E-Readers In The Sauna?

[Graham]

I'm guessing you sauna readers don't wear glasses...

Graham

[Ransom]

Originally Posted by vxf

At the gym I go to, one person keeps bringing in a K2 in a ziploc bag. She has been doing it for weeks now, every day, and it seems to work. At first I thought she would be soon disappointed - I figured it would have to fail. Yet, so far, nothing has happened to it. She does say that page turn slow down in there - we both wondered whether the heat is doing that - but the device goes back to normal when it cools down.

I am tempted to try with my old PRS900 - as I don't use it anymore very often. It's my beach/pool reader, the one I don't mind mistreating.

I hate cell phones, or as I think of them--Dick Tracy toys--, but I finally broke down and bought a cheap trac phone last year to keep in the truck for emergencies. My nephew told me I couldn't keep it in the truck during the summer though because the heat would destroy it. But I've kept it in its pouch, clipped to the vizor, ever since I got it and only bring it into the house on Sundays to recharge the battery. I know that when it's 95 to 100% outside, that with the windows rolled-up, it must be about the same temp as a suana inside. The phone was still working fine after a year until I dropped it on concrete a couple of weeks ago. Actually, I tried to catch it before it hit the ground and ended up batting onto the concrete much harder than it would have hit if I'd have just let it drop. But those high temps don't seem to bother cell phones.

[BigWaffles]

I took my K2 on my last deployment to the desert. I used to sit at the bus stop and read in 120-130 degree heat with up to 80% humidity with no problems. Granted, I was only waiting 15-20 minutes, but my K2 is still working fine. Small doses my be ok.


C.P.T.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Ransom

Well, I was thinking of borrowing yours.

You can't. I'm reading in the bath .

[Namekuseijin]

while we're at it, what about reading ebooks on the Moon? I'm worried if I ever trip over there only to find e ink and lcd screens can't survive radiation bare...

[SolRaven]

Originally Posted by orlok

You can't. I'm reading in the bath .

It works for me! Vacuum sealing works great. You'll know if it's been breached because it'll no longer be tight on the reader, plus, it lays flat on the screen so you don't really notice the plastic over the screen while you're reading.

[lestatar]

^ wow. What a great great idea! Assume you used one of those food sealer thingies?

Only thing I wonder about with these kind of ideas is buildup of heat from the devices within the sealed area, in your case very tightly vacuum sealed. Do you notice the device getting warm at all? Do you only seal it up when you need it?

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[Ransom]

Only thing I wonder about with these kind of ideas is buildup of heat from the devices within the sealed area

Yes; they must have ventilation, must they not?

[kevinp]

Originally Posted by sassanik

I guess you could talk to someone in the South East of the US who has left their ereader in the car during the summer? That might get up to sauna temperatures.

Amy

I've left my K3, my laptop, my cell phone, etc. in my car and never had any problems, although none of them were turned on while in my car (except my cell phone). They all still work. I still wouldn't bring my K3 into a sauna (even though I live in one).

The pic is when I was driving down I-4 in bumper-to-bumper traffic in July.

[SolRaven]

Originally Posted by lestatar

^ wow. What a great great idea! Assume you used one of those food sealer thingies?

Only thing I wonder about with these kind of ideas is buildup of heat from the devices within the sealed area, in your case very tightly vacuum sealed. Do you notice the device getting warm at all? Do you only seal it up when you need it?

Yep, I used a FoodSaver vacuum sealer. The funny thing is, that one side of their heat seal roll is textured, so you even have a little extra grip.

I thought about the heat build up, but the reader produces close to zero heat, and the tiny LED's produced such a tiny amount, that it was always cooler than my bathwater. The only way it would get hot enough to notice is if I kept it submerged in the hot bath water, otherwise it heats up about as much as my watch, which is only warm because it's on my wrist.

I only seal it when I want to take it in the bath. I like to soak in a dimly lit, relaxing atmosphere, so having a reader that has built in front lighting is more than I'd ever expect. The other great thing about using the ereader is that it's close to impossible not to soak your book while bathing. Every time you want to change the page you have to, darn near, completely dry your hand so you don't soak the book, and you just end up soaking the towel making it ineffective for drying your hand enough to turn a page. With the reader, I only dry off when I get out of the bath. My soaking wet hand just swipes the page, water dripping and all.

The things to know is that you need to turn on the reader and the light because once sealed, it's impossible to move the switches at the top and bottom. The other thing is to stop sealing once it's snug, or some of the buttons on the front may get depressed. I haven't been able to vacuum seal my Kindle because of all the buttons. Either it's loose in the bag, like a Ziploc one button or anther is depressed in the front.

I suppose the ideal would be to get a permanent bag that I can seal the air out of and re-use, but so far, this is the most pleasant as far as not noticing that it's wrapped in water tight protection.

[lestatar]

^ Indeed and thanks for sharing such a clever idea. Something like this, done properly, could be great for the whole sauna thing, which was the point of this thread.

Interesting indeed.

[SolRaven]

Originally Posted by lestatar

^ Indeed and thanks for sharing such a clever idea. Something like this, done properly, could be great for the whole sauna thing, which was the point of this thread.

Interesting indeed.

Anytime. I just can't imagine bringing a reader into a sauna. It's too friggin' hot. I don't think a Sony would work because they're metal and I'd suspect that they would get too hot to handle, like the interior of a car. I'm always careful to make sure that I haven't left my necklace on because I've burnt myself too many times. Saunas are dry heat, so moisture isn't the issue, 140° heat is.

[Salgueiros]

I do sauna frequently and usually take the PRS-300 with me and never had any problem, besides the page turns becoming slow, and a occasional thin layer of moisture forming over the screen. I do sauna some two times a week. After the sauna, the temperature drops rapidly, and the page turn speed returns quickly to normal.

I noticed, not surprisingly, that the metal parts of the PRS-300 got very hot very rapidly, and, even if it didn't do any noticeable damage to the device i thought i should mitigate it, so i started using a wet (not dripping, though) microfibre swimming towel as a base for the back of my reader (these towels absorb a big amount of water without loosing water when handled) and it prevents very well the heat buildup. In this case, page turn speed does not drop, since the heat is very well transferred by the metal to the water contained in the towel. The maximum time i have spent inside the sauna with the reader without any break is 30 minutes.

I do wet sauna (löyly), which i think is more aggressive to the reader, but occasionally do dry too. Dry sauna is not as quick to cause slowness in the reader as the wet. Water increases the difficulty in dissipating heat so maybe that is the reason.

I would not recommend using plastic bags, since the bag acts as a mini-greenhouse and might cause the temperature inside the bag to raise quicker, and also droplets from condensation aggregate in the walls of the plastic bag and might form a huge drop that can infiltrate in your device.

[maianhvk]

Originally Posted by Graham

I'm guessing you sauna readers don't wear glasses...

Graham

that's the point

Originally Posted by Ransom

Yes; they must have ventilation, must they not?

The heat can goes from one thing to another. In this case, from SolRaven's PRS to its plastic bag, and then to her hands

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by Jeff Rivera

I would be afraid to take any electronic device into a sauna for all the reasons mentioned above. I would stick to magazines/newspapers/books that you don't mind getting ruined while there.

I'm quite often afraid to take ME in a sauna!