Oregon Hikers

Lumpy- Thanks for the idea about Costco, I'll be sure to check out their sales.

Koda- Thanks for the first-hand reviews, very helpful. Good tips on using it for the map vs. bearing in a GPS app. Knowing me, I'll still carry a photocopied paper map of the area I am in. The GPS would mostly be handy as another data point for navigation. I also appreciate the point about the bigger size being harder to stow and maintain GPS reception.

Hadn't thought much about the inability to cache maps for geocaching, I've mostly just used my wife's smartphone in town. Edit: just looked up the c:geo app, it supports offline caching functions and maps, just have to save them ahead of time. I'll have to try this out on my wife's phone and see if it works.

Thanks again!

Found this really cool crowdfunded tablet concept:

http://www.meetearl.com/

$299 is on the high end for me at the moment but looks really fun!

That's pretty cool

Too bad it doesn't send and receive text by satelite

I wonder what kind of coverage you get with it's radio?

A big bump.

My wife and I are interested in an E-Reader we can carry for backpacking. Anyone have a recommendation for today's offerings?

Features we would want:

Long battery life.
Waterproof.
Ability to write text without BT keyboard--do that trip report on the trail!
Overdrive and Libravox compatible.
SDHC or other memory slot.

A quick look online today suggests the Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Clara HD as good choices, but the reviews are 1) premised on an urban living environment, not off-the-grid backpacking and 2) are not clear on details of device functionality, much less battery life under different modes of operation (writing on touch screen vs reading text from device memory, for example).

Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

BurnsideBob wrote: ↑

July 31st, 2019, 8:47 am

A big bump.

My wife and I are interested in an E-Reader we can carry for backpacking. Anyone have a recommendation for today's offerings?

Features we would want:

Long battery life.
Waterproof.
Ability to write text without BT keyboard--do that trip report on the trail!
Overdrive and Libravox compatible.
SDHC or other memory slot.

A quick look online today suggests the Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Clara HD as good choices, but the reviews are 1) premised on an urban living environment, not off-the-grid backpacking and 2) are not clear on details of device functionality, much less battery life under different modes of operation (writing on touch screen vs reading text from device memory, for example).

Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

I've got the Kindle Paperwhite. Great e-reader. I also have a much older Kindle reader that has a battery life of about 30 days (but no backlight). I don't think any Kindle models have memory card slots, at least mine do not.

I'm not aware if anyone makes a waterproof e-reader, but that would be a desirable feature.

Thanks for your comment, Jim.

The latest Paperwhite is supposed to be waterproof according to this 2019 eReader review from PC Magazine. https://www.pcmag.com/roundup/294182/th ... k-readers#

Not discussed in this article is how one uploads material to the eReader, save for a discussion of 3G cell phone on the most expensive eReaders vs Wi-Fi on the cheaper. Would be nice to have a memory slot/USB port so could access books we already have on cards and portable drives.

The article is a helpful starting point but leaves out details important for backpacking users.

BurnsideBob wrote: ↑

July 31st, 2019, 2:00 pm

Not discussed in this article is how one uploads material to the eReader, save for a discussion of 3G cell phone on the most expensive eReaders vs Wi-Fi on the cheaper. Would be nice to have a memory slot/USB port so could access books we already have on cards and portable drives.

The article is a helpful starting point but leaves out details important for backpacking users.

I use a mini USB cable to transfer files from my laptop to my Kindle devices. Just drag and drop the files... It works fairly well. I downloaded some free books from www.gutenberg.org and I was able to transfer them to the readers.