Ebook choice help & affordable online shipping to EU West?

[Kurp]

Hey guys. I have been looking to get an ebook reader and have been researching them for a while. However, there's two main problems I face:
- Most popular models I find are riddled with features I don't need, and as such have fairly inflated prices that I just can't afford.
- I live in southwest Europe - more specifically in Portugal - where ebooks and ebook readers still haven't properly taken off. There's a couple of I believe Kobo models available in stores here but they're the more expensive models, which are even more expensive due to the markup from the stores.

I was hoping maybe you guys could help me solve both there problems.

I just want a simple reliable reader that I can throw random epubs or other ebook file formats into and read on the go with reasonable quality. I don't need wifi, I don't need colors, I don't need music capabilities, and I'm not even sure I need backlight (you guys tell me if that's more essential than I might think. I've never touched an ebook before so I don't know). Some dictionary capabilities would be nice but I can do without them just fine too. Just something barebones but reliable and with a good reading experience.

Currently this is the option I'm leaning toward the most: http://www.banggood.com/ONYX-BOOX-C6...-p-919432.html
From what I researched those Boox ones seem to be simple and reliable enough for my needs and are not terribly expensive relative to the other stuff I could find. Plus banggood seems to be able to ship this to me for under 2€ which seems great. But, it's still 90€ and currently that's still pricey for my financial situation.

Do you guys perhaps recommend I look into something else (both different readers or stores)? I'm a bit weary about going for the Boyue models that banggood has, as there seems to be very little info of it out there, and I'm even more iffy on the nameless brand models.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.

edit: Doh, wrote "Ebook" instead of "Ereader" in the title. Drats.

[eschwartz]

Well, I happen to think the Kindle is pretty barebones and reliable, which is why I like it.
Dunno how much it costs where you are, though.


RE: frontlights, it really depends on how much night reading you do. I usually read with the bedroom light on, but something to think about for married people is if one's spouse would be okay with that. Not yet my concern.

[Kurp]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Well, I happen to think the Kindle is pretty barebones and reliable, which is why I like it.
Dunno how much it costs where you are, though.

It appears that I can order from the US store, but it charges me 48$ for shipping, for a 147$ total. In the UK store the Kindle itself is 5€ cheaper (74€) but only ships nationally. I guess if I end up not finding anything better I might try to get some UK acquaintances to get one for me, as they come here on vacation somewhat often.

Originally Posted by eschwartz

RE: frontlights, it really depends on how much night reading you do. I usually read with the bedroom light on, but something to think about for married people is if one's spouse would be okay with that. Not yet my concern.

Hm, would you say an ereader is generally easier or harder to read than a physical book under the same indoor lighting conditions?

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Kurp

It appears that I can order from the US store, but it charges me 48$ for shipping, for a 147$ total. In the UK store the Kindle itself is 5€ cheaper (74€) but only ships nationally. I guess if I end up not finding anything better I might try to get some UK acquaintances to get one for me, as they come here on vacation somewhat often.

You won't be the only one. It is not immensely popular to buy from small-stores-about-which-little-is-known. Unless you are specifically looking for that general family of ereaders, which some do.

And there are reports that some of those stores have very bad customer service... and reports that say they were very easy to work with. I have very limited knowledge of Onyx sellers, but Booxtor is a member here and seems well-liked, but banggood is an unknown quantity.

If you do end up doing that (having someone buy you one from the UK), you may want to take a look at Kobos too (I don't wish to be biased) and see if they fall in your price range.

Hm, would you say an ereader is generally easier or harder to read than a physical book under the same indoor lighting conditions?

Oh, about the same I'd say. Though there are people with lighted ereaders who say the light layer has somewhat of a floating text effect. I cannot speak from personal experience...

I can certainly testify that a non-lighted ereader is just as readable as paper.

And the majority of people with lighted ereaders agree; after all, there must be some reason why those things sell!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

And there are reports that some of those stores have very bad customer service... and reports that say they were very easy to work with. I have very limited knowledge of Onyx sellers, but Booxtor is a member here and seems well-liked, but banggood is an unknown quantity.

Banggood is actually a huge, huge Chinese retail operation, which is extremely well-known. I've bought all sorts of stuff from them over the years: they are the company that many Western retailers buy their stock from, so by going straight to the source you can save a great deal of money. They have local warehouses in both the UK and USA.

But it's important to realise that they are purely a "box shifter" operation; they aren't the company to buy from unless you know exactly what you want, and they certainly don't offer any form of after-sales support, other than simply letting you return faulty items.

If you want to buy something cheaply, though, and you don't mind waiting a few weeks for it to arrive (if it has to be shipped from China), then if Banggood stock it, they're a good place to buy from.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Kurp

Hm, would you say an ereader is generally easier or harder to read than a physical book under the same indoor lighting conditions?

It would depend on the indoor lighting conditions... The darker it gets, the harder (I find) it is to read the ereader (compared to the paper version).

About the front-light, I do have a reader with front-light now. Would I buy another reader without it (if it ticked all my other boxes)? Yes. Because I mostly use my e-ink readers in brightly lit areas. Would I buy a non-litreader if I read 50/50 outside/inside (and didn't have any other backup like a backlit reader)? No, because the light removes the hassle of finding a correctly lit area.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Banggood is actually a huge, huge Chinese retail operation, which is extremely well-known. I've bought all sorts of stuff from them over the years: they are the company that many Western retailers buy their stock from, so by going straight to the source you can save a great deal of money. They have local warehouses in both the UK and USA.

But it's important to realise that they are purely a "box shifter" operation; they aren't the company to buy from unless you know exactly what you want, and they certainly don't offer any form of after-sales support, other than simply letting you return faulty items.

If you want to buy something cheaply, though, and you don't mind waiting a few weeks for it to arrive (if it has to be shipped from China), then if Banggood stock it, they're a good place to buy from.

Ah. Never heard of them; in hindsight I probably should've looked them up.

My only memory of them is one person I think saying they tried buying an Onyx from them and not being happy.

[susan_cassidy]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

It would depend on the indoor lighting conditions... The darker it gets, the harder (I find) it is to read the ereader (compared to the paper version).

I don't find that to be true at all. It's exactly the same experience, except that if it gets a bit dark for you, you can always increase the font size on the ereader, as opposed to a paper book, where you can't.

[Bertolt]

IMHO the question "Which ereader should I buy?" is the wrong question. I bought a Kobo to start with and followed that with a Pocket book Lux 623. The Kobo (bought from Ebay UK) clunked after 18 months. The Pocketbook is an excellent machine with all the extras which you really dont need but the way it sorted my books into Files (fiction, non fiction, travel etc) did not work for me.
The better question to ask is "Where is it best for me to buy my books from?". And the answer is "Amazon", because they have the best selection of books by a mile (or two). I buy all my books from Amazon and there are also over a milliion free ones on offer from them, so it makes sense to buy a Kindle. The Kindle is the Volkswagen of ereaders: it just works very well and is very durable. And it's not expensive. The basice Kindle is excellent value at 59 GBP in the UK and even the Paperwhite is only 99 GBP at the moment - the prices have just dropped!
Many of my books cost 99p and some less (some free). All of my books are cheaper than the paper editions. I often buy the Kindle Daily Deal books.
I live in Spain (Malaga) most of the year and have a much better choice of books than I ever had in England thanks to the Kindle. I bought my present Kindle in Spain from Amazon.es and am registered with an Amazon account in the UK - I pay in GBP. Of course the books are not epub but Kindle format but you can change epubs to mobi very easily using Calibre (free) and then they can be read on the Kindle too. The reality is that I rarely need to use Calibre because there are so many more books in Kindle format.
PS I share all my books with my partner. We have 6 reading devices in total including our PCs and tablets. Amazon allow you to download on up to 6 devices. If you have a tablet or PC , get the Kindle app, which is free, and start reading now. Make your mind up about the ereader later.