for pictures taken while I travel. I wanted to travel without my computer, and did not want to buy enough cards for an extended trip. This device has performed well for that purpose.
The areas I am disappointed in are around the viewing.
First, when viewing on the screen, the picture is displayed as expected for a relatively low resolution device. I knew this when buying, but I think the display could have been a little better.
Second, the connection to the TV distorts the picture, so the display is much worse than having the picture displayed through the camera (connected to the TV).
These two items are the disappointment, but the device was not bought for those purposes, so I am still very happy with this purchase.
On: 2007-01-13
I bought this device to be a temporary storage device for pictures taken while I travel. I wanted to travel without my computer, and did not want to buy enough cards for an extended trip. This device has performed well for that purpose.
The areas I am disappointed in are around the viewing.
First, when viewing on the screen, the picture is displayed as expected for a relatively low resolution device. I knew this when buying, but I think the display could have been a little better.
Second, the connection to the TV distorts the picture, so the display is much worse than having the picture displayed through the camera (connected to the TV).
These two items are the disappointment, but the device was not bought for those purposes, so I am still very happy with this purchase.
On: 2006-11-02
MP3 players. Ive resisted buying one until they made it perfect. Wolverine met my standards. Heres some features you should think about:
Removable, drop out $30 li-ion battery - keep a spare after 14 hours of songs!
CF/SD/MMC/and more slots for reading memory cards AND saving photos on the hard disk
80 GB hard disk is user upgradable (instructions in the manual) when big ones get cheaper (which they will - you know it!)
Big, BIG screen. 320x240 but wow - its a display in and of itself. I use it to review photos on the spot from my 8MP digicam
Video - well they all have video now, so thats an expectation. its compatible with itunes, so Im fine - but it does WMA and PC video too!
Microphone built in - record conversations on the spot
separate video/audiio outputs for watching video or playing photos - even with a soundtrack!
Separate configuration for screen, hard disk, and system power down times.
Easy to zoom in/out on photos for focus checking - wonderful feature by itself.
Empties both high and low speed CF cards. My 4GB sandisk extreme III dumps to this fast, letting me keep shooting those big photos.
And the features go on and on - too many to list here but I may find the manual to upload.
Basically - you are looking at a video MP3 player on steriods - supports universal formats, has an upgrade path, records audio on the spot, even has a video recording dock and can be setup as a TIVO. USB, 5VDC, dock ports on the bottom, ear buds included or use standard 1/8" stereo headphones with it. Uses common li-ion battery securely tucked in the handle. And with all those fetures, its easy to use, not too big, and comes with a beltloop case. When the 200 gb disks come out, theres a button to setup one on it. No need to buy the expensive 120GB disk today.
The screen color is wonderful and performance is just flawless. For example - I shoot in Olympus Raw format so I can fix things later without compression loss. This thing understands most SLR raw formats on the market today! And its firmware is upgradable as more arrive (the factory encourages you to check for the latest version).
I havent drained the battery yet - but Ive moved alot of data to it. It also charges off the USB connector via a special cable with 2 usb plugs to snag enough power from your pc to juice it up off the USB bus.
Its a winner - Comparing it to my parents IPOD the size is close, but the functionality is far more impressive. My dads camera uses SD cards and it cleared his card out just like my CF card - so we both can use it on trips. It even works with my micro-SD cards for my motorola phone (1GB).
At 399 - Amazons price is great. No shipping - prime members get it in 2 days or less (mine arrive next day for 2 day price - free) and no tax. Im impressed - I think you will be too.
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