FYI: Nikon CoolWalker Finally Available at B&H

I'd requested notification when the Coolwalker came in and they shot

me an e-mail today.

Promptly went to check it out hoping (naively it turns out) to find

it listed for ~$300...it's listed at $499!! It is 30GB, nice LCD and

reads/displays the NEF files.

I guess considering how much a 30GB IPod runs (a bit over $300) and

it doesn't have a LCD the price is probably fair, but seems like a

lot.

I'm sure they will be cheaper after Christmas, if you can wait.

Regards, Ross

As an alternative, there is the FlashTrax by SmartDisk. Now they actually have an 80G version for $600+ and also works as an MP3 player. The 40G version at $450 or so probably competes against the Coolwaker.

See http://smartdisk.com/

At $500 for 30gb and only support for Nikon RAW files, it doesn't seem that interesting. The Epson product that should be out by Christmas is a lot more capable.

I've got Nikon and Canon digital cameras and am not going to spend money on a device that doesn't support the other cameras. Seems like they're self-limiting the customers for it. I suppose that's good - the price should come down fast for those that want it.

"It is also capable of supporting for playback JPEG, TIFF, NEF (RAW), Motion JPEG, and WAV formats."

Not sure if you meant it only reads Nikon NEF files (as opposed to Canon RAW files) or if ONLY reads Nikon NEF files (as opposed to JPEG, TIFF, etc.)

So it seems that the coolwalker is only cool if you own a Nikon...

I guess that means I couldn't store RAW images from my Canon digital rebel??

What about adaptors for other types of cards such as the SD?