Quote:
Originally Posted by apestate
I'm wondering, still, which e-ink readers perform the best with an external keyboard, and which are the best suited to long term exposure to the elements encountered in a backpack, bicycle pannier pack, ran hot and cold and in accumulative wet weather.
Are e-ink devices up to the task? What device would you recommend for combination with an external keyboard and heavy use in the back country?
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Probably does not meet all your needs, but I have taken my Kindles on a couple of wilderness river expeditions in Alaska's Brooks Range and also on a backpacking trip this May.
On the river trips, I spent a total of 13 days off-grid with my Kindle 3. The device withstood temperatures from the 20s to 80s F, including snow and sand/dust storms. It was packed in a SeaLine bag inside a dry bag that got pretty wet from Class III rapids. I positioned the device in the center of the large dry bag, padded by fleece clothing. The bag got thrown around a bit when I had to portage and also loading and unloading the small float and wheel planes that took me to and from the river. Battery lasted fine, of course, with no need for artificial light (above Arctic Circle in June) and obviously no wi-fi or 3G coverage so the radio wasn't on.
On the backpacking trip, I took my K4 because it's lighter and at 108# myself, every ounce really counts, especially here in AK where you need warm clothing and sleeping bags year 'round.
I recognized that on the river trips in particular, there was a risk that I would lose the device if my kayak flipped in a rapid, or a bear munched on the dry bag or tent with the Kindle inside. That's one of the reasons I keep my library on my PC (Calibre), not on my Kindles. But it was great to have many books to choose from while my two other trip companions were tearing their paperbacks in half to share after we got "weathered-in" (i.e. our plane couldn't come get us) due to a snowstorm on our intended take-out day. Not much to do while holed up in a tent for a couple of days other than sleep and read!
Good luck and have fun.