Are Kindles often lemons, or am I unlucky?

[abyssinia]

I purchased a Kindle in April 2011, a bit on a whim, and found I really loved reading on it. I've used it a lot, but rarely take it outside the house (unless I'm flying somewhere) so it doesn't really get banged around or stressed much. In December 2011 (8 months later) my screen completely died. Amazon was super responsive and quickly sent me a replacement, which was awesome.

Now the last two days (8 months later) Kindle has started freezing, pretty much constantly. I can reboot it but it refreezes again within a few minutes. I chatted with Amazon customer support who had me restore factory settings, which didn't fix the problem. Since it's been a year since my original purchase, they won't replace it again, but they'll give me a $15 discount on a new Kindle.

I really love my Kindle, and I want to have an eReader, but I can't justify spending money on a device that's only going to work for 8 months.

What I'd like to know is:
1) Is this a common problem with Kindles, or am I just really unlucky? Do most of you who own them find they last longer than this?

2) Is there anything else out there you guys really recommend? Something with a screen as good as a Kindle, but without the 8 month lifespan? [I'm highly tempted by that Nook with the light around the screen]

thanks!

Comments

[mmejavert]

I'm on my third Kindle, and the reason is because on the first two, I would find it frozen when I charged it. The light goes orange when I plug it in, then green -- but when I came back to it (I often leave it plugged in overnight) the light's off and I can't get it off the screensaver/plugged-in screen. Customer support told me it was because I left it in the case while it was plugged in. Odd, but they also said it was a frequent problem. I had it replaced twice for this. I would recommend purchasing a warranty on it. I've heard good things about the Nook Color, but I just can't get used to it myself. My current Kindle has been working pretty well for several months now and hopefully it stays that way.

[dreamatdrew]

I, too, am technically on my third kindle. The first one was replaced by amzn due to a screen failure. Over a year later (closer to the 2 year mark, but the dates are fuzzy), #2 got killed due to a combination of heat and impact. My friend Ashley is coming up on the 2 year mark on hers, and no issues.

[thalia]

My Kindle 3 is about 18 months old, and I haven't had a bit of trouble with it, knock on wood. But I don't know if I've been very lucky or if you've been very unlucky, so that's probably no help.

[sineala]

My Kindle has lasted three years so far, no problems yet. My girlfriend's lasted about two and a half years (sadly, just out of the extended warranty) until she dropped it and broke the screen... so, really, I don't know if there is an average.

[singersdd]

I've had my Nook Color for a year and a half and the only issues with it are keeping the screen clean - even with the screen films they sell it will quit responding if it's filthy, and the charging connectors. I'm on my third charging cord. The first two just quit working - to the extend that the guts of the second connector pulled right out of its shell. Otherwise, I love my Nook.

[alpheratz]

My first Kindle died about eight months in due to the e-ink fracturing, and Amazon replaced it with the one I have now. This one has been working fine for about a year. A friend of mine had to have two Kindles replaced within a little over a year. So basically, yeah, they have shitty hardware.

[cinco]

Hi A :-)

I'm the mentioned friend, and, yeah. I've done a lot of research and poked around the Amazon user forums, and the issues people have mentioned in this thread are all known issues. Kindle hardware is not very good, and I suspect that to some degree it is intentional.

That said, even knowing that it will likely crap out in a year, I bought another Kindle because they have the features I need.

[iadorespike]

Wow...bummer on the problems you've had. I feel as if I should knock on wood, but I've had mine since Dec. 2010 and haven't had any problems with it. I love it, too. :) My sis has had her Kindle since March 2010 and it's going strong, too. Anyway, that's my sitch.

:)

[unicorndust]

I've had mine for over a month (in the Amazon leather case with the light!) and I bought it used on e-Bay and it's been fine. (Knocking on ALL THE WOOD.) I've also dropped it a couple of times by accident in the case and it's still functioning!

[trialia]

FWIW, I have a Sony & the only issues I ever had with it freezing were easily solved by soft or hard (once) reset. I've dropped it more than once, out of its case too, & it only ever crashes on me when dealing with a corrupted file. I love it dearly.

[alchemy]

I have a Sony as well, and it's been nearly perfect for the last 2 years. I've definitely dropped it a time or two. That said, it's just a standard reader, it doesn't have color or a bunch of bells and whistles.

[zats_clear]

I have the ORIGINAL sony reader :) They upgraded the firmware for free and then contacted me later to let me know their upgrade caused excess battery drain so please send it back in this nice box we have provided and we can fix that for free too.

[shanaqui]

Me and my mother both have had Kindles for quite a while. Mine's coming up on two years old and now I have two screen scratches, but it's still perfectly usable; hers has had no problems since she got it about a year before I got mine.

I think it's a bit of a lucky dip, really.

[fahrbotdrusilla]

AH, I was going to say I only had an issue when my cat knocked it off a table and I had to have it replaced, but actually my first kindle reset a lot as well. I think I at least assumed at the time that that was an over responsive page turner button issue.

[teafeather]

I think an important thing to keep in mind is that while there are a lot of Kindle hardware failures, there are also a lot of Kindles out in the world and in the public eye. It can be easy to fall into a trap of confirmation bias--there are fewer owners of Sony and Nook devices, and of more obscure manufacturers' devices, so at a glance they may seem more reliable because it's harder to find examples of hardware failure. I know of people who are still happily using the original model Kindle and of people who have had problems with their device right out of the box.

That said, it's hard to know exactly what to expect from an e-ink device. They simply haven't been around long enough for there to be a consensus on how long they should be expected to last.

[inkstone]

My original Kindle is about 2 years old and it still works. I bought it refurbished.

[ninetydegrees]

I've had mine for nine months and never had any problem with it so far. The only thing I noticed is that if I let it charge for a very long time (possibly because the battery is low; I don't remember the exact circumstances) the screen orientation will reset to the default (and that didn't happen before I updated the software to version 4.1).

[glitteryv]

My first ereader was a Classic nook that lasted about a year of daily usage (1-2 hrs every night) and a couple of scary drops on my tiled floor. DDD: I replaced it with a nook Simple Touch earlier this year (about 8 months ago) when it started to freeze up for no reason at all.

I've had no problems with the nook Simple Touch. Like you, though, I'm eyeing the new nook with Glowlight...

In the end, sometimes we end up getting devices with bad hardware (one of my sisters loathes iPods because she got two crappy ones in a row). So, I'm thinking that your bad luck with Kindles is exactly that: simple bad luck. :-/

[tameiki]

I have quite a selection of Sony ereaders from the PRS 500 and up to the PRS 650. The 500 and 700 died within the first year but they were also bought used. The PRS 650 that is my main ereader has been dropped a few times but it still works perfectly. The same can be said for the two PRS 600s.

A couple of my friends have Kindles or should I say they had Kindles. Theirs quit working within the first year or shortly thereafter :(

[willidan]

I've had my Kindle three years with no problems. I think it's just up to luck. But if it's that frustrating at least play with a Nook or Sony to see if you can switch to another manufacturer.

[zats_clear]

I have not had a problem with either kindles in our household but I do always buy them with the square trade warranty, thereby guaranteeing I will never need said warranty LOL. Same with IPods!

[thousanth]

Mine's about 8 months old now (Kindle 3), and it did freeze on me after about a month - turned out it was the case causing it, so yeah, that case-causing-freezing rumour does have some solidity to it.

[amalthia]

I've only ever bought Sony e-ink devices and my 505 is still working 4 years later. I've dropped it multiple times, my husband takes it with him in the middle of nowhere Alaska crammed into bags and it's still going strong.

My 650 after 8 months had issues with the battery so I got a refurb unit and knock on wood it's working fine after a year.

[ilthit]

Ouch, bad luck! I don't actually have anything useful to contribute. Sometimes you just have bad luck with a good product, sometimes it is a design issue.

I use the Kindle app on my first gen iPad. The iPad is not good for much, but it's a great e-reader.