Wolverine MVP 60GB Multimedia Storage Device Review

The first thing that you notice about the Wolverine MVP 60GB is the glossy, bright red case. Once you're past that, the MVP is a capable media storage device with a 7 in 1 card reader, and some fun features that can handle your pictures, movies, music, and whatever other media you want to take with you when you don't have a notebook.

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In the Box

Included with the MVP, you'll get a user manual, USB cable, AC adapter, carry bag with built-in speaker, AV and audio cables, remote control, audio line-in cable, and resource CD.

Features

The Wolverine MVP features a 7 in 1 card reader that can read CompactFlash I/II, MicroDrive, Smart Media, Multi-Media Card, Secure Digital Card, Memory Stick, MS PRO, MS Duo, and MS PRO Duo memory cards. Your data can be stored on the internal 60GB hard drive. The device can also be attached to your PC via a USB cable and is treated like a USB mass storage device.

Another nice image feature is that the MVP can display images that are stored in different RAW formats from several camera manufacturers.

The built-in 2.5 inch color LCD provides easy viewing of the menus, thumbnails, pictures, and movies that you can store on the advice.

A built-in microphone allows you to create voice recordings. You can also record using the line-in cable.

The rechargeable battery provides 8 hours of music playback or 3.5 hours of video playback on a single charge.

The carrying case has a built-in speaker that is powered by 2 AAA batteries. You can plug the speaker into one of the audio out ports to play your music on the speaker.

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Design and Build Quality

The MVP is a bit smaller than a paperback book (5.04"x 3.01"x1.2") and has a glossy red plastic front a back cover. It's certainly an eye-catcher -- enough that it may actually turn some people off.

The front of the device sports the 2.5 inch screen, a power button, Esc button, and Menu button. To navigate around the icons and menus a clickable joystick also takes up space on the front. The Esc button allows to you exit menus and traverse upward when navigating through folders. The Menu button activates a context-specific menu. The joystick is used to navigate the menus and drill into folders (by clicking on a selection).

Context-specific menu (view large image)

Another context-specific menu (view large image)

The left side of the device has slots for Smart Media and SD/MMC/Memory Stick media. A rocker switch makes it easy to increase and decrease volume or zoom in and out of images. The infrared port for the remote control is also on this side, along with the USB jack and AC adapter jack.

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The right side of the device holds the slot for Compact Flash and Microdrive, a battery access door, video out jack, headphone jack, and a jack for audio input.

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Performance

The Wolverine MVP did its job well. Memory cards, once inserted, appeared on the main menu display. Using the joystick, you can navigate to the icon that represents the memory card. Click the Menu button to choose a backup operation on the device. A nice progress meter appears to let you know how things are going. If you only want to copy select images to the internal hard drive of the MVP, you can drill into the folder structure on the card and choose which folders/files to copy.

Progress meter (view large image)

Once your files are on the MVP, you can view images and play movies and music. One thing that I really like about the picture viewer is that you can view the EXIF data. The EXIF data attached to a JPG describes the camera parameters when the picture was taken (like ISO setting, shutter speed, aperture settings, etc.).

Thumbnail view (view large image)

EXIF data (view large image)

The built-in MP3 player does a good job and you can even tell it to play in the background while you put on a slideshow. A graphical "equalizer" view can be displayed if you want some more visual effects.

If you want to play the MP3s while you are out and about, you can plug the MVP into its case, which has a built-in speaker. The speaker is powered by two AAA batteries and does a good job (given the single speaker) to fill a room with sound.

Conclusion

The Wolverine MVP 60GB provides a nice way to backup your digital media. The built-in card reader reads all of the major media card formats so it also provides a way to free up the space on your memory cards if you don't have another computer with you. Then, when you're ready to show off your images, you can plug it into a TV and let em rip. The Wolverine device provides some nice features like RAW image viewing, display of EXIF data, and joystick navigation that set it apart from other devices that I've seen. At $320-$350, it's not cheap, but if you need a device like this, it's a good option.

Pros

• Joystick navigation
• Audio recording
• Viewing of RAW images
• EXIF data display

Cons

• Bright red styling may be a turn off for some
• Pretty pricey