Road worthy E-readers

[Doobie_D]

I can't believe there isn't a thread on this already.

Being as books are heavy and there isn't always an easy or cheap way to swap them out on the road I've finally gotten hip to the idea or rolling with an E-reader.

I've seen folks selling them on here but there has never been a review on some of the more travel worthy models.

Me personally.. I'm looking for all or most of these features:

*Ability to upload various maps, stp library goodies, and other random goodies that may not be Amazon or Barnes and nobles sanctioned.

* SD card slot

* longest possible battery life.

*back light capabilities

* light weight

* not super expensive due to unnecessary bells and whistles



I'd be interested in hearing about what folks have and why they like what they have or what they'd prefer instead.

Thanks for reading

 

[Matt Derrick]

well my advice would be to avoid kindle just because it's mostly limited to reading their proprietary formats, which usually have DRM in them, so it's not easy to copy books from or to the device without buying them on amazon.

what you really need in addition to your list above:

reads epub, mobi, pdf
optionally also reads cbr, cbz, chm, lit

i really liked my kobo glo, has all the features you requested and can be had around $50. here's a nice one with a case for $63: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Kobo-Glo-Ereader-E-book-Wifi-6in-2-GB-BUNDLE-Fabric-Sleep-Cover-Gray/273123134233?hash=item3f97684b19:m:m-NcsEhF3g3p66siJdYQPPw&var=572387959958

the backlight is a pretty awesome feature, i loved reading books at night or on a train with it, you can change the brightness level so it doesn't scream 'here i am!'

even with the backlight you can get like 2 weeks of battery life easy, probably more.

 

[Matt Derrick]

i guess the only other thing worth mentioning is that large pdf files are going to load somewhat slowly, but that's basically true of almost all e-readers that i am aware of.

 

[Doobie_D]

Awesome. Thanks. I was leaning towards a kobo or a nook. But there is alot of information to sift through with some reviews being contradictory.

 

[Matt Derrick]

i've owned both the 1st edition nook and the nook color that came out after that, but i don't know anything about the newer ones. if i had to pick, i'd go with the kobo over the nook, but i'd do some research on the newer ones to see if they might be more worth it.

 

[mouse]

OP, the real decision is e-ink (terrific battery life, looks like paper) or tablet (multimedia, sd card expansion, maybe gps, other uses than reading). I own both backlit and non-backlit e-ink readers and use them both (not on trains though).

I love e-ink readers but if I had to have one device it would be an android tablet. Can do email, videos, forums, whatever. Add a $20 bluethooth keyboard and you can forum and blog at normal typing speed.

well my advice would be to avoid kindle just because it's mostly limited to reading their proprietary formats, which usually have DRM in them, so it's not easy to copy books from or to the device without buying them on amazon.

It is trivial to copy nonDRM books to kindle ("sideload") over USB. Copy/paste like anything else. It will read mobi, azw[3]*, txt, etc. Only major format missing is epub.

Stripping DRM can be done with DeDRM, usually inside freeware Calibre. Calibre will also convert effortlessly between ebook formats.

You can email docs to any kindle, including from browser extensions. Friends could send you books or articles and you'd pull them down next time your are near wifi.

What you really need in addition to your list above:

reads epub, mobi, pdf
optionally also reads cbr, cbz, chm, lit

Jaysus pdf is the worst possible format for portable reading, a proprietary abortion.

A cheap android tablet + freeware FBreader will do pretty much all formats you list. FBreader is epically configurable, including overriding in-book fonts, spacing, justification, every annoying thing that publishers do.

 

[Matt Derrick]

It is trivial to copy nonDRM books to kindle ("sideload") over USB. Copy/paste like anything else. It will read mobi, azw[3]*, txt, etc. Only major format missing is epub.

seeing how epub is about 90% of pirated books available, i'd say that's a pretty serious drawback.

Stripping DRM can be done with DeDRM, usually inside freeware Calibre. Calibre will also convert effortlessly between ebook formats.

the calibre software doesn't work for removing the DRM on newer kindle formats.

You can email docs to any kindle, including from browser extensions. Friends could send you books or articles and you'd pull them down next time your are near wifi.

all these steps really defeat the purpose of making putting ebooks on the reader as simple as possible, which i'm sure is what @Doobie_D wants. especially when there are readers available that are cheaper and support more formats.

Jaysus pdf is the worst possible format for portable reading, a proprietary abortion.

that might be, but good luck finding train maps or any other book that contains mostly images in any other format.

A cheap android tablet + freeware FBreader will do pretty much all formats you list. FBreader is epically configurable, including overriding in-book fonts, spacing, justification, every annoying thing that publishers do.

i prefer moon reader pro. costs a few bucks but it's worth it to be able to customize every part of how the book is displayed, plus cloud syncing.

 

[mouse]

Calibre converts .epub to .mobi or whatever format you want, effortlessly.

The new Kindle "format" isn't a format at all. It's a metainformation package. There is no book there. So tell Amazon to download "for loading by USB" to an e-ink reader and open in Calibre. DeDRM will strip it.

The Send to Kindle extension is literally one click.

There are legitimate reasons to have a hate-on for amazon and/or kindle, but the ones presented above are factually incorrect. Let's not poison the well for people who want to make an informed decision.