E-book reader opinions (pilots especially)

[Colonel Midnight]

I received one of the smaller Kindles (not the DX) as an Xmas gift this past year. Have to admit, it's pretty slick.

I was kind of knocking on them prior, mainly just from the over-saturation of Amazon's ad campaign with that incredibly dippy song, but it's not bad. I like how the screen switches to a randomized graphic when it's off.

Plus, it definitely helps with reading George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books -- albeit the map of Westeros is all but illegible on the small screen. Still, it'll be easier to toss the Kindle into the knapsack for traveling than lugging around hardbacks or paperbacks.

Cheers,
-CM-

 

[Lindley]

I get the impression from the videos that the plates really aren't that easy to read on a small screen. I saw another video on YouTube about plates on the Kindle DX; that looked a lot more practical. The only question is whether the DX would be awkwardly large for other purposes, such as normal books.....

 

[RevDMV]

Here's a blog by a local pilot who's tech aware. He's been trying to find a good approach plate solutions for awhile.

 

[ST-One]

I get the impression from the videos that the plates really aren't that easy to read on a small screen. I saw another video on YouTube about plates on the Kindle DX; that looked a lot more practical. The only question is whether the DX would be awkwardly large for other purposes, such as normal books.....

Mhmm... it is larger than a normal book, but that means you can have more text per page
It's a joy to read Mangas on the DX, btw.

 

[stevedw]

I suppose I should say what I do use my eBook reader for as far as flying. Mostly I use it for the AFD instead of carrying the paper copies any more.

For approach plates I was using a Samsung Q1u tablet/UMPC(7" screen) with the Jeppesen plates. As a backup to that I had paper copies of where I was likely to be, and as a backup to that I had everything on the E-book reader. I now have an ASUS T91MT but haven't taken it flying yet. I'll try and load the PDF versions of the plates on it this weekend and do a quick video of that for comparison.

I think with the 2 and 3 screen(zoomed) views the E-books are usable on a 6" screen, but it wouldn't be my first choice.

 

[stevedw]

And, as a follow-up, there are now videos of the ASUS Tablet and Nook plates in comparison to actual paper plates in the same place as listed up-thread.