Over on Slashdot, a user known as Augury posted a question earlier today about the possibility of outfitting an e-reader for a seriously hardcore camping-style trip. It’s actually a great question, and we figured some of our readers might have useful advice to share.
Augury’s query is posted below; if you have answers or suggestions to share, leave a comment, and we’ll be sure to pass them along.
“I’m about to undertake a lengthy trip involving travel through dusty, damp and drop-inducing environments. When it comes to packing for such a trip, reading is a fundamental need, to help while away the inevitable hours spent in transit lounges, at bus stops and on beaches. The weight and bulk of the dead tree approach makes it impractical, so an e-book reader seems ideal—does anyone have any experience with rugged-izing an e-book reader for such conditions?”
My first answer to the question “How do you toughen up an ereader?” is the same as my answer to the question of toughening up any reader: have her read the Iliad, some Shakespeare, a little Dickens, lots of Jane Austen, and some Tolstoy.
If that doesn’t work, try some Sugru. It’s self-curing moldable plastic, and is awesome. Check out their website.
Here’s a great book that’s currently free on Kindle for Amazon Prime members Beyond Birkie Fever. It’s a humorous and inspiring memoir that is currently featured in the Chippewa Valley Book Festival!
Ba-da-BING! Nice one, Lomax.
I like Otterboxes.
http://www.otterbox.com/ereader-and-tablet-cases/ereader-and-tablet-cases,default,sc.html
I used to have one for my Palm that was water proof. Saved me a couple of times.
I do like the Sugru idea also, had not seen that before so thanks!
I’ve taken Sony ebook readers on a number of multi-day bushwalking trips through difficult conditions. I put the ebook-reader in its own small (1L) sea-to-summit ultra-sil dry bag. Its packed in a small padded bag with other bits & pieces. Then that goes in a large ultra-sil drybag with spare clothing and that goes in the pack.
This is on trips where weight is crucial.
Hi Lomax. Gutthrie style indeed! There is no better way to do it!
A simple cheap accessory for a eReader or tablet is a non-skid pad to stick on the back (2 for big tablets). These are available for about a dollar through eBay and they allow your e-reader to keep upright when propped up against almost anything, rather than sliding rapidly down into the puddle of water/beer/bodily fluids that you only just noticed was underneath where you put it. And if where you’re staying has walls, you can stick it on a wall out of harm’s way.