It isn't exactly a deal breaker as far as I'm concerned either, measuring battery life in weeks instead of hours is certainly a very nice feature.

Very nice feature. One thing that you have to consider about battery life, at least for those of us who use the device day after day, is that good battery life is a major convenience feature. The 5 to 10 hours found in most tablets may be good most of the time, but if you use the device a lot on one day (or use power hungry features more, like the backlight or wireless) it does put a bit of a hitch into the works. Neglect to charge the device one night, perhaps because you were in a rush or fell asleep while reading, and it places an even bigger hitch into the works.

Shorter battery life at the outset also reduces the working life of the device. If a tablet's battery life drops by 50% over the course of a couple of years, it may last through a day of moderate use. If an ereader's battery life drops by 50% over a couple of years, you still have a good week's charge under heavy use.

Like I said, battery life isn't a deal breaker for me. I use a tablet regularly, and I use it for reading. From my experience, reading in sunlight is the biggest concern. The screen is the deal breaker. Yet I'm still going to treat it as one of the most significant features of an ereader, because it is such a wonderful thing to have.