PRS-650 Cover with light?

[hopkinsenglish]

Anybody planning on ordering/already have ordered the cover with light for the PRS 650?

What has been the consensus for the light covers that Sony makes - are they worth the $50?

I'm just trying to figure out if it will be less disturbing than having a lamp on in bed when my wife is trying to sleep.

[Avwriter]

I have the one for the 350, which is exactly the same except for the size. While $50 is probably more than its worth, it is a nice case, and I like it very much. The light has three LEDs, while most others have just one, and it spreads the light very evenly over the screen. Personally, I like the way the light turns on automatically when you lift it out of its slot. The construction of the case is not spectacular, but is light weight, feels nice in the hands, and is certainly enough to protect the reader from light bumps and drops. The front is leather and the back and side are stiffened neoprene. The front easily folds back all the way, if that is important to you. It is overpriced, but if you are looking for a thin, lightweight case with a light, then I think you will like it. I also like that it uses a single AAA battery rather than smaller more specialized watch batteries that are harder to find.

[kalex]

Mine is on UPS truck slowly making its way to me
I had one on my PRS-900 and on PRS-300. New ones are actually nicer because they are redesigned. Its lighter, smaller and LEDs are brighter. I actually use it to read in bed when my wife goes to sleep and it works very well

[hopkinsenglish]

Originally Posted by kalex

Mine is on UPS truck slowly making its way to me
I had one on my PRS-900 and on PRS-300. New ones are actually nicer because they are redesigned. Its lighter, smaller and LEDs are brighter. I actually use it to read in bed when my wife goes to sleep and it works very well

Awesome. Kalex, can you post some pics when yours comes in?

[rguion]

I just bought the 650 with the light in the cover. My opinion is the same as AvWriter, I think the light just works great and it is very convenient. Unfortunately, I bought it at the Sony Style store a few days before this new Borders promotion!

[ssaxt0]

This is great information because I am looking into buying the 650 but now I see that it does not even come with a basic cover like my 505. One question I have is whatever happened with the covers that were beong made with platic on screen with light in it. I have this cover with my PRS 505 and I love having this light so I had no gooseneck light haging above the reader.

The light cover was the PRSA-CL1. The only reason I can think of is because it may have caused some eye strain such as LED screens cause but I never had any issues with it. Thanks for everyones input on the new cover with light and yes, it is overpriced as well as reader because I paid 300.00 for my 505 but at least it had a basic cover to start with and there were less competitors at that time. I still love the quality of the Sony eReaders but the others are compelling with the features offered. I am still a diehard Sony eReader but Sony may loose some of its reader due to price and options.

[slantybard]

I had the 505 with the sony lighted glass cover and I liked it. I now have the 650 with the sony light and love it. It is way easier to read in the dark compared to before and the cover with the light is quite lite to hold.

[Vienna01]

I purchased Sony PRSA-SC6/BC Standard Book Cover PRS 600 on Ebay.
It was cheap. I had to modify it somewhat. I'll try to describe these modifications. Sorry I didn't take photos while I was doing that.

The 600 cover held the 600 reader by 2 pins. These 2 pins, at the top and bottom of a plastic bar in the center of the cover, will fit into holes in the 650 as they did for the 600. The "pin" holes are at the left side of both the 600 and the 650.

But-the 600 cover is a bit too tall for the 650. Thus the pins are a bit too far apart for the 650. Solution: Remove the plastic bar, shorten it so that pins fit 650 well,reattach the plastic bar to the 600 in the original location. Manipulate [bend very slightly] the bar so that the pins fit into the "pin" holes of the 650

I'll detail what I did.

1. I removed the plastic bar from the 600 cover. It is attached to the 600 cover by tiny L-shaped hooks on the bottom surface of the bar. I pried the plastic bar from the cover using a screwdriver -carefully.

2. Next I removed the tiny plastic hooks from the underside of the bar. I did this first by clipping them with a diagonal wire cutter and then filing the underside of the bar reasonably flat/smooth where the hooks were before. At this point the hooks are gone from the bar.You could remove the hooks any way you prefer.

3. I then shortened the plastic bar so that the pins at the bar's top and bottom would fit into the little " pin" holes at the top and bottom of the left side of the 650. I used the diagonal wire cutter to remove a little bit of the length of the bar. You can do it with any other tool [hacksaw, heavy scissors,knife, etc.]. The bar is now in 2 pieces.

4. Then I re-attached the plastic bar to its original 600 cover location. I used two-sided foam backed tape. I narrowed the 2 sided tape to match the width of the bar. I used a single length of tape. I pressed the tape onto the cover, being careful to center it top to bottom. I then pressed the bar onto the exposed sticky surface of the tape. I did not find it necessary to glue the ends of the 2 pieces of the bar. They butt together reasonably well.

5. If you shortened the bar correctly you can fit the pins into the "pin" holes of the 650 [again - they are at top & bottom, left edge of the reader]. I had to bend the bar a very slightly to get the pins into the holes. This step will make more sense when you are attaching the 650 to the bar and thus to the cover.

Questions? Sorry no photos or drawings. Maybe some forum member who performs this conversion will take & post photos.


With my converted reader cover, I use a generic light whose base clips onto the back cover of the reader. It has AAA batteries in the base. The clip is heavy duty spring loaded. A 10-12 inch plastic covered heavy bendable wire extends from the base to the led light head. An on-off switch is on this head. I find I can adjust its position to comfortably light the 650's screen evenly. I have seen many similar book lights. This one cost around $6.00 [USD] at a local arts & crafts store.