Turn off when not in use?

[digitaldiver]

If power is used only when turning pages etc, should I still turn if off when not in use, I read every night, I have been just leaving it on until the next night, but should I be turning it off? Thx

[Stinger]

Yes, you should.
I've been using a general rule of thumb that if I won't be reading for at least an hour or two, I turn mine off.

There are some issuse with the Kobo's 'sleep' mode that causes it drain more battery then intended. Basically, when the Kobo is ON and no button is pressed for about 10seconds-ish, the Kobo is suppose to suspend/sleep, I think. But this sleep mode isn't as power efficient as people would expect. They say this has been addressed in the upcoming firmware update (this week), but I'd still go by the above rule-of-thumb. (in fact, I think they put in a new timer of 30mins for auto-shutdown in the new firmware)

[HamsterRage]

I haven't seen any difference between turning it off diligently and just leaving it on.

[suiciety]

The 'Sleep' feature is being included in the new firmware which will put the kobo to sleep when the power button is pressed instead of turning it full off.

That means it will be instant-on when you push the power button again.

You can force it off by holding down the power button though if you prefer that method.

[the hatter]

Originally Posted by HamsterRage

I haven't seen any difference between turning it off diligently and just leaving it on.

Really? I noticed a huge difference once I started turning mine off. Maybe the issue causing battery drain is not affecting all devices.

[barth90]

Originally Posted by the hatter

Really? I noticed a huge difference once I started turning mine off. Maybe the issue causing battery drain is not affecting all devices.

The same with me. Before, I used to leave it open all the time and it would die after 3-4 days. Now I can turn it off for 2 weeks (it's not my prime reader. The DX is) and when I turn it back on the battery is still at full charge.

[artificial]

Originally Posted by the hatter

Really? I noticed a huge difference once I started turning mine off. Maybe the issue causing battery drain is not affecting all devices.

Ditto.

It isn't clear exactly why, but some units seem to benefit from powering the device off when not in use, while others don't.

Personally I get approximately double the number of page turns by powering down between reading sessions. I also get piece of mind knowing the Kobo's buttons won't get accidentally triggered while I carry it around in my bag, and that my battery's charge isn't slowly draining away.

Some people complain that the unit takes too long to power up again, but honestly what difference does 30 seconds make to an hour long reading session?

But I would say: if you feel you get enough charge from your battery without turning the unit off, then don't stress it. On the other hand, if you feel your battery is draining too fast then it certainly won't hurt to power the unit off when you're not using it.

[RonH]

Originally Posted by artificial

But I would say: if you feel you get enough charge from your battery without turning the unit off, then don't stress it. On the other hand, if you feel your battery is draining too fast then it certainly won't hurt to power the unit off when you're not using it.

Amen. I definitely fit in the "turn it off" camp, at least until the new firmware materializes, but there's one other reason to do: at present, the battery condition icon *only* updates during a power off/power on cycle. So if you are not power-cycling regularly, the battery indicator is not giving a true indication of the remaining charge. One hopes that will also be fixed.

[Cyberman tM]

Originally Posted by digitaldiver

If power is used only when turning pages etc,

I think that is not quite true. Marketing might say so, and surely it's the main power consumption, but not the only one.

I once left my device(not a Kobo, same hardware, though) running without ever turning it off(I even turned off that auto-shutdown).
A few days later it wouldn't respond anymore.

My theory:
Any button that is expected to be pressed needs power. Otherwise it can't react.
If turned "off", only the main power button will react - it even is slow to react, perhaps having even less power.
If turned "on", any button will (almost) instantly react.

More buttons waiting for work: more power required.

[Stinger]

More buttons waiting for work: more power required.

Not precisely correct, but you're very close.
It doesn't really matter how many buttons are 'waiting' to be pressed, but you're correct that the Kobo needs to be responsive to button presses. Which means that it's ON, albeit idle, and waiting for that signal from the buttons.

You also hit the nail right on the head with this statement:

I think that is not quite true. Marketing might say so, and surely it's the main power consumption, but not the only one.

Besides waiting for the interrupts from button presses, there are a few other minor things drawing power under the hood (stuff like keeping the system clock going, refreshing volatile RAM, etc)

[fred_yu_job]

The coming firmware update features:
"To place the eReader in Sleep mode press the Power button once. This is a great way to conserve battery power. To start reading again press the Power button once"