Is electro-magnetic field (EMF) hypersensitivity a real thing?

[Dysfunkion]

So I got a Kobo Clara BW and without the wireless turned on (you only need it on first boot) and screen brightness completely off (I can still read fine in natural room light or with a light on in the room) I am ok. The text on the screen is very natural looking and feels like an actual book. The black and white e-ink screen doesn't do anything to me. So if anyone else was considering one, it's likely safe for you to as I'm one of the worst sensitivity cases. The best thing about it is you can drag and drop any epubs directly into it so it doesn't hold you down like the Nook or the Kindle. There is also a bunch of free books on the marketplace on there too. Though I found downloading and converting files from other formats to epub in Caliber at least works but the files converted tends to look really glitchy, so just directly getting the original epubs is your best option for throwing them right into the device.

 

[Wishful]

I've had a Clara for a year or two (or longer?) now. The covid shutdown made it necessary, since that affected library service. I've been happy with it. I miss the ease of flipping back to re-read some section, but I wouldn't buy paper books anymore.

Like you, I keep the wifi off unless I need to download books, and I keep the backlighting off too.

The main glitch I've had with the Clara is it occasionally forgets its charge level, and will drop from full charge to "empty", yet keep working. Rebooting usually fixes that, or else it somehow fixes itself eventually.

After running out of ebooks from the library, I signed up for KoboPlus, which allows free reading of a selection of books for a monthly fee. Worth it for me, but I hate the recommendation system (not enough options for detailing what types of books and authors I don't like), and it's totally broken now, in that it keeps showing books that I've marked "not interested". On top of that, Rakuten clearly doesn't want to hear any feedback from customers. Whew! Rant over. Felt good though.

 

[Dysfunkion]

I've had a Clara for a year or two (or longer?) now. The covid shutdown made it necessary, since that affected library service. I've been happy with it. I miss the ease of flipping back to re-read some section, but I wouldn't buy paper books anymore.

Like you, I keep the wifi off unless I need to download books, and I keep the backlighting off too.

The main glitch I've had with the Clara is it occasionally forgets its charge level, and will drop from full charge to "empty", yet keep working. Rebooting usually fixes that, or else it somehow fixes itself eventually.

After running out of ebooks from the library, I signed up for KoboPlus, which allows free reading of a selection of books for a monthly fee. Worth it for me, but I hate the recommendation system (not enough options for detailing what types of books and authors I don't like), and it's totally broken now, in that it keeps showing books that I've marked "not interested". On top of that, Rakuten clearly doesn't want to hear any feedback from customers. Whew! Rant over. Felt good though.

I wish I could use the library but the mold sensitivity issues are the reason why I need this now as buying new books is way too expensive and takes up more space I don't have. Thanks for the heads up on the battery glitch. The only issue I ran into with is reading PDF files, they're so slow working on it that they're almost unusable. You actually do get a good deal with Koboplus, I might hop on that because it doesn't make sense not to if just a single ebook could cost you over a month's worth of that. Now my issue would be finding specifically where my PEM reading limit is.

 

[Wishful]

The Clara is really slow on opening .rtf files (I have a few old ones in that format) too. Seems okay once it's opened. I haven't tried PDF files, but I expect that it's faster than walking out to turn on my inverter (by my solar panel), waiting for my computer to boot up, then opening a file on it.

Ebooks are especially good for people who expect to need to move at some point. I think my book collection took up two pickup truck loads when I moved to Alberta. Electrons are lighter. No mold or dust either.