WiFi Disk with built in 3000mah battery

[NorCalLC]

I'm new to the Ipad3 and have been getting ready to take it on a short 3 day trip. My intentions are to use it as much as possible for filming and photos. I know it has its limitations, and internal storage is the challenge at hand. I have the 32gig model, and haven't put much on it at all.

I know that videos will be the largest files, and I started digging around for some external storage ideas and came across the RavPower WiFi Disk with its own 3000mah battery built in. It will read and write to Sd/ Micro cards USB thumb drives and external hard drives per manufacturer and other reviews out there.



The item creates its own WLAN hotspot that will stream content up to 5 devices at once, claimed... and it has an App for using it on IOS and Android. I just got it last night and started playing with it, initial reactions are mixed at this time. A bit slow and clunky to be expected, but I was able to see the existing contents on both drives and move a picture from my Ipad to a drive and vise versa?

The Ipad didn't like playing GoPro videos from the USB drive, buffered constantly. I think it has potential but time will tell. If anyone has used anything like it and can shed light on the subject, I'd appreciate it.

 

[NorCalLC]

Update and testing of unit

So after a few days of testing the unit, I have to say I'm not impressed with it much at all. Here's the rundown.

After charging it up and downloading the App on my Ipad and Android phone I got to work. First, it's really slow at connecting to its own WiFi sitting no more than 4" from it? We're talking several minutes here, all the while you're wasting battery life on both devices. Next, upon inserting an SD card it may or may not read it/ see it at all. Same for my USB thumb drive, several attempts on both with mixed results. I was able to view pictures on both drives, although my GoPro videos buffered constantly they played but very slow. Very slow read/ write ability.

If I pulled the SD card while in the app to load the thumb drive, it would drop all WiFi but show that you were still connected to it. Again several minutes of setting it back up and reconnecting to it. This by the way happened on 3 devices, 2 android phones and the Ipad3. Interestingly, only I could play music on my HTC and not the wife on her Samsung... She could look at all the music but not play any of it.

I was able to transfer pictures back and forth from my Ipad to the SD card, but again getting to that point takes a while it seems. We were able to both stream pics at the same time, company claims up to 5 devices but it kept giving us grief with the WiFi so I'm returning it to look into other options. I just wanted to post this here for anyone else looking to have more storage options for the IPads and IPhones.

If you have any input on this, it's welcomed.
Thanks

 

[reece146]

Minutes to connect wifi? Dropping connections? Must be something wrong with it - I'd return it.

 

[NorCalLC]

Yeah, agreed but I wanted to reset it and try a few more things before I sent it back. I really think it has great potential, but needs a good bit of tweaking.

 

[reece146]

Is there a firmware update available for it? Sometimes when products get rushed to market a firmware update will be available in time for when it hits the shelves and that'll fix most if not all issues.

 

[NorCalLC]

Good thought, I checked for one but no go. I did test it again after doing a reset on it, reinstalling the app and even though the WiFi speed was a bit better, it's still a really slow process. It took over 6 min to upload a 900mb video shot on the Ipad to an SD card. And again, when I played that video over WiFi the Ipad buffered 5-6 times and for up to 30 seconds at a time.

Even though it will do the basic functions I'm looking for, I'm still not sure I should keep it. I'm thinking I need to find out about putting a MacMini in the cruiser just for this solution. They can have Bluetooth and WiFi along with 1 or 2 HDD installed... Hmmm thinking this up as I type