[BillC44]

As there are others promising in-depth reviews of the eDGe itself, I thought I would make my first post here (after lurking for two or three years!) and talk about my visit today to the company's head offices.

A quick background: My primary reason for wanting an e-reader is to be able to comfortably read PDFs of out of print books, both fiction and non-fiction. Towards that end, I have held out for a large screen device that can truly handle scanned PDFs. I've always thought, however, that there should be something more to the unit than just the e-reader. Enter the eDGe. From the things that have been said here and from the reviews I've read elsewhere, it seemed to be my dream machine. When I discovered that their corporate offices were 15 minutes away from my house, I emailed customer service (on Friday) and asked if I could drop in sometime for a demonstration. They said sure, come by Monday.

My contact was Terrence, a program marketing associate. He spent 40 minutes with me explaining the ins and outs of the eDGe, answering my questions, and allowing me to play -- make no mistake, it felt exactly like PLAY -- with his eDGe. In addition, I was able to test out some PDFs I had brought on a flash drive and they worked beautifully. One was a particularly bad scan job, with small print and a tan, weathered kind of background. The eDGe turned the background white and its zoom function made reading the small text easy. I have no complaints about any aspect of the reader’s ability to handle this kind of PDF. (And though this isn’t a review, I have to say, yes, compared to a dedicated e-reader the eDGe is big and heavy, but that doesn’t mean it’s cumbersome. Instead, it feels solid and secure and full of potential.)

The part of the enTourage offices that I saw were clean and organized. It was a very professional, but low-key environment. (That's how Terrence was, as well.) Everyone I interacted with (including customer service) was helpful, efficient, and friendly. I got the sense that these people know what they're doing and that they go about their jobs without the flash and pomp that other companies (I won't mention iNames) seem to think they need in order to sell their product. I think enTourage knows that this product, if given a chance, will sell itself. It certainly did so to me. I wasn't home 15 minutes before I placed an order.

Overall, I was very impressed with the eDGe and equally impressed with enTourage. I believe they have a strong grasp on what good customer service means, and that bodes well for post-purchase problems and for future development.