Quote:
Originally Posted by l_macd
Sadly it seems pretty typical Lennier, but at least you got your money back ok. I don't think any of the lighted ereaders are perfect, although if you can get one without any issues, I think the Kobo Aura HD and the Kindle Paperwhite 2 are the best options - the PW suffers from just the same issues as the Aura in terms of pinholes though, it seems a complete lottery to try and get a 'good' one. 
I personally don't want the bigger screen size of the Aura HD, so the choice for me is going to between the Aura and the Paperwhite. When I went into WH Smith I wasn't very confident of being able to return the Aura, the staff I spoke to made it clear they had to have valid reason to return them to Kobo, so if I bought it and it didn't have an obvious fault, I wouldn't be able to get my money back - and like the staff you spoke to, they said they had no knowledge of scratches, pinholes, or the issue that I can see in any demo model I've looked at, a bright band along the top of the screen.
So I've decided buying online is my best option because that way I should be covered under distance selling regulations to get a refund if I return it within 30 days. I don't want to have to battle to get a refund if I personally can see faults in the screen, even if the seller can't. It's my money! The fact that Kobo don't have a great customer service record means I am going to have to give the Aura a miss, and I will try buying the Paperwhite via Amazon. If I don't get success with it, I'll just wait for now, and see if these "issues" are ironed out sometime early next year.
That seems like the best option for you, wait a while and hopefully by February/March the quality control will have improved and you will have more chance of getting a good unit.
Edited to add: Your other option is to not bother with a lighted ereader, as they don't have the same issues. Did you have a look at the Kobo Mini when you were in WH Smith? If you don't like the smaller screen size, the Kobo Touch, or the basic Kindle (you can easily learn how to remove DRM and convert from epub to mobi and vice versa so you are not 'tied' to buying from Amazon). If the smaller screen isn't a problem, most people are very happy with the Kobo Mini. |
WH Smith are very funny about returns in my experience. Last year I bought a Kobo glo. It had 8 bright spots/pinholes. It constantly crashed and using wifi was out of the question as it drained the battery horribly-it went from 95 % to flat after the wifi had been on for 5 minutes! I took it back to the store and I did get a refund but the sales assistant was very rude about it, having a go at me for using it, saying that as I had used it I shouldn't really be entitled to a refund! So yes I did get a refund but it wasn't a pleasant experience.