My fear is being left without reading material due to a dead battery or breakage. If a 3 day storm moved in I'd go bat poop crazy.
Ok, I'm thinking about it. Less than 1/2 lb. Amazon says the battery life is weeks, not hours. I wonder if the battery is replaceable.
Maybe try a friend’s Kindle first. I would love to be able to use a Kindle or other digital reader. I’ve tried, I can’t. I need a real freaking book in my hands. Hell, I sometimes (ok, often) pack in an unread newspaper, and contribute it to the campfire. Only after I have read every word, including the obits.
One of my fondest tripping memories, day two windbound on a Maine lake, a friend pulled out a full Sunday New York Times from a dry bag. The cooperative crossword puzzle alone took up half the day, with some breaks to retire to the tent with the lingerie circulars.
I read at night when I can't sleep. I generally use a candle lantern , as LED lights and flashlights are too bright and unwieldy. Candles are heavy compared to just a headlamp and even some extra batteries. Maybe there's a better (lightweight) mousetrap out there I haven't heard of. Wouldn't be the first time.
I read at night every night, at home or in the tent. I
have to read a bit every night, even if I am so tired, exhausted or hammered that I read the same page three times, or when the book falls from my grasp and hits me in the head. Gotta read.
I have tried everything. Candle lanterns are a dicey proposition in a nylon walled tent. Every battery op lantern I have tried was either too unfocused 360 degree illumination dim to read by, or had sucky battery life on the “high” setting. Propping a diffuse focused flashlight on my shoulder works, but has don’t-move-a-muscle or shining hairy through the beard issues.
I need bright focused light on the page, something that won’t move when I rustle around. What has worked most satisfactorily has been a Luci-light (or two), mini beenered to a cord lock adjustable line, strung along the head of the tent, and angle aimed directly at the book.
Like this “unfrosted” Luci light with 10 bright LEDs:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Luci-Outdoor-by-MPOWERD-Inflatable-Solar-Light/38534904
One is plenty, but I now bring two of those Luci-lights. Early on I was using a big 10-LED Luci-light, and a mini 3-bulb version when the little one shut off for lack of charge. I barely noticed the illumination difference.
One multi-LED Luci light is enough to fully illuminate a book, two of them aimed \ / from at the page from a “headboard” on the tent is like stadium lighting, illuminating both pages at once.
Worst case scenario on cloudy/rainy trips I still have angled-off-my-shoulder flashlight back ups, but opportunities to in-camp (or even in boat) for recharging the Luci-lights works 90% of the time. As a habitual bedtime reader packing enough batteries for flashlight or lantern on long trips vs carrying a Luci-light or two quickly became a no-brainer.
Yeah, I still pack extra flashlight batteries. But now I rarely need them.
Big, bright Luci-lights, wikth cord locked adjustable lines at the head of the tent. Best thing since 10 point font and 1.5X reading glasses.
