Bushwalk Australia

Hi all- I'm after some thoughts/impressions. I'm a book junkie, and I just realized that with a Kindle/Nook I can vanish into the bush for weeks at a time with virtually unlimited books. THIS MAKES ME HAPPY!

My question is- what are your collective thoughts on Kindles and/or Nooks, as well as taking them into the bush.

Ta!

The screen on the Kindle is totally amazing. The clearest and easiest to read screen I've seen on any device. It looks like it's just black printing on white plastic. The fact that it uses no battery except when changing 'pages' is very cool.

Yeah- I'll have to look for cases for them though, as I'm told they break pretty easily.

i found that my phone has a kindle app, and when its on airoplane mode it uses almost no battery. it is small so i tend to flick thru the pages quite quick, but it is still good! i think i will be leaving the paperbacks at home from now on!

After spending days in a storm buggered tent reading the topo map over and over, I bought a Kindle.

~240g, and the charge lasts forever. If you're just after a small distraction over a few days rather than a bit of reading over many days, you might be able to get away with the iPhone etc -- but the battery life would probably constrain that to not much more than a few hours.

My initial thoughts were to roll it into the sleeping bag for protection, but so far I've just put it in a big glad bag and then into a pocket of bubble wrap I stitched together. Seems to keep it safe.

Hi Sef,

is that the small kindle 3?
I noticed they're only $140US and now deliver to australia whereas when i checked earlier this year, they wouldnt ship to australia.
So at night, is it still pretty easy to read with just a lamp or a headlight shining directly into it?


Is anyone using the larger DXG version?

Yeah, the Kindle 3. I read it by lamps at home as I would any other book.

LED head torches aimed straight at it is a bit too glarey for my taste, but by tilting it at an angle - it's fine.

The current online Choice has a comparo of ebook readers. Gave top marks to a Sony.

I use a Kobo. Great for lightweight reading during overnighters.

I love the idea of this, for being weathered in, but you're limited to what you can buy from Amazon, aren't you? No downloading great swathes of classics from Project Gutenberg, for instance . . .

I'm excited as I have a belated xmas present of a Kindle currently en-route from the States (will arrive in about ten days )!! I work with a few Kindle lovers and apparently you can down-load from other places such as P. Gut. but some may require re-formatting. Apparently easily done on your PC. Being completely techno challenged, I'm not sure how exactly this works. If you need more info, I will be back at work in a week and can get more info....

cheers,
katief

north-north-west wrote:I love the idea of this, for being weathered in, but you're limited to what you can buy from Amazon, aren't you? No downloading great swathes of classics from Project Gutenberg, for instance . . .

katief wrote:I'm excited as I have a belated xmas present of a Kindle currently en-route from the States (will arrive in about ten days )!! I work with a few Kindle lovers and apparently you can down-load from other places such as P. Gut. but some may require re-formatting. Apparently easily done on your PC. Being completely techno challenged, I'm not sure how exactly this works. If you need more info, I will be back at work in a week and can get more info....

I'm still unsure about these things compared with a good old fashioned low-tech book though. Among other things I remember thinking it would be good for air travel but they make you turn off electronic devices for take off/landing. Anyway, yes looks like it can be done:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/b/?node=2245146011

johnw, I was completely against any thing but ''old school'' reading, right through uni I made copies of all articles/journals/papers, as I found it very difficult to read from electronic sources. I love the weight, smell and feel of books. I love the way I browse the bookshop and carefully select my next read....... But, I love the Kindles. I love the 'ink' text on the kindle screen and cannot wait for it to arrive!

katief wrote:johnw, I was completely against any thing but ''old school'' reading, right through uni I made copies of all articles/journals/papers, as I found it very difficult to read from electronic sources. I love the weight, smell and feel of books. I love the way I browse the bookshop and carefully select my next read....... But, I love the Kindles. I love the 'ink' text on the kindle screen and cannot wait for it to arrive!

Katie, I totally relate to your thoughts on books although I wouldn't be surprised if I do get an e-reader eventually. I haven't seen the Kindle in real life yet but have played with some of the other makes. I do see the appeal but I've worked mainly in IT for the past 22 years and surrounded by technology most of the time. So a chance to escape from it now and then is good (for me anyway) . As a "book person" Kindles do look interesting and prices seem reasonable.

katie & john

Thank you for the extra info. Looks like I'll have to get one before heading for Tassie. It's a lot lighter than carrying a few hundred real books if the weather goes apeshit.

At least that will be the lst major purchase for the trip. Then it's just consumables: soups, meals, scroggin, chocolate, gaiters, sunglasses.

north-north-west wrote: Then it's just consumables: soups, meals, scroggin, chocolate, gaiters, sunglasses.

Lol, what is it with sunnies?? I've killed a few pairs, and MJD just yesterday lost a lens out of a very very very decent pair while having an unexpected swim in a creek

While not only did I just manage a weekend walk in the Bogongs without losing or damaging my own, but I actually found fairly new pair.
I think they were dropped by one of the 550 mountain bikers doing the 'Alpine Assault' ride yesterday. If only I'd known they were going to be up there. It was worse than sharing Feathertop with one of Mona's running camps.

Now, to get back on topic.
(Don't look so shocked.)

My Kindle arrived last week - a week earlier than they promised, which is a good start.
I'm impressed. I'm really VERY impressed. It's easy to use, and it can do a lot more than just store books. I like the fact that I could write up trip notes on it, for instance, if I somehow became incapable of holding a pen, or if my notebook got waterlogged. Don't even notice the weight in the pack, unlike a book that's long enough to last a week or more. And while nothing is actually free, I've still downloaded a massive amount of stuff for about $1 per volume: Shakespeare, Byron, Housman, Whitman, Homer, Chaucer, Plato, Twain, Kipling, Eliot, Austen, Khayyam, Cervantes, etc

Now, if it was just possible to get Lord of the Rings on it without paying something like 20 quid, it would be brilliant.
If I could forum on it, it'd be perfect.

(Actually, I might be able to. It does have an 'experimental' web browser. Will be interesting to see if it works.)

....must save $ for move..... resist buying (even more) gadgets..... must resist kindle ..... losing struggle badly.... aaaarrrgh!

mmm a kindle. I have resisted so far. I have tried my iphone but not that happy with the short pages and small screen.

Talking about power for technology, does anyone use solar chargers for their devises? Should this topic but split off?

And, to update:
Neat. I'm no tech-head, but this is a really good piece of kit. With a full charge in the battery i can go through four or five books. I read all of Notre Dame, Persuasion, Wind in the Willows, Kim, The Jungle Book, a bit of poetry here and there and most of Tom Sawyer before it warned me the charge was getting low. Two weeks worth of overnight walking, with two days stuck in the tent due to weather (although some of that time was spent checking maps and re-reading Chapman to pick holes in his notes).

So I wonder when Mr. Chapman is going to release his books in Kindle format?

Not likely to be soon according to his website: http://www.john.chapman.name/pdf.html. But apparently he's interested to get reader feedback on this.

I carry my Kindle in a tupperware type container for protection when putting it in a pack. I also have a waterproof map holder for using it at the beach etc.

So, these have been out some time now, after a few thoughts; I'm considering perhaps a kindle for long winter nights (although a nook-e might be better... ... ... sorry...). I cant imagine total reliance on a jpg/electronic map so i guess its going to be limited available books. How do they go with scanned book pages from those not available and guidebook pages, anyone using it this way? Suppose field guides would be nice but the script is of limited use without images/illustration. I guess sopme 1:25000 scanned sheets might help in tricky spots (in addition to 1:100000 hard copy map)?. Are folks using it this way? I guess that the quality suffers, is this a problem?


I did find this reference to tiff files:


I just tried an experiment, and it seems to work.

1. Exported a tiff from Topo! in greyscale.
2. Opened in Illustrator and saved as an .ai file.
3. Exported to pdf
4. Copied to Kindle

The resulting map when zoomed is quite readable--good enough for navigation. I might turn off the 3D shading next time to better delineate the vegetation boundaries.

So, yes and yes--you can export from Topo! and the map can be read on a Kindle. A year from now we'll be discussing color E-ink displays--if they don't suck they'll be easier to read than monochrome but in the meantime there are enough steps in the greyscale to make today's version viable.

Nuts wrote: Suppose field guides would be nice but the script is of limited use without images/illustration.

Kindles do black & white illustrations very well. Look a bit like etchings. If the conversion was of good quality, it would be viable for some field guides, but not where colour was vital.

woohoo, arrived today, bought the 'Doyle' collection ( ) for 89c as it was the first thing in the menu of interest... well besides Emerson...
I dont really think the guidebooks would be a big deal (though the pages would b easy enough to scan i guess) but carrying sections of 1:25000 and zooming and field guides and audio....
The memory, battery life, easy reading text, weight, what to say besides...wow.

thanks

I was doing some grocery shopping last week. I noticed that my local Woolies supermarket had a sign up in store saying that you can now buy the two types of Amazon Kindles from them. Priced from around $219-00 I think. Anyone else seen similar?