HAVING USED PHYSICAL BOOKS, A TABLET, A PHONE, AND AN E-READER TO READ WHILE TRAVELING, THE E-READER IS BY FAR MY TOP CHOICE.
Now, of all e-readers, why a Kindle Paperwhite? Well, I don’t really have a great reason. When I bought my Kindle (back in 2013), it was cheaper (I think about $80), and sold at cost (to encourage e-book sales), which I liked. Most e-readers were (and still are) married to a proprietary e-book store, and Amazon got its start selling books and were first to market with a usable e-reader and thus had the largest e-book library. I loved the screen and it was important that I could sideload books of my own (that is, not bought from the Amazon store) onto the device, which the Paperwhite could do. I got Lauren a Paperwhite a few years later and she’s loved it, too, but I suppose we don’t really have a ton of experience with other e-readers, like the Barnes & Noble Nook. Suffice to say we have good things to say about the Kindle Paperwhite—and in 3+ years of use, I can’t really think of anything I don’t like about it—but it’s totally possible there’s some other e-reader out there that does awesome things we didn’t even think about.
That said, if all you want is a lightweight and skinny little thing that lasts for weeks on a charge, stores thousands of books, doesn’t break the bank, and makes reading an easy and accessible pleasure, the Kindle Paperwhite is probably a great choice.
Oh, you’ll probably want a case, too.
Not essential, but pretty useful. They wrap around the Kindle and protect its screen from scratches and its body from shock (and, to a lesser degree, moisture), and when bike traveling, scratches and shock are real risks. Lauren has a Fintie case ($19) and I have an Ayuto case ($13); both weigh under 100g on their own and auto-wake the Kindle, meaning that when you open the case cover the Kindle turns on to right where you were (which is nice), and when you close the cover the screen goes to sleep (which is also nice). Both come in bunches of colors and patterns and hold up well to abuse.
