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A tablet meets all your requirements, except "long hours without recharging". Reading PDFs on e-ink displays are rather "meh" due to the sluggishness and the panning. To me, it borders to unusable on the Kobo Glo. Larger screen sizes are also more typical with tablets, and if you read mostly at night you won't have the problem of reading in sunlight (LCD screens are really hard to see when the sun is out).
Wanting a large screen and low weight are desires that clash a little. A Nexus 7 (2nd gen) is light, but only 7". An iPad offers 9.7", but is noticeable heavier. Those two would be my suggestions for a tablet. iPads are great if you don't mind being locked into the Apple ecosystem (you can buy books from anywhere, though), and you get many years of support. Google is good about supporting their own devices well too, and that's why the Nexus is the only Android tablet I would recommend. Every other company seems to drop support pretty quickly. Just make sure you get a 2nd gen one (not out in Germany before Aug 30, but out in the US already, and I don't know about NZ).
For e-ink readers, you'd want one with a front light, so that pretty much means a 6" Glo/Paperwhite/Bookeen/etc or the 6.8" Aura. I think there was something larger from Onyx/Boox, but not sure. I prefer smaller sizes for an e-ink reader because I want to be able to hold and use it in one hand. The Bookeen Odyssey HD FL has a HD display and physical buttons in addition to the touch screen, which makes it my favorite so far, but I haven't had it long yet.
As for the eye strain issue ... well, it depends on your eyes and what you're comfortable with. With a front-lit reader, the LEDs are in front of the display (duh!) and illuminate the screen like a room light would. That makes it pretty natural, almost (not quite) as if you would read a paper book with lights on. I find it a lot more comfortable and I can read in the dark and then look away from the screen without seeing a ghost image of the screen for several minutes. You can also make the light really dim (can't turn it off with the Paperwhite, unlike with the Glo/Aura/Bookeen).
With LCD screens, you don't have little LEDs in the device's frame, but the light comes from behind the display, so the screen shines at you. It's like looking into a lamp that illuminates your face. It does make for perfectly even lightning (usually) and gives you vibrant colors. I can read on LCD screens just fine, but after usually sitting 10+ hours in front of an LCD screen when I'm working, I find front-lit e-ink devices more relaxing on my eyes and I subjectively feel that it makes my eyes get less tired. It's also nice to only have to re-charge the battery every few weeks instead of once a day like I do with a tablet.
To a large degree, the decision is a matter of preference. If a good portion of your reading materials are going to be comics and PDFs, though, I'd go with a tablet, and then probably an iPad 4 (or wait for 5) if you want a larger display. If not, then a Nexus 7 (2nd Gen), which costs less. If you read mostly text-based e-books, then I'd get one of the front-lit e-ink readers. (For the price of an iPad you get a Nexus 7 AND an e-ink reader.)
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