[rcentros]

I received a Nook Glowlight Plus (2015, original) from Shop Goodwill. The reader, itself, is in nice condition — the Nook case is pretty worn, so I guess it did its job.

My impressions.

Hardware: Nice weight and size. Feels slick (and cold) but the quality seems high. I don't mind the power button being on the left side (easier to use than Kindle readers with the power button on the bottom). Screen is very nice. A very white background. Maybe a little too bright (more later). Fonts are sharp (especially when using the "thicker" font option). Response (after the upgrade) seems good. Page turning is fast as any reader (with the possible exception of the Kindles). Navigation, highlighting, using the dictionary works well. Books load quickly (before the update the dots went on for a while, now they almost don't appear). The only "laggy" holdover is the when hitting the Nook "N" button. It takes about 2 (maybe 2.5) seconds to get from your book to your home page. Otherwise I'm happy with it. Touch screen is responsive and fast when reading.

Oh, I meant to mention... it seems easy to either accidentally turn pages or open the dictionary when my finger slips on to the surface — I'm going to try to find a leather case and that will, hopefully, take care of that problem.

Software: I don't think the interface is very intuitive, but it didn't take me long to get used to it. I like my Nook Simple Touch interface better. But it is what it is. The update process was a bit buggy, but I continued to try updating for two reasons, 1) Because I didn't like the update "nag" appearing at the bottom of my home page and 2) The Glowlight+ didn't work with Calibre and I was hoping this would fix it (no luck there). Once the update (4.9.5.5) finally installed I was much happier with the response of the reader. I still miss the ability to add my own fonts but I can use Calibre to embed Deja Vu Serif E-Reader or Constantia. Georgia is not bad on the "thick" setting and that's what I'll use for books I buy directly from Barnes & Noble.

One issue I've run into. When I first opened a new one book compilation (about 2,800 pages in this example) the Nook dropped back to the Home page when trying to turn pages. This happened about three times before "stabilizing." I guess its has some kind of indexing process it needs to go through. Once whatever that process is, is complete, it works fine. So just a minor annoyance (I don't have this issue on any of my other readers).

The most troublesome issue (at least for a Linux user) is that the Glowlight+ won't work with Calibre. It seems to be an MTP issue of some kind in Calibre — at least that's what the error indicates. I can connect (after the update) to my Linux Mint 19.1 computer, but if I try to run Calibre, the Glowlight+ doesn't appear. And once I've run Calibre, I can't see my Nook folders in Linux until I unmount the Glowlight+. So I created my own Books folder and (for now) just drag my books into it from the Calibre directory. They copy fast and work well. This is a minor annoyance and I will be posting the error on the Calibre forum to see if there is something that can be done.

Now, about the screen. Weirdly enough the screen, though the first true black on white eReader screen I've ever used, is not quite as easy on my eyes as the 300ppi Tolinos' grayer background. It's probably my eyes and it's not bad, but the Tolinos are slightly easier on my eyes than the Nook Glowlight+. (I've compared it to the Epos, Shine 2 HD and the Vision 4 HD.) I think for night reading the Tolinos will be better (although, technically, the Glowlight+'s screen is higher quality). I think the Glowlight+ is more like a Kindle Paperwhite here. The screen uses 5 white LEDs (mounted on top) and the there's very little "coning." It's a good quality reader.

Although the Glowlight+ does not work with Calibre I'm still very happy with it. I call it my "problem child" since it's the only reader I have that won't work with Calibre on Linux (I'm guessing it has something to do with MTP, which I wish Barnes & Noble hadn't used).

For what it's worth, that's my impression. I'll do quite a bit of reading on the Glowlight+ the next couple weeks. If I run into any major issues, I'll pass them along.

EDIT: I've discovered on oddity (and a bit of an irritant). If I'm using the Original font and go to change the font size, margins or line spacing, the reader automatically jumps to the Baskerville font. (Odd, maybe it's just with this one book, will check further.) (Checking further, it only appears to be the one book, still odd. Also, while looking for a case, it appears that this reader did not have auto shut off or turn on feature available (is that correct?). It looks like it will fit in a Fintie Kindle Portfolio (pre-2018) Paperwhite case fairly well.