A Kindle Fire isn’t an E-Reader, it’s juts a tablet. It’s no different than an Ipad or a Nexus, it just happens to carry the same name as an actual E-Reader. You can put the Kindle Software on an IPad or an Android Smartphone, but you wouldn’t call them an E-reader.
My Kindle (Kindle Touch, no backlight) with wifi off will last several months if I don’t use it and about a 6-8 weeks of ‘chapter a night’ reading. I’m always amazed that I can ignore the thing for a month, pick it up and it’s still ready to go.
2-3 days (or a week) with wifi on is probably about normal, but there’s really no reason to leave it on. I turn it on for a few seconds just to let it download new content, then turn it right back off, that’s it.
If you have wifi and the backlight off and only get an hour out of it, something’s wrong.
But even if it is based on a half hour a day (which is stated right on the page for it), the current Kindle (paperwhite) says it’ll last 8 weeks, that’s 28 hours. That still a month if you base it on 2 hours a day. Also, as others said, if you’re not running wifi or the backlight*, it only uses battery when you turn a page.
*It says that number is based on the backlight being set at 10.
Anything with a hand crank is a toy. I knew a lot of people without electricity, and not one of them regularly used the various hand-cranked flashlights and radios they inevitably brought. They are impractical, and don’t work particular well even in emergencies.
Solar is the only way to go with something you plan to actually use. They make affordable, portable, durable chargers just for this purpose. I also highly recommend a cheap solar flashlight.
Maybe there are variations, but my Kindle kept me entertained for weeks at a time in Southern Africa between charges.
I should clarify that my e-reader is actually a Kobo tablet and there appears to be no way to turn the backlight off. My wife has a real e-reader and, if she turns the backlight off it will last for days.
That said, I am impressed by the variety of gadgets that actually exist and solve the problem. I would go with the solar charger.
This comes up frequently in hiking forums. For a month on a island where you will not be moving a solar charging station makes sense. Include enough panels or TV and Sat internet and a laptop, a a/c and a fridge, and be within range of Amazon drone delivery.
But just bringing disposable batteries and a device to convert that to USB power also makes sense, also another option is a few rechargeable battery packs that have USB outputs. Your cheapest option may be buying a used car battery at a junkyard and a 12V to USB adapter. Might run you $30 and some spare wire and shoud get you thru the month, though with direct from China ordering you made do better with USB battery packs.
I have the older model of a Solio charger. It works reasonably well to keep an iphone 5 charged, if its sunny. If it’s a bit cloudy it’s OK’ish.
A factor is that to charge strongly you need to keep it facing the sun, and that sucker moves way faster than you think. So if you are spending a day in a campsite and can tend the Solio and move it round a bit every half hour, it’s great even when its cloudy. If you want to leave it at the campsite while you go off and do something else, it’s not quite as effective.
I usually leave the wifi off, I only know about the battery life with it on because when I turn it on the check something in the Kindle Store or retrieve from the Cloud, sometimes I forget to turn it back off then Im surprised a few days later.
And there WAS something wrong with the one that only got an hour, but the problem was I basically wore it out, the integral rechargeable battery had hit the end of its lifespan. Now this was an old First Generation Kindle, it’s possible that it’s harder to wear out the newer models.
Now I use larger type so 7500 page turns sounds like about a week to me.
And, in fact, Amazon has dropped the word “Kindle” from its line of Fire tablets.
And in the interest of fighting ignorance, let’s please stop misusing the word “backlight.” The Kindle Paperwhite is not backlit; as far as I know, no e-ink e-reader is. It is frontlit.
I have both a fold open solar charger with battery and a hand crank flashlight/charger. Since I do a lot of reading at night, once I have charged using the battery on the solar, I determined the rate at which I have to crank to keep up with my reading on the cell phone [honestly, it is easier cranking slowly to keep the charge rather than to read for a while, then stop and crank frantically to recharge the battery then to go back to reading. Don’t ask =)] If given the choice, I would also like the Biolite cooker/charger in combination with my little folding solar battery charger and my hand crank flashlight. [well, it works nicely as a flashlight =) ] I like how you only use twigs and smaller sticks in the biolite for generating and cooking, it is handier than building a Dakota fire hole. Add an old style mess kit and you are good to go.
I would take my Kindle Voyage, which has decent battery life, and my (fully-charged) Jackery portable charger. Can’t imagine that combo not lasting a month.
For a month… I’d probably take my Kindle Touch, and some kind of solar charger.
I wouldn’t expect to actually have to recharge it but maybe twice or three times at most though, even reading non-stop. It’s really thrifty on the battery; not so sure how it would do by campfire light though; it’s not a backlit model.
