Dimmest e-book reader for reading in the dark?

[ElektroDragon]

Years ago I switched away from Kindle after my Voyage died one day after the warranty expired and India customer support told me to take a hike. Been reading on Kobo Glo HD ever since, and love the EPUB, Calibre, and easy library lending.

But the light on my Glo HD is too blue AND not dim enough on 1% for my in the dark reading.

So, has anyone gone through the hassle of comparing e-readers for maximum dimness? Which one can get the most dim in the dark will full manual adjustability? And can any of them "flip" to negative mode (i.e. dark background and white fonts) without any firmware hacks?

I was looking at the Kobo Aura One and the new Forma. A review says the Forma can get a lot dimmer than the Auro One. Is that true? Is Forma the dimmest out there? Or can one of the Kindles actually get dimmer? Really don't want to go back to the Amazon ecosystem though, I have a sizable EPUB collection now. I'd appreciate any pointers!

[Sirtel]

The new Paperwhite and the Kindle Oasis can do inverted mode (black background, white text) out of the box.

[robko]

Originally Posted by ElektroDragon

I was looking at the Kobo Aura One and the new Forma. A review says the Forma can get a lot dimmer than the Auro One. Is that true?

Yes. See photo comparison in your thread in Kobo sub-forum.

[BookCat]

Most of the Kobo readers seem to have blue light reduction too.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by BookCat

Most of the Kobo readers seem to have blue light reduction too.

The Tolino Shine is less bright white then the Kindles. I find I like that better and I'm able to use it (with a dark font) even though I've had trouble with font-lit readers in the past. I've been doing almost all my current reading on it. It's going to spoil me. It seems the Aura 2 I saw on display at Walmart had the same sort of screen, so maybe this is the norm for Netronix-made readers?

[mobama]

Of all e-readers that I have tried, Pocketbooks go lowest in frontlight. There is a Touch HD 2 for sale on this forum right now. Touch HD 2 includes a tint setting (Smartlight).

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=313379

[Brenart]

Has anyone compared the Nooks on this front?

I'm currently using the Glowlight plus and I'm very happy with the exception that the dimmest setting wakes up the wife.

I haven't had a chance to see the Glowlight 3 in store, but I know it has a night mode, does anyone know how it compares to the forma or others discussed in this thread?

I've had every nook e-reader since the original except for the "new" Glowlight so I'll hesitant to switch brands and lose easy access to my library, but I'm not completely against it either.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[barryem]

I have the Glowlight Plus and the Glowlight 3 and I just carried them into the bathroom and turned out the room light so it was totally dark. I'm in a retirement home and the bathroom is an interior room with no window so there was no light. I then compared the two devices.

The Glowlight Plus gets pretty dim but at the bottom of it's range there's almost no room for adjustment before it goes completely off. I was able to slide it a tiny bit and get it as dim as possible and it was fairly dim. I'm not sure I could read when it's that dim but I can see the text. Any more movement turned it off.

The Glowlight 3 has a much more even gradation. As I move to the left it gets dimmer and dimmer, evenly so, and before it goes off it's so dim I could barely see it. It got so dim finally that even though I could see the screen I couldn't see what was on it. When it went off I couldn't see anything.

Anyway the Glowlight 3 gets far, far dimmer than the Glowlight Plus and it's much easier to control the light bar to get it just where you want it.

Barry

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Brenart

I'm currently using the Glowlight plus and I'm very happy with the exception that the dimmest setting wakes up the wife.

I haven't had a chance to see the Glowlight 3 in store, but I know it has a night mode, does anyone know how it compares to the forma or others discussed in this thread?

Originally Posted by barryem

The Glowlight Plus gets pretty dim but at the bottom of it's range there's almost no room for adjustment before it goes completely off...

Anyway the Glowlight 3 gets far, far dimmer than the Glowlight Plus and it's much easier to control the light bar to get it just where you want it.

Aside for the brightness of the light itself, adjusting the color on the Glowlight 3 into the amber range helps a lot. At night, in a darkened room, the Glowlight Plus with its white/blue 'feels' brighter as compared to an amber Glowlight 3 set at similar brightness settings.

[Brenart]

Originally Posted by barryem

I have the Glowlight Plus and the Glowlight 3 and I just carried them into the bathroom and turned out the room light so it was totally dark. I'm in a retirement home and the bathroom is an interior room with no window so there was no light. I then compared the two devices.

The Glowlight Plus gets pretty dim but at the bottom of it's range there's almost no room for adjustment before it goes completely off. I was able to slide it a tiny bit and get it as dim as possible and it was fairly dim. I'm not sure I could read when it's that dim but I can see the text. Any more movement turned it off.

The Glowlight 3 has a much more even gradation. As I move to the left it gets dimmer and dimmer, evenly so, and before it goes off it's so dim I could barely see it. It got so dim finally that even though I could see the screen I couldn't see what was on it. When it went off I couldn't see anything.

Anyway the Glowlight 3 gets far, far dimmer than the Glowlight Plus and it's much easier to control the light bar to get it just where you want it.

Barry

Thanks Barry, just the type of review I was hoping for.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[bookaho!ic]

i have the kobo aura h20 2nd edition which isnt a bluelight (i had previous kobo and agree 1% at night too harsh) mine dimms and gets more orange nearer the selected 'bedtime;

i love it

[Stridr]

Light is a MAJOR consideration for me. At night, I'm very, very sensitive to blue iight. Even just a little bit can make it difficult for me to go to sleep.

Currently I have a Kindle Paperwhite 3 and at night I both dim the light down, and also use inexpensive orange glasses that I go on Amazon--these orange glasses filter out the blue light. But I'd rather not have to wear the glasses.

I'm torn between the Kobo Clara and the new Kindle Paperwhite 4.The "Comfort Light" option on the Clara sounds good, as does the inverted mode on the PaperWhite 4. I haven't been able to handle either, but am trying to figure out which is best. Of concern, it seems Comfort Light works by mixing red LED's with white LED's--so although the result LOOKS orange, there will still be some blue light. And it's possible, I suppose, that overall the Kindle on inverted mode will actually put out less blue light... Thoughts?

One big plus of the Clara would be to swap in a larger sd card... that's tempting...

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Stridr

I'm torn between the Kobo Clara and the new Kindle Paperwhite 4.The "Comfort Light" option on the Clara sounds good, as does the inverted mode on the PaperWhite 4. I haven't been able to handle either, but am trying to figure out which is best. Of concern, it seems Comfort Light works by mixing red LED's with white LED's--so although the result LOOKS orange, there will still be some blue light.

The Clara HD is mixing the white and orange LEDs. But, looking at my Clara HD, I'm pretty sure that at maximum orange, the white LEDs are completely turned off. And at completely white, the orange lights are off.

[Pajamaman]

If you can run the nook gl 3 with inverted mode its very low light and legible. Best I've seen and I also hate bright light. But not sure inverted mode works out of the box or can be made to work reliably.

[Stridr]

Does the Clara also have an inverted mode?