View Single Post
Old 05-06-2010, 04:24 PM   #10
Xochipilli2012
Zealot
Xochipilli2012 began at the beginning.
 
Xochipilli2012's Avatar
 
Posts: 101
Karma: 38
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Seattle
Device: Red PRS-600, Slate Blue Astak EZReader Pocket Pro
Quote:
Originally Posted by WillAdams View Post
MAJOR NEGATIVE NOTE:

- Turns out the screen is from the lot which fades when the page is turned in bright sunlight.

Anyone else w/ a 600 have this problem? Any one able to confirm some 600s don't? Anyone have any luck exchanging their unit?

William
There are several threads on MR about the PRS-600 screen fade in bright sunlight issue. One of the most active is here.

In my own case the fading was so bad that the screen was unreadable. I live in Seattle and discovered the problem in the middle of winter - not nearly as "intense" sunlight as some places.

As I was within the first 90 days of my warranty I qualified for the "Advanced Exchange" program here in the U.S. This allowed me to have the "new" (actually "refurbished") unit in hand to compare to my original to make sure I was getting an improvement. While the replacement still fades slightly in bright sun, it is substantially better than the original. It also has a better looking screen in terms of clarity and contrast compared to the other, even under "non-fading" conditions. Oh, and the exchange didn't cost me a thing, not even for shipping. I did have to give them my credit card number before they shipped out the replacement.

So, it is definitely a known problem. People who experience zero fade at all are lucky. A few folks have had the misfortune of having fading units replaced with other fading units, twice over, even. So I count myself very fortunate that I had the opportunity to compare both units side-by-side before committing to the replacement.

Some people just "live with" the fading--with my original unit I would tilt the screen away from the sun and/or use the cover to block it during page turns. Once you get the timing right it doesn't add to page-turn times. But I would imagine some people might eventually have problems with the repetitive motion aspect of it.

Good luck with getting your issue resolved, however you decide to approach it!
Xochipilli2012 is offline   Reply With Quote