this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2024
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My old one got squished in moving. It was a Kobo Klara I got as a gift. Before, I had a refurbished kindle paperwhite 7th gen that I liked the UI of much more but didn't like having an Amazon product.

Wondering what is out there now.

My main desiderata is that it has warm backlighting and is small. Would also like better .pdf reading than the Kobo that was basically non-doable.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I jailbreaked an older Kindle, installed Ko Reader, put it in airplane mode, and yoho'd a lot of books on it. I think that 7th gen Kindles can still be jailbroken but you'd really have to do some research to make sure.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago

A Reddit link was detected in your comment. Here are links to the same location on alternative frontends that protect your privacy.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

yeah m8 its gonna have to be a kobo as far as I know

none of the in-stock "certified refurb" options kobo has are a good price, at least not from my end. tho if you aren't looking anytime soon, or for others reading, it looks like their refurb page could have some good deals. that Clara op mentioned has a "reduce blue light" feature and its less than a hundo if it were in-stock

secondhand market? eBay???????

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I got no problem shopping secondhand just wondering what models I should be looking for these days.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Ive got a kobo libra 2. It's about the height of a paperback, a little wider, has a warm backlight and has buttons. No scrolling like a kindle, not sure if that matters to you or not. I also haven't attempted to read PDFs on it but I know they're supported. They retail for ~170 USD, used seems to be 120 on the low end.

I was also looking at the kobo clara before I pulled the trigger on the Libra. The only reason I chose the Libra was for the buttons. The Clara has warm light as well so that would be a good option for you. They can be had new for ~130 USD and a cursory glance through eBay shows them going used for ~85-110

Edit: just re-read your post and saw you had a Clara before lol. My bad!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

oh yeah I get that. when I was looking at the refurb page most of the models listed that had the comfort light feature had that feature listed along with them. for the most expensive option, I had to go Ctrl F the store page to confirm it also had it

us ver https://us.kobobooks.com/collections/certified-refurbished-ereaders

even if they're sold out there, i was using this as a buying guide / reference. seems like a lot of the models have that feature

im sure some of the oooolder models might not stack up but I have a soft spot for these things for some reason. I think any ereader that lets me read PDFs and has an eink display will p much win for me xi

e: I have a libra 2 but thats still a fairly new model so even tho I highly recommended (and it does have the warm backlight) I dont think anyone is gonna part with it for a good price

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Ebook readers are so dodgey or overpriced it's frustrating to find anything decent. How hard is it to create a device that lasts 6 hrs on battery, doesn't fall apart in 2 years, has a decent 5 inch display, has a backlight, doesn't have ads or telemetry, and supports a basic set of standard file formats? Even the 300+ dollar devices fail at this.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

old kindle with no internet connection is a good path if you dont mind transferring books with a usb cable

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I've been down that route and the battery and screen were in bad shape. The loading files via usb is actual fine with me. I keep hoping I'll find something long lasting in the size of a paperback but I guess the demand is just not there.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

huh that sucks. i got lucky and inherited one from a sibling that's fine. i wanna say paperwhite 5 but idr

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

Wish everything got the same care in industrial design that Japanese stationary still gets.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I really like my Kindle Oasis. Picked it up eBay, looks like a lot of them are over $100, but you can check a few times and sort by price. Try doing some bidding or making an offer. Might take a little bit to find one, but it's a good one. 6 or 7 inch screen, really consistent backlighting, and you can message support and they'll just remove ads for you.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

If you're not wedded to an e-ink display, I bought a cheap android tablet for about $50, and set it to auto run an e-reader app called Moon+ Reader. You'll have to fork over a couple bucks for the ad free version, but it's a solid piece of software.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago

Can probably pirate the ad-free version of Moon+ Reader, even.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

Another one I've seen out there that seems decent is PocketBook, but I've never bought one. You might be able to find a used one for $100.