Consider a Nook or Kindle for your preps

[insidethebunker]

Consider getting a Nook (electronic book) and you can read all of your PDF's on that and charge it with a solar charger. You can also keep the PDF's on SD card's and load them when you want. Also good for having a lot of Fiction in you BOL. So why a Nook? Takes very little space in your bug out gear, easy to charge, holds 10,000 books, reads PDF's, reads free ePub books. Why a nook over a laptop? A Nook will be easier to read from and the battery last a few weeks. Also with the Nook's you can buy replacement rechargeable batteries which you can't do with a Kindle.

The only advantage a Kindle has over a Nook is that a charge on it last 4 weeks, the Nook only last 2 weeks.

You can buy refurbished Nooks on eBay for $79. They are sold and shipped by Barnes & Noble and come in original packaging and with full warranty.

Last, buy one for your spouse for Christmas and you've added an expensive prep without them catching on....

 

[JoshuaW]

Im buying them this year for Christmas. My little sister, my mom, and my mother in law is getting my fiance one.

I agree they will provide a lot of information and entertainment with a minimal footprint.

 

[Sailor]

I got one off craigs list with 3500 books on it for $100. Downloading library books with it is a huge plus. Reading pdf,s sucks bad though in my opinion. Even with better pdf viewers (I rooted mine)

 

[ThrottleJockey]

I see the point, and have considered a reader. My decision not to buy one, but rather continue using my laptop is due to the fact that there is SOOO much more a laptop will do. That and I have a couple already, no need to buy more crap. I see the advantage to the smaller size, but that's the ONLY advantage I see.

 

[dom1104]

I really get more use out of a Ipad than those e-readers, I really dont like to carry BOTH, and the Ipad has way more utility on a day to day basis for me.

 

[Sailor]

The iPad is more versatile but reading a back lit screen for a long period of time is a real strain on my eyes. The Nook and Kindle are so much like reading paper and no eye strain.

 

[dom1104]

The iPad is more versatile but reading a back lit screen for a long period of time is a real strain on my eyes. The Nook and Kindle are so much like reading paper and no eye strain.

Yeah I have heard people say that, I have never experianced it. I can read INGO on a LCD monitor all day without eye strain...or books the Ipad.

I guess everyones eyes are different.

For me the maps, GPS, etc on the Ipad makes it a clear winner for my bug out bag. Not to mention a solar charger that works for the ipad, iphone, and ipod, and cheap replacement batteries and such.

 

[Tripp11]

Having both a Nook and an Ipad in the family, I have difficulty reading the Ipad in direct sunlight and I also experience a some eye strain when using the Ipad for prolonged periods of reading when indoors. Thus, I prefer the Nook for an E-reader and the Nook really excels when outdoors in direct sunlight. YMMV.

 

[leedawg77]

Nook

I have used the Nook for this reason. I find it easier to read in sunlight than my iPad.

 

[Hayseed_40]

Bought my daughter a Kindle for Christmas. Pretty amazing. Almost makes me want to read a book - but I think I will stick to movies...

What I do not like is that you must charge with the charger - no putting 123's in it or such. If used for disaster, I would like an alternate power source. Will the solar charger work on the kindle?

 

[Blackhawk2001]

For years I used Palm products with Mobi-Pocket's e-reader. I liked them when they worked on AA or AAA batteries; less so when they went to LIon batteries. My current reader is a Palm Centro (my cell phone) and I have over 300 e-books on it for entertainment and reference. Some of the Android phones are even more versatile. With a small e-reader I can carry it anywhere and don't have to worry about putting it down somewhere and forgetting it.

 

[insidethebunker]

Bought my daughter a Kindle for Christmas. Pretty amazing. Almost makes me want to read a book - but I think I will stick to movies...

What I do not like is that you must charge with the charger - no putting 123's in it or such. If used for disaster, I would like an alternate power source. Will the solar charger work on the kindle?

Sure you can. Take any solar charger, big or small, and you plug in a converter just like you plug into a car cigarette lighter and then plug your Nook/Kindle/Cell charger into it.

Either the Nook/Kindle can also be charged off of a laptop USB 2.0. That also means I should be able to charge either off of my Voyager solar/crank radio since it takes USB.

When it comes to charging my laptop when the SHTF or my Nook... I think the Nook will win... and the whole idea of the Nook for me is to have access to the 100's of medical and prep PDF's I have.

Oh, and I ordered an extra batter for my Nook for $15 off of eBay.

And yes... the iPad's are great but still 4 or 5 times the price.

BTW, I'm a computer consultant so my laptop is my life... but at some point I might not be able to charge it after the SHTF.

 

[emst52]

I bought my wife a Kindle 3g she loves it to death

 

[PTinbound]

So we have:
Nook
Kindle
Ipad

Which, or all of these 3 are able to charge with a 12v car charger? If yes, do they come with them or do you buy them separately?

If I can save the money I'm really liking the Ipad, but any of them seem better than nothing.

 

[PTinbound]

Okay, I just looked at the kindle on Amazon and I can't seem to find any 12 power supplies for it. It is all via USB. Are there any not Kindle specific 12v adapters out there anywhere that will charge something with a USB?

 

[Sailor]

Sony makes and e reader, and there are cheap linux based ipad type devices out there also.

 

[insidethebunker]

Okay, I just looked at the kindle on Amazon and I can't seem to find any 12 power supplies for it. It is all via USB. Are there any not Kindle specific 12v adapters out there anywhere that will charge something with a USB?

Ebay, "Kindle wall charger"

From what I read any wall charger with a USB adapter (my zune and iphone has them) will work. If the device can charge from a computer USB then it can charge from a wall charger with a USB, or even a cigarette lighter with a USB.

Pretty much any USB charger that delivers at least 850 ma and is a name brand, is safe for the Nook or Kindle.

 

[Hayseed_40]

This is a good thread. It really got me thinkning about getting a second kindle and whay books should go there.

Can you list the books that you would think would be good to have on there just in case?

 

[insidethebunker]

I hit a bit of a snag in my Kindle/Nook project so let me share it. I bought 1 of each, the Kindle from Amazon for $139 + Case and Extra cords for a total $170. Then I stumbled onto a Black Friday deal where Barnes and Noble was selling refurbished Nooks for $79, free shipping, so I ordered 1 of those too. My thinking all along is the Nook is the more versatile allowing ePub books, having a Micro SD card and allowing replaceable batteries (just $14.95). Keep in mind as you read this I still believe this.

Before the Nook came I loaded a few PDF's on the Kindle and I was really pleased. The hard ones to read you just turned the Kindle to Landscape mode and it made them easy to read. The Kindle also allows you to zoom in. However the money I spent on it ($170) was a worry with the holidays coming... so I sent it back once the Nook came in. The Kindle is elegant, the Nook not so (but the Nook is still ok).

Anyway I get the Nook and I load up a few PDF's and ePubs converted from PDF's. I then try to zoom in to read some of the pages. ARGH!!!! No zoom on the Nook. Then I turn it to landscape mode and NO LANDSCAPE mode. I have to say I'm a little more then disappointed. Those were two things I just hadn't realized would be issues... and I had done so much research. Well to make the best of it I still went ahead and loaded 141 books (PDF's) onto the Nook. The majority of the them, 95%, read ok and I can live with it. The features of battery, sd card and ePubs still make this the Prepping tool over the Kindle. And yes, I'll still possibly buy a second one for the Faraday cage. I can only hope that Barnes and Noble releases a software update that gives us Landscape mode and zoom. The Nook community is begging for it and it seems to have just become available with the Kindle 3. I'm also looking at the "jailbreak" like apps out there to hack the Nook (it's just like jailbreaking an iPhone so it doesn't scare me, a lot).

If I was buying and reading regular books from B&N I think I would be just fine... but that's not what I bought it for. I bought it to be my backup library in a SHTF world... where we would have to bug out and leave things like books with the house.

So, in the end, I think a Nook is still the better prepper tool. I just want to warn you of the missing features.

 

[Sailor]

I have softrooted my nook, so the pdf I have allows zoom and landscape mode. It is still not perfect though. Make sure you check what serial number you have first, you can brick your nook if you try to softroot it outside the serial number range in which it works. Other ways to get around that though.

I use my for reading, not shtf. $100 and it included 3500 books, no brainer.