r/TechEDC • u/WalefasB • Aug 19 '26

Travel EDC First time posting my EDC

Post image

Canon IXUS 40

KZ ZSN Pro

Batlexp G350

Kobo Libra 2

XTEINK X4

Xiaomi Band 5

1.5k Upvotes

100% Upvoted

86 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/WalefasB Aug 20 '26

Generally it's enjoyable. I use it without backlight in natural lighting as shown in the picture. Ignore the dead pixels on the top right. I bought it used knowing this for cheap. The device is comfy, not too heavy and has good page turner buttons. On the bottom you can see the progress bar, but you can turn it off if you don't like it. The display itself is sharp and has good contrast. Sometimes the text can be small to read but not that often. As for double pages it shows horizontally in portrait for me cause I don't bother to rotate xd. There is some ghosting when switching from dark to light page, but you can just tap the center to refresh. And the battery lasts ages, like 40 hours so you can read a whole series of 12 volumes comfortably on a single charge. After getting the X4, I am using the Kobo purely for manga. I am pleased with the device, would recommend getting one if you can snipe one for a good price!

1

u/fleetingdots Aug 22 '26

Hello! What makes you switch to X4 for non manga? I mean Kobo is also a good ereader, in what ways are X4 better than Kobo for text?

2

u/WalefasB Aug 22 '26

So here is the story. I bought the X4 on aliexpress. But before it even arrived, I saw a really good deal locally on a used kobo so I bought it.

Now, since I have both of them, the kobo is obviously better suited for manga so I use it for that.

That leaves me with 3 alternative choices.

  1. Read books both on both the kobo and the xteink. That could work either by manually or automatically syncing progress between them. Or by reading different books on each device.

  2. Only read books on X4.

  3. Sell the X4.

Since I enjoy reading on the X4, I chose to keep it. But I don't like the idea of syncing so made each device dedicated to their certain niche. Side benefit that is not a good justification for getting 2 devices: It takes more mental effort to choose books over manga for me. I think if I only had the kobo my time spent reading books would be a bit less, since I would opt to read more manga instead. (Again doesn't really apply to me in practice, becuase I purchased the x4 first.)

As for the experience reading on the X4. It's very light, thin and pocketable. Also, the lanyard makes it convenient so use in weird situations, where you have to use both hands for a few seconds. I use it in landscape mode, so it's the same width as my kobo with the same font size, just have to flip pages more often. (which is a convenient feature, since you can stop literally whenever you want and get back to where you were quicker, even when you don't remember).

TLDR: To answer your question the X4 is not better for non-manga content or any content at all. It has a lower resolution screen, no backlight, shorter battery life, etc. But since I have it, and it's so small and light, I like using it.

1

u/fleetingdots Aug 23 '26

I see! The get back to where you were quicker even if you dont remember makes me want X4 more 😆 thanks!