Late last year I had $500 to spend on computer hardware at Amazon. I wanted to maximize the amount of stuff I could buy, so multiple cheaper things instead of 1 or 2 more expensive ones. I looked at lots of 7 to 8 inch tablets, wanting something for reading comics and manga and small enough to hold in one hand. I settled on the
Vankyo MatrixPad for $65. At the same time, I saw a refurb 2017 model Kindle Fire HD 8 for $30. I have been hesitant about buying a Kindle Fire because I wasn't confident that I could side-load all of the apps I wanted on to it, but for $30 it was worth the risk.
For size and weight, the Vankyo is close to perfect for handling one-handed for extended times. All my reading apps work on it. But the screen leaves much to be desired. The Kindle, on the other hand, while being bulkier and heaver is the one that I use because it has a beautiful display (though I've found the screen size is a little awkwardly large big for epub reading and continue to use my 5.5 inch (9:16) phone for that.) So the $65 hard-researched Vankyo sits packed away as a spare device in case something bad happens to the Kindle and the cheap afterthought Kindle is heavily used. I highly recommend an 8 inch Kindle Fire, even if you can't get it for 30 bucks.