Customer Reviews

Nikon MSV-01 Coolwalker 30GB Digital Storage Photo Viewer

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you just want to copy your images from your CF cards and later to you computer it is good. Battery life is short, you can't copy 25gb on one charge...

Nikon does not support your copying files from your PC to it.
Does not even what to hear about copying files from your Mac to it.
They do not support files retouched from ANY application, ever Nikon Editor.

Only wants you to:
Copy images from your CF Card to it and off to your computer.
Reformatting your CF Cards.
Reviewing images taken off your cards.

It is not ment to be used as a image storage device or to use for a portable digital portfolio. I use my Photo iPod for that... Try giving the consumer what they want Nikon.

I bought a Nikon D50 after comparing the quality to the D70. The D50 though uses a SD card instead of the Compact Flash card - mostly for making the D50 smaller and lighter than the D70. Anyhow, I still wanted a Coolwalker... as I'm going to be using the Nikon Raw Format most of the time... for you newbies that's an uncompressed file (the D70 compresses RAW- weird) that's about 4 times larger than a 3008x2000 Jpeg. The Coolwalker has 30 Gig of space... so I treat it like a junk drive with a view screen. THe kicker was that the D50 DOESN'T use the Compact Flash Card - and that's the only thing the Coolwalker uses. So I found the "Archos" brand (google it) 4-1 CF adapter. Another writer in this column didn't specify which name brand he bought... but the Archos is what you want. It works GREAT in my coolwalker. I use it EXACTLY as specified in the Coolwalker directions... inserting the card WITH the SD card already in the CFA into the Coolwalker BEFORE powering the Coolwalker up. It works GREAT. I might say that I "DO" follow the Coolwalker instructions and ONLY USE an approved SD Card. That might be the problem the other writer mentions when talking about a CFA. With it's big colorful screen and 30 GIG drive it's ALOT cheaper than buying 30 GIG worth of SD or CF cards! It's a no brainer.

I got mine today - very nice. Reads a 4 GB Microdive quickly. Great display, far better than the FlashTrax. Transferred all my photos to it, have room to spare. Direct printing is a plus!
Glad I bought it./

First of all, I love this when used with my Nikon Coolpix 880, which uses a CF card. However, God help us, my wife has a Kodak EasyShare camera which uses an SD card.

Reading the description, I see that "It's also compatible with CompactFlash and Microdrive and can be combined with a CF adapter to enable use of SD cards too.".

So, no problemo, eh??

Not so fast!! First of all, I couldn't find a CF Adapter anywhere on Amazon. The way they throw out the above sentence, almost as an afterthought, had me thinking these cards would be easy to find.

After an hour Googling "CF adapter" I found a "4-in-1 adapter" that supposedly lets you plug in an SD card into this thing. Well, physically this does work, but crashes the Coolwalker if it is powered up with the card in place. IF you insert the card into the powered-up CoolWalker (something I'm not all that comfortable with doing on a regular basis!) it will transfer the photos on the SD to the CoolWalker.

These files will NOT PLAY on the Coolwalker, but I've found that they will transfer to my computer, apparently none the worse for wear, and will display there.

I guess this doesn't make me feel all that comfortable with this whole system as my wife and I get ready to take an anniversary cruise this fall, with her EasyShare in tow.

It does work with the Nikon CF card, but I'd be leery of compatiblity with other systems.

Jim

I purchased this item with a hi-res camera, and it was a lifesaver on long shoots. The ability to back up my images immediately gave me real peace of mind, and the thing really worked as advertised. Although it would freeze every now and then, I never lost any images--the only drawback was that you had to remove the battery to restart it, as it stopped responding to all button inputs.

This morining, as I was preparing for a 5-day shoot, I turned it on to delete any old images and recharge it, and the screen was completely dead. Plugged into my PC via USB, it all still shows up, but I was totally depending on it for this upcoming weekend, and I have been totally let down. I have no choice but to try to navigate it in the dark, unless they want to overnight one to my hotel.

I was anxious to buy a CoolWalker as soon as they came out. Having bought a new D-100 I could hardly wait to get out and take a zillion pictures. I did buy one and really wish I had not. It is extremely sloooow! Better stick to a 1GB card because the batteries won't make it through a 2GB card. Give up on playback - it is just too slow to be worthwhile at all. Oh yes, forget payback through the TV as it is supposed to do - the pictures look terrible on a standard TV and are very slow to load. Audience will die waiting for the next picture. All in all - it has been a terrible experience. I did solve my problem - I bought an iPod and it works just as advertised. Now I can't even seem to be able to give away the CoolWalker. Best offer I've had was $50. Nikon should stick with what they do well - make cameras. Love my camera, but their software sucks as does the not very cool CoolWalker.

It does its job.
I shoot with SD cards. I had to find a CF adapter before I could use it (Ebay -SD cards slips into CF jacket and both slide into Coolwalker). I have used the Coolwalker to upload and download images (and other computer files) on both my Macbook Pro and my PC. I use it for transferring all sorts of data between the 2 machines, like a glorified usb drive :) I have used it on all my trips and it is so much cheaper than buying 60 gigs of SD cards! I've never had any files corrupted or lost and for the sake of on-site backup I've never been disappointed. I've had it for about 6 months and have not had any difficulties the other reviewers mention, knock on wood.
This device would be really cool if you could do more- edit, rename, etc. I've used it to browse pictures on TV, looks great but takes forever (compared to camera to TV) to process from 1 raw photo to the next. The upload from the sd card also take a while- over 20 minutes for 2 gigs. That part is a bit painful, I do it at the end of the day when my camera is charging. The battery doesn't last long but if outlets are plentiful...
All those aforementioned negatives aside when it comes down to it I just want to be able to -see- the shot has been stored. That the Coolwalker does fine.
I recently received a 60 gig ipod and think that I will still bring the CoolWalker along for all my photos. I like the Nikon Camera download to Nikon storage, even if it isn't as cool as the ipod nor does it have as many bells and whistles as some other photo viewers, but then again, as far as the most important issue- data storage- I've never been let down.

This is a good way to store image when you are going to shoot a lot of gb on vacations, travel, etc, but it's not very portable.

- If you need to back-up your CF card, you need to have it plugged into the wall or the batteries will die out (I have an 8gb card; it took about 1.25 hours to upload the whole card to the Coolwalker).
- It's very slow when viewing images.

If you have the money to spend, I'd recommend getting something with a larger viewing area, such as the Epson multi-media products. I don't own any of them, but I've seen them used and they are much nicer and easier to view the images on.

The Nikon Coolwalker is the only way I have found to view Nikon's NEF raw files in a portable device. The Coolwalker works very well as a viewing device and storage device with one notable exception....it can deplete it's charged battery very quickly. If you buy a Coolwalker, you should consider spending the money in a spare battery right off. Downloading a couple of cards will take awhile and you will need the second battery to get through the day. Hopefully, any update to the Coolwalker will include a more readily available battery, less power consumption and a larger screen. I am happy with the Coolwalker but I could be happier.

The main reason for choosing this unit among the many existing in the market was its reiability. It has many good points, it is simple to use, needs just on buttom to transfer all the images contained in the card, the speed is not its strongest point but works fine enough. The menu is simple and straightforward with absolute clear instructions. The weak point is its software. It presents a rigid date based folder system which cannot be changed to suit different tastes. It has to be organized after the transfer has been made. A second fault I find is that it does not work with Nikon transfer application and files have to be transferred to the PC using normal copy instructions. For its role as a small substitute of the laptop I have been using till now, it works perfectly as a primary portable storing device. Now it fits into my photo bag when travelling which is quite the advantage I have been looking for.