Leather Light Cover PRSA-CL1 Review

[jessie102]

Just got the PRSA-CL1 in the mail 10 minutes ago.

I decided to get this over the CL6 due to two reasons: price and novel design factor (I know lol I'm a sucker)

I bought this to pair up with my PRS600. Note that this light cover was designed for the PRS505 with no touch screen and slightly displaced screen location compared to the PRS600. Thus the PRSA CL1 is slightly off center (5mm higher) when used with the PRS600. But the hinges certainly fit with the reader.

You'll notice that the new PRSA-CL6 specifically designed for the PRS600 has been redesign with a snake light to allow the touch screen access on the PRS600 and perhaps for lower manufacturing costs.

On to the light cover itself:

The black leather flip cover can be flip behind the reader in case you need to. On the contrary, light module itself can not. But this shouldn't be a problem since once flipped open to the left side, the light module stays put so should not interfere during reading.

The design of the leather itself is nothing to write home about. It simply black, with a small Sony logo imprinted on the inner back cover. This modest memo cover style hiding the actual value of the device inside, must be Sony's theft protection.

The lighting comes in two modes, Low and High. Trying out the light in a dark room confirms some of the criticisms others have made regarding the light intensity. While the text is quite readable, even on the High setting, the text is not as brightly lit as a paper book would be with a regular clip on light. On the plus side, this design illuminates the entire screen area uniformly.

Unlike a snake neck light that is necessarily installed some height above the screen to project light downwards, this design lays flat on the screen. The advantage to this is that the light source won't be visible to anyone diagonally below the reader. Thus it won't bother anyone sleeping next to you whose head might be diagonally below the ereader.

I can confirm that the light does reflect on all four edges of the light panel. Whether this is distracting will be subjective. I haven't tested it long enough to find out.

The advantage to this light panel design is that, the light panel, essentially serves as a hard screen protector for the ereader. You won't have to worry about other items inside your bag crushing the e-ink screen through the leather cover.

All in all it's a cool looking space age design. Flawed in a few aforementioned areas but does make up for it in others depending on your personal requirements.

Pros:
Cool light module aesthetics
Serves as a rigid screen protector
Two light brightness settings
Light won't bother those below the ereader

Cons:
Bland leather cover
Dim lighting
edge light reflection

[Greg G]

Can you post a picture of this? I thought that it did not quite fit the 600. I use the PRSA-CL1 for my 505 and love it so much that I won't upgrade to a new reader without an equivalent or better lighting solution (and a flashlight on a bendy stick just doesn't to it for me).

[jessie102]

away from a cam at the moment. But keep in mind I didn't say the light panel fits, in terms of the light panel, it's 5mm above the bottom bezel, thus 5mm above the top bezel of the screen.

If you are referring to the hinges, then yes they do fit. This is why it's well known that the CL6 snake light will fit the PRS505.