Before committing ourselves to this purchase I must confess that we did a lot of research ... what a surprise I hear you say! Whilst we had no doubts about its capability as a book reader what we were really interested in were its connectivity options and how efficient and effective it was at storing (and retrieving) electronic manuals.

As a document repository:

If you've been following our blog you will be aware of our constant challenge regarding weight, so carrying less books and manuals has a major appeal - we have a lot of them! Whilst most of our manuals are already stored in electronic format on our Pc, we've found it impractical to reference them when on the move particularly when conditions get tough. The vulnerability of a laptop, its power requirements, the difficulty in reading the screen in bright conditions (even below in the cabin) and the time it takes to boot up really isn't acceptable. The Amazon Kindle3G however, in a transparent waterproof cover addresses all of these issues. Boot up time is almost instantaneous, power consumption is minimal and reading the screen in broad daylight is not an issue. Transferring documents (PDF format) to the kindle is very straightforward (drag and drop) using the USB cable supplied and subsequent retrieval is simple. For convenience you can also create folders on the Kindle containing like material for easy reference. e.g. Route Planning, Recipes,
Raymarine User Guides, Nokia Users Guides etc.

Connectivity Options:

The Kindle3G comes with two connectivity options, Wi-Fi and 3G...but what isn't really published is that it also has a web browser included and for Uk registered customers the 3G connection is free in many countries. Please note however that this doesn't apply to Kindle's purchased from Amazon.com or the German equivalent, only Amazon.co.uk. As most of you probably know mobile data costs in Europe aren't cheap (Tesco Mobile - £4/mb vs. £5/Month for 500mb in the Uk) so you can see why this really appeals. Checking email, obtaining weather reports are all easy to do and free! The downside - unfortunately there is one; the keyboard is rather clunky and special characters (numeric's included) need to be selected from a separate
menu, so responses (e.g. our earlier sailblogs entry) are best kept short.

Finally as a book reader we've (or rather I have) found it absolutely fantastic, so much so that we will probably invest in another (for Caroline) when funds permit (and as a backup). On a final note, if you register multiple Kindles to the same account you can share all your books which is great but for my sister (where our Kindle is registered) this means that her credit/debit card takes the hit if we purchase anything direct from the Kindle store e.g. Books, Newspaper subscriptions...etc (Thanks Sis :-)~.

So to summarise, a fantastic bit of kit that will very quickly pay for itself if you use all the facilities.