Recommend me good e-reader

I've been using Kindle Paperwhite since 2013. The hardware is fantastic, but their locked down nature is less than amazing. I'm currently looking at options for upgrading and moving away from the kindle ecosystem, and the the Kobo Clara BW is a compelling option. Or maybe wait and see if a new BW Libra comes out.
- Yeah, I love everything about my Kindle except for the fact that it’s tied to Amazon. Calibre goes a long way in bridging the gap, (I have a fairly large personal library that isn’t tied to Amazon), but it’s no replacement for native support. If you plan on using Calibre, you should seriously consider a Kobo.
  
  What does kobo do that kindle doesn’t? I’ve been thinking about switching since I damaged my kindle, but calibre works great and I love the kindle hardware.
- I’m the same way

I got the kobo bw. I spent a weekend downloading all 500some ebooks I’ve purchased off Amazon (which they do not make easy) to my laptop. Then I imported them into calibre, stripped all drm, and loaded them onto the kobo.
It’s great, I love it.
- How easy is it to strip DRM from Kobo ebooks?
  
  Sorry, I strip it from Amazon ebooks. There’s a plugin for calibre called deDRM that does it, it’s pretty simple once you get it setup.
  Just import book, and the drm is gone.
  
  Super easy, Calbre with the DeDRM plugin will strip the DRM from Kobo books as well. Anytime I buy a book on the kobo store the first thing I do is rip out the DRM and upload it to my self-hosted ebook library
- You can even self host a calibre web instance and have it fully integrated/replace the kobo store on the device
  
  Can you elaborate? Do you use it that way?
- Thx! How can you describe you reading experience (especially outside) ? Is device durable?
  
  Durable is an understatement, to be honest. I have the a Kobo Clara BW and it’s fully waterproof. As in, “shit, I dropped it in the ocean lemme run it under this tap to clean it” waterproof.
  I’ve dropped it a good many times as well.
  The Kobo Clara BW is hands down the best ebook reader I’ve owned, and definitely better than the ones I’ve encountered in the wild with my mates
  
  Yeah it’s amazing. It’s my go to reader for vacations, have it at the pool and beach. I don’t know about waterproof per se, but it’s resisted kids splashing me and me dropping it a bunch.

I use Boox. I don't really trust them, but Android is just way better than not Android, and their modifications to support e-ink are the best IMO.
I primarily use the go color 7, and the page turn buttons also add a lot.
- I'm opposite to you - android is stop factor for me:) Much appreciated since Boox is smth new for me.
  
  Anything bad about Android is worse on kindle or kobo's OS. They're more invasive, give you less privacy options, and make it much more difficult than a decent android app to organize content. I don't actually particularly like Android, and would be miserable if I had to use it in place of my iPhone. But the device specific software is pretty much all really bad.
- I have a boox note 3. It's great, ReadEra is my default reading app, syncthing and Netguard are the main things I use.

I love my Kobo Libra 2, with KoReader installed. I manage my books with Calibre.
- What do you like about KoReader? I think I installed it on a bold reader a while back and didn’t feel that impressed. Willing to have my mind changed though.
  
  It allows me to have all my books in one place, has a bunch of customization options, and works offline and lets me load "aquired" ebooks

I’ve had a Kindle Paperwhite in the past and now I have a Kobo Clara 2E (that’s the BW one).
I prefer the Clara because:
it is not an Amazon product, and I even bought it at a local retailer
it works with epub files for books — even if Kobos have their own kepub file extension, calibre has plugins that deal with that
setting up calibre-web on my home server and having the Clara connect to it was very simple
They both have water resistance and warm light. The Paperwhite’s screen is a bit bigger, but the difference is not monumental.
In the end, they are similar enough both in terms of specs and price that depending on your use case you will be fine with either one, but if anything I mentioned above is an important factor to you then I hope this was helpful :)

My last eReader purchase was the Kobo Clara 2E and it’s fantastic. I got one for my dad as well. I love the fact that you can use it completely offline and without any account.
Then they announced a partnership with IFixIt, and that cemented for me (barring any changes), that my next eReader will also be another Kobo… though with this partnership I expect that to be a long time down the road.
- Is it possible to use this reader with an amazon account?
  
  Not without significant hurdles due to Amazon’s (very intentionally crafted) walled garden. You’re locked in by the file format as well as Amazon’s DRM. If you do anything to bypass this, it’s technically illegal as a violation of the DMCA.
- without any account
  Did they make this easier? I have a Sage and I had to open a SQLite database file on the e-reader, then flip some flag, to bypass account sign in. But that was a few years ago.
  
  I don’t think so, I had to go in and do the song and dance with changing a config file. Reposting this comment here for posterity.
  Delete .kobo/KoboReader.sqlite (if you are already signed in).
  Restart Kobo
  DO NOT tap "Set up over wi-fi". Press the other one and connect it to a computer.
  Go to .kobo/Kobo/Koboreader.config (or something like that)
  Open the config file and under [ApplicationPreferences], write on a new line: SideloadedMode=true.
  If you did not do steps 1 and 2, delete .kobo/KoboReader.sqlite.
  Eject and restart ereader.
  Yay! You just bypassed registration!

If you want to sideload your own books and continue to be able to do so, steer clear of any Amazon device.
- As someone who has sideloaded a ton of books onto their kindle, why?
  
  They’re making it harder and harder to do so apparently and to download the books that you buy from their store.
  I don’t trust that they won’t make a strong push to lock you into the Amazon ecosystem.
  And, bluntly, I don’t trust Bezos, especially after all of this election bullshit he pulled with WaPo where he personally got involved. The chances are now non-zero that Kindle could censor books. If a tyrannical regime told Bezos to remove a list of books from Kindle devices I think he’d roll over and do it. And that’s not right. They’re the customer’s books - they bought them and they get to decide what they read without censorship. And to be clear, I don’t care which way the censorship goes. We shouldn’t be censoring books - full stop.
  I used to be such a kindle Stan but I don’t think they will let me have full control over an expensive device that I buy and books that I buy on their platform.
  I de-drm every book I buy and side load it onto my devices because no company in the future should be able to tell me what books I can read. I’m currently using a Kobo but if they start fucking around too (no signs of this yet…) I’ll find a device that will respect my freedom.
  
  From what I've heard, the newest generation doesn't show up as an external drive when you plug it into a computer.
  
  Amazon is increasingly hostile with Calibre, especially within the past year or two. Things like intentionally destroying included book covers/thumbnails for books uploaded by Calibre, intentionally breaking Collection editing via Calibre so you have to do it on the Kindle directly, and not allowing users to download their Amazon-purchased books into Calibre.

If you can get an Onyx Boox tablet used by a first adopter that it wasn't right for, it has the best of all worlds. Open, Android, EInk, large screen, and can be used to bang out content and read email. Other than that I would just get a downmarket but new Android Tablet and use it as a dedicated eBook and audio book/podcast device. The screen isn't ideal but you can get a stock android tablet for $150 bucks us and use Caliber on it along with all the typical android stuff. Hell you might even be able to get a Linux tablet that would fit your needs but cost a little more. But if you go tablet the devices tend to be a bit more open to sideloading.
- Don't get a device without e-ink as a reader. It will end up in the trash where it belongs. A low resolution backlit display will just discourage actually using it to read.
  
  Who said anything about a low res backlit screen? And if you read monitors and screens all day, it may be an issue, but with dark mode reading it is fine. The devices I am talking about have about twice the PPI as a 22/24 inch 1080p monitor. There are cheap e-readers that have atrocious resolutions but the tablets I am talking about are fine, but not as good as EInk.

Pocketbook also makes great devices, not that well known outside of EU but their software has more features than Kobo and is (as of yet) not in the book selling market so no conflict of interest (and no analytics, contrary to kobo).

I own the Kobo Libra H2O and the Boox Air 2, both are amazing for different reasons.
Kobo is small and portable, fantastic for reading in bed.
Boox Air 2 has pen support and runs android. Fantastic for note taking, large PDF files, and so. It is a bit big at 7in screen, pretty much a tablet.
- Kobo Libra H20 owner here too then Kobo Colour!! Love both! My husband upgraded me for free because he worked with Kobo
  
  How do you like the color? I'm looking to upgrade from an H2O like you did!

I'm a cheap guy, and honestly I got the cheapest Kindle (I believe 2022) and I've been reading books from Calibre without issues.
No other e-reader was as cheap as that, and it... Just works.

A decade old paperwhite is plenty good jailbroken. A real bargain.

I've been extremely happy with my boox go 10.3! Crazy long battery life (on the order of months; no backlight and i keep wifi off), amazing reading experience (looks basically indistinguishable from paper) and writing experience is good enough as someone who doesn't write often on it.

I bought a Boox Palma and I love it. I know people have concerns about privacy related to android (though a kindle and/or Kobo are just as bad IMO). I never set up an Google account and it's been in airplane mode since I turned it on. I wanted an e-reader that I could add books from my PC without any fuss. That's all I need and it works well for that. I love the form factor too.

Sentences? Also it could help not taking people as your servants or your personal AI assistant, this is not reddit
- No need to be stinky, they're just asking for advice. If you're annoyed don't respond, but why be rude?