I have been a loyal Kindle user for years, and just switched today. I love my Clara HD, it wins over my 2nd Gen Paperwhite in every way that matters: storage space, weight and dimensions. I need a reader light enough and small enough to hold in my increasingly weake hemiparetic right hand, so the trend to devices around 8 inches is definitely not for me. After adding the "turn headers off" customisation, and sideloading a couple of devanagari fonts for when I need to read Hindi, the Clara is a dream to use. So light and so portable. The Paperwhite was good, the Clara so much better. Also, Overdrive library suppoirt is Kobo only up here in Aotearoa, so that's another big win for Kobo.
The Kobo shop is worse for sure, and the prices are dearer (not by much now that I've gone VIP), but being able to access my local library(s) is a great bonus. Most of all, I love that when I came home physically exhausted this afternoon, my largely decorative right hand didn't quibble about holding the Clara. Even better was the discovery that in its sleep cover it will stand on my thigh while I lie on the bed, making for hands-free reading that was not possible with my Paperwhite