Does the Jetbook need a lot of repairs?

[theusualuser]

I'm just wondering what percentage of active members have actually had to send their Jetbook or JBL in for repairs or get a completely new Jetbook or JBL. I get the feeling (perhaps mistakenly?) that it's a fairly common thing to have it stop functioning or perform in such a strange way that it needs to be sent back to Ectaco. Is this true?

If you've never sent it in, how long have you owned it? I just want to get some idea of what I'm dealing with in terms of possible future repairs.

NOTE: I apologize for asking soooo many questions. I'm just one of those guys that CANNOT buy an item without researching it from every angle. I never buy something until I've really and truly done my homework on it, so I'm going to be asking a lot of questions in the coming weeks. Thanks for your help!

[artifact]

My JB is dandy after 18 months. The right half of the left-side button, the right arrow, the OK, and the tips of the ridges on top 1/3 of the slider are worn but it all works fine (I blame fingernails.) The SN sticker also came off. There are lots of scratches and dings in the plastic as I don't keep it in a case and tend to drop it into a collective random item container but the screen is still scratch free. I'm rather surprised the plastic SD card/USB door hasn't fallen off as I'm fiddling with that every few days.

Its probably just a case of those who have broken ones speak out while the ones that work find don't.

[GhostHawk]

I've been here since Feb of 09, actually had the jetbook a few months before that.

My original Jetbook is still in use by my daughter, only thing I've seen is that a battery charge doesn't last as long as it used to. My wife has had her's for about a year now, and showing the same thing on the battery. So I've been thinking about replacing battery's on both of those.

Myself I switched to the Jetbook Lite, in large part because when it ran out of charge I hated not being able to read until it was charged again. With the JBL I just swap in a fresh set of AA Rechargeable's and in 5 min I'm reading again.

I really have had no real issues whatsoever with mine, or the 2 I bought for my father/father in law. Yes thats 5 for the household, with a 6th JBL bought on sale in case anyone loses one.

We also encouraged my wife's boss to buy one for her mother and that one is going strong after a year also.

As Electronic and computers go, I've been very impressed with their durability. Depending on how you treat them, your mileage may vary.

[Ken Maltby]

I am usually pretty hard on my electronic devices, I usually have them apart and back
together within a few days of acquiring them. I usually push their capabilities before
too long, really shake them out. Surprisingly, I haven't disassembled either of my JBLs,
but I use my first one every day and it gets a thorough workout. So far no problems
such as a number of posters have had. (Another thing that my JBL often goes through
are attempts to duplicate the problems posted, to see if I can come up with a good
solution to the problem.) I got my first one in Dec of 09.

I have sacrificed more than my share of computer parts to the "Magic Smoke God" over
the years, so that might be a factor.

Luck;
Ken

[GA Russell]

TUU, I got my JBL last Christmas. It stopped working Jan. 26, the day after the Newegg warranty ended!

I exchanged it for another with Ectaco. No charge, but I paid for the shipping to New York. That one has been terrific ever since.

[theusualuser]

Okay, that's good to know. It sounds like maybe they're more durable than I thought. I'm torn between a JBL and a kindle right now, since after the price of batteries, SD card and eventually a nicer charger, they're about the same price.

[GA Russell]

TUU, in my view...It's very likely that the JBL will go on sale before Christmas, but it is not likely that the Kindle 3 will.

Last year Newegg put the JBL on sale in mid-December. The price had been $149.99 since its introduction, but the sale put it at $117.00 with free shipping.

[Jakie]

Magic smoke god That there's funny. Try wiping out a motherboard, thanks to my 2 year old son, with a pair of pliers. Good thing I knew how to replace one. Thanks all for the info on the durability. This reinforces my thought about getting a JB or Libre.

John

[theusualuser]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

TUU, in my view...It's very likely that the JBL will go on sale before Christmas, but it is not likely that the Kindle 3 will.

Last year Newegg put the JBL on sale in mid-December. The price had been $149.99 since its introduction, but the sale put it at $117.00 with free shipping.

I'm not so sure that the JBL will get any lower than the $99 that Newegg currently has it for. Especially since it's got a larger feature set than the Mini, which they're marketing at that price. I mean, I guess it could be possible if they were trying to dump all their JBLs so they could sell JUST the Mini.

After reading all these responses, I'm seriously re-considering eBay as the source for my future JBL, since I've seen them go for $60 plus shipping on there. If it holds up for a couple of years, I'll feel that I've more than gotten my money's worth at $60.

[GhostHawk]

JBL did go on sale at one point for 70$ at newegg.

Now, were they cleaning up stocks prior to the mini launch?

Thats certainly a possibility.

I would expect them to hit 85 by christmas.

[jlg432]

I have had my JB since Jan 2010 and my ALP since March 2010. I maintain identical libraries on each using Synctoy and I like comparing them to each other. I have taken my JB through 2 FW updates and my ALP through 1 FW update. Both units are physically the same and all buttons still work as if they were new units. I have not experienced any issues with either display screens. I find the the supplied protective pouch does an excellent job of protecting the units.

Note: When I purchased my units I paid approx $210 for the JB and $180 for the ALP (Cnd $ ,tax included). Ectaco does have a shipping office in Canada. Now both units can be had for less.

John

[GA Russell]

Originally Posted by theusualuser

If it holds up for a couple of years, I'll feel that I've more than gotten my money's worth at $60.

Two years? LOL! TUU, I feel that my JBL paid for itself in three months!

I read only free items on my device, and I estimate that each would have cost $12.99-$14.99 plus shipping (or tax and gas) for the trade paperback.

So it didn't take long to recoup my investment.

[Ken Maltby]

There is value that I have gained from my JBL that it is hard to put a price on.

First there is the convenience. A few minutes on the web, and a few disinfecting, lets
me have any book available. (I just put "Broke" on my JBL, took maybe five minutes.)
The pricing may be hampered by the big publishing houses, but ebooks are still a little
cheaper as well as being almost instantly available. Just remembering to pickup a specific
book while I am out and about, can be iffy at my age.

One of the main reasons I got a dedicated reading device was to have a little more
convenient sized display in a light weight device, my PDA is OK, but nowhere as nice
as the JBL. Once everyone has "Obamacare", you will come to understand what it is
like to have to deal with the waits involved, interacting with bureaucratic organizations
like us vets do with the VA. My costs for everything I spent on my JBL, was covered in
one hospital visit.

Luck;
Ken

[dixieknits]

I don't know how I managed, but I killed two within 9 months. The first would not be seen by the computer, and I got USB device error messages. I could load from the SD card and it would charge, but it could not sync. The second Jetbook started freezing my windows when I synced, but could be seen. When I tried to upgrade the firmware, it would not and on running the diagnostics, had checksum errors. Ectaco was wonderful both times. I have no idea what happened to the Jetbooks or why. I'm on my third now and am only loading it from the SD card only. The flashdrive will remain untouched and uncorrupted by me and my books..We'll see how long it lasts. I truly love the little thing.
By the way, both the Jetbook and the Kindle come with nice highquality wall chargers and Kindle does not take a SD card so all you will need with Jetbook is an inexpensive SD card and the 5.00 lighted Sony case from Woot is perfect; Unfortunately, my eyes cannnot deal with the glare from an external light so mine won't get much use. I have a backlit Augen I read from at night and it's operation and quirks reminds me so much of Jetbook, I wonder if they are not related..

F

[theusualuser]

Originally Posted by dixieknits

I don't know how I managed, but I killed two within 9 months.

Thank you for letting me know. I'm going back and forth about buying it on eBay or not, so it's good to hear that sometimes they simply don't work.