best ebook reader for displaying schematics?
Posted Sunday, October 18, 2009 by admin
I work on industrial equipment on offshore oil rigs. I frequently find myself lugging my laptop or cumbersome schematic books into bilges and other nasty places. I want to buy an ebook reader that will let me display schematics (PDF format) which are generally about twice the size of a regular 8.5″X11″ sheet. It will need to have 4 way scrolling so that I can view the whole page in full size. It must also have a search feature, as I also frequently find myself searching for a single word in 1500+ page manuals. It would be nice if it were small in size (hopefully small enough to fit into a large coveralls pocket). Also, it would be good if the device is ruggedly designed (milspec, shock proof, water proof, etc). ooh yeah, and a backlight would be handy for those dark cramped spaces. Thanks!
The Kindle DX is your best bet. There is a good review here about the ability it has on PDF handling:
It should be able to handle most of what you want, but not shock proof, water proof, etc., I’m afraid. You may want to go for the 2-year insurance for extra safety without worrying about breaking it within 2 years:
And it is not good for ebook reader to have backlight. I owned the Kindle 2 and reading on it is really like reading on a piece of paper, but the feeling will be completely different if it has backlight. If you want to read in dark, just get the Mighty Bright here, it works well with the Kindle DX too:
BTW, I remember I read this review at the time when I get my Kindle 2, see if it helps:
Ereaders are not suited to reading schematics.
They are designed to have a static display, not for scrolling as this would be a high drain on the battery.