Kindle

[rustmd]

Anyone hike w/ a Kindle? I'm a hiker who's also an avid reader, will be hiking in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge this summer for 4 wks. Last time I hiked there I brought some paperbacks, good enough, can do that again.

But now this Kindle thing has come out. . .weighs 10.3 oz. and will store a ton of re ading material. Anyone use one while backpacking?

[Manwich]

Fragile. Not waterproof. Requires charging. Can't be used as tinder.

[Jonnycat]

On the plus side you could throw it like a frisbee and use it to kill a squirrel.

[garlic08]

If you can get hooked on Sunday crossword puzzles, one sheet of paper can last many days, and can then be used as tinder! Sorry, I know you posted this in the straight forward forum, but this is something I struggled with for many years. I'm a compulsive reader, too. I know how hard it is to be away from books for weeks. Good luck and have a great summer up there.

[max patch]

I own a kindle and no way no how would I take it on a backpacking trip. It wouldn't survive.

[rgarling]

There are different flavors of readers. The ones that use e-ink have good battery life (many thousands of page turns). The lcd displays use much more power, and recharging will be an issue.

The Kindle is Amazon's reader that uses Whisper Net (cell data) to download books. You might not have that sort of connectivity where you are headed, so the books you want will need to be loaded in advance. This reader can display kindle format books and some .pdf files

Sony has a several readers that read epub and pdf format. Its memory is expandable with both Sony memory sticks and SDHC cards. This would allow you to preload a huge library with essentially no weight. Most of the 'classic' books on Google can be loaded.

Barnes and Noble has a reader that apparently is based on Google's Android platform. It has just been hacked and has promise for the future.

Someone has posted here about using a smart phone as a book reader. Try searching for that thread as you might find the approach interesting. I know that the I phone / I touch has an app that will read kindle format.

[wcgornto]

I hiked SOBO last year off and on with a SOBO couple form CO. The woman carried a Kindle from ME to GA, no problems. It does have to be handled with care, protected from the elements, etc. On the AT, frequent town visits enable frequent charging. Plus, there are plenty of areas with wi-fi access for downloading new books.

It seems that in ANWR, there would be no opportunity for recharging.

[Manwich]

Someone has posted here about using a smart phone as a book reader. Try searching for that thread as you might find the approach interesting. I know that the I phone / I touch has an app that will read kindle format.

that was me

Incorporate it into another device: Your Cell Phone.

My Samsung Eternity will display PDF files (ALDHA and other Guides are published in this format) and can play MP3 files through a normal pair of headphones. Coupled with a AA-battery USB charger to be used every week, and putting it in "Airplane Mode" (won't communicate with cell towers = HUGE energy savings) it'll last a long time... plus... you can just download Audiobooks in MP3 format and listen to them instead of reading from a tiny screen.

@ http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=56279

[Tilly]

Not direct experience, but I met 2 thrus who carried the Kindle and they both said they really liked it. Both also said that it didn't 'feel different' from reading a book (if you are a bookworm you know what I mean by that!)

[Fiddleback]

I've played with the idea of a reader...and experimented a bit on the Touch. While the Touch was more than readable I didn't care for the very frequent scrolling due to the small screen. On the other hand, the Kindle fascinates me because of it's huge storage (no need to download or connect...ya' can store months of reading before a trip) and long battery life. But I haven't taken the plunge mainly because I went another direction; audio books and podcasts.

Any of the mp3 players can play audio books and for many the truly limiting factor is the battery, not storage capacity. I've really got into short stories, especially dramatized short stories, and particularly old time radio stories. And those can be found free all over the net and on iTunes. I picked up an old, refurbished mp3 player that was so cheap there is no worry about loss or damage on the trail. Those can be found all over the net too.

It's not the same as a reading but I think it's an alternative worth considering. For me, it's not all that different from reading or listening to the radio at night...it all put puts me to sleep.

Check out audible.com to see the wide range of books for sale, or iTunes or other websites for free stuff.

FB

[Lilred]

I hiked with a women that had a kindle. She had no problems with it, although she was extra careful packing it. Of course, she also had acrylic nails and got a manicure in every town..... Hyoh.....

[Buzz_Lightfoot]

I own a Kindle though it stays on my night stand except for on vacations. I see no reason why you could not take it backpacking as long as you protect it however. I bought the Pategonia soft case for mine but even the generic leather case Amazon sells should protect it well enough. My only concern would be to prevent it getting wet. (I just plain don't read while backpacking, hence it staying home.)

Battery life, expecially on the Kindle 2, is phenominal. Leave wireless turned OFF except for when you are actually purchasing new content and 3 weeks on a charge with a lot of use is not unusual. I devoured the entire new Stephen King book "Under the Dome" which is over 1000 pages and only drew down the charge by a third.

Book storage is such that even if you read a book a day you should be able to pre-load it before your journey with several YEARS worth of books.

I say go for it.

BL

[rustmd]

Thanks for all the helpful replies. I'm still undecided, I don't own lots of gadgets, and a Kindle is not cheap. It's just that I love to end the day w/ good reading. I can always buy a few cheap, LW paperback books, but this Kindle thing could provide a much better genre of reading material.

No way to recharge on the tundra, I'd have to keep the Kindle off to conserve battery. And keeping it dry is a concern, esp. the canoeing part of this trip. The river is not all white-water, but we'll be totally exposed to weather.

Anyone else w/ first-hand experience?

[Disney]

I met a guy last year at trail days who had bought it to hike with and broke it after two weeks.

I think the Kindle really supplies you with a variety, and lets you pick and choose depending on your mood. Beyond that, I'd say not worth the hassle. Get a paperback, cut it up and bouncebox it. I did that with a Stephen King Novel (The Stand). My sister would take the parts when I was finished with them, so we were both reading the same book at the same time.

If you know what you're going to want to read, put it in a mail drop. If you don't know, you may have to take a side trip to a bookstore, or browse and order online.

[esmusssein]

Personally it wouldn't be worth it to me. With the wireless turned off, the Kindle supposedly has about 2 weeks of battery life which is amazing. That would probably be enough for an average reader on your trip. But you could still run out if you really like reading as much as you say you do. I mean are you really going to have that much time to read? If you buy one, you are going to feel obligated to spend a lot of time using it in order to justify it to yourself. Whenever it rains, your first thought is going to be MUST PROTECT THE KINDLE. I wouldn't want one, because I'd always be worried about it. And it really does start to add up. 250 for the Kindle, but then you also are going to buy a variety of books at 10 each. Then you are going to need some sort of serious protection for it. I wouldn't want to take it canoeing, because it's hard to really keep anything dry when canoeing no matter how many layers of protection you use. Same for hiking. It's hard to really keep things dry while at the same time using them. That's just my thinking. It might be perfect for you. Have fun on your trip.

[Fiddleback]

FYI, starting this Sunday Target will be selling the Kindle in their stores...but only the flagship in Minneapolis and the stores in Florida. The rest of the Target stores are supposed to stock the Kindle "later this year." It's purportedly the first ever opportunity for Kindle customers to have hands-on before buying the reader.

An alternative to carrying a Kindle on your trip could be a netbook. They're heavier but are full-up computers for a slightly higher cost. And...there is free Kindle software for PCs ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...cId=1000426311 ) ...allowing e-books to be downloaded and read on a computer, no Kindle required.

FB

[D-wreck]

I was on the fence before buying a kindle too, but now I wish I had brought it on my previous hikes. I think if you exercised caution it would survive any hike, and it's certainly possible it could last 3 weeks without a charge. As I understand it, it only uses power when changing pages. Something else to consider is you'll need your head lamp to read at night, but the E-Ink display is so easy on your eyes you won't mind.

My favorite part of the kindle so far is the ability to download books in a foreign country (free when downloaded through my laptop). I know this doesn't help the OP, but I won't be back home anytime soon and its pretty nice to have almost any book I want in English at the touch of button.

I swear I don't work for Amazon, I just really love the kindle.

[Disney]

Personally it wouldn't be worth it to me. With the wireless turned off, the Kindle supposedly has about 2 weeks of battery life which is amazing. That would probably be enough for an average reader on your trip. But you could still run out if you really like reading as much as you say you do. I mean are you really going to have that much time to read? If you buy one, you are going to feel obligated to spend a lot of time using it in order to justify it to yourself. Whenever it rains, your first thought is going to be MUST PROTECT THE KINDLE. I wouldn't want one, because I'd always be worried about it. And it really does start to add up. 250 for the Kindle, but then you also are going to buy a variety of books at 10 each. Then you are going to need some sort of serious protection for it. I wouldn't want to take it canoeing, because it's hard to really keep anything dry when canoeing no matter how many layers of protection you use. Same for hiking. It's hard to really keep things dry while at the same time using them. That's just my thinking. It might be perfect for you. Have fun on your trip.

I guess you could start out with two large freezer bags and go from there. The real problem with protection is the general moisture and the impacts. Something as large as a Kindle has a huge screen that can be cracked. You take a bad fall and it's done.

[gumball]

My husband may be taking his and I think I am going to fashion a bubble wrap sleep to slip over it for extra screen protection--then we'll slip it in a freezer bag.

[mudhead]

I heard a rumor these will be priced at $99 this Fall. When I can get books for it at the lib-I may jump. It would be nice to change font size.

Is there not a hard shell case or otterbox type thing available for these?