Broken Kindle blues – Looking for a case

[Jesse Perry]

Hello from Alaska.

I broke my kindle on a bear hunting trip on Esther Island in Alaska. I have some pictures below. I camped on the shore, under a tarp beneath a gigantic spruce. This was a first for me, I went super minimalist for me, pack weight 30lbs for a 5night trip, not including rifle, pistol and spotting-scope+tripod), I used a 8×9' tent footprint I got from REI attic for $5, 3 stakes plus natural tie-offs/stakes, and a tyvek groundcloth. It got to 22 degrees the first night, about 25degrees the second night, we had engine trouble and had to limp back to shore the third day.

Anyway, that night I made camp, prepared breakfast and the cook kit for the morning, packed up and snuggled into by sleeping bag with a steaming cup of cocoa, eager to start a new book (which I could read by the light of the moon it was so bright). I was crestfallen to see my screen was cracked. Amazon hooked me up with the trade-in program and I should have a new PaperWhite in a couple days, soon enough for the next trip, I hope!

Anyway, now that I have broken my kindle, possibly because I had no rigid surface next to which I could pack my kindle with a frameless pack, even though I wedged it up against the foam pad folded up serving as the frame. Anybody have any great ideas on how to make a rigid case/sack/etc for this kindle for an upcoming trip?

Here are my requirements:

Must be light (duh)
Must be rigid, possibly like kydex or or similar, as long as it is thick.
Must be small in volume, so that excludes a football sized bubble-wrapped kindle ;-)

Any ideas? This is my first time posting here, and I did a search on the forums but the results mostly had cases for the wrong model or broken links to people's custom cases.

Thanks!

[Steve K]

Amazon's Paperwhite Leather Cover is an awesome combination with the Paperwhite. It is listed at 5.6oz so it's not exactly made of cuben fiber, but it is a great case, adds lots of rigidity and really solid screen protection.

Major bonus is that it wakes/sleeps the Paperwhite when you open and close the cover.

[Dale Wambaugh]

Find a Rubbermaid/Tupperware style food container that will hold it. That will do dry and crush protection. Ziplock SmartSnap Medium Rectangle containers are 6.75 x 9.0 x 3.062. Your Kindle is roughly 5×7. You could also pack your spare socks, first aid kit or other items that you want dry and safe in with it. I'm sure there are all kinds of plastic food storage containers that will work. I use Lock and Lock containers for camera gear.

[Terry G]

Sorry to hear about your kindle. I have a knockoff of the amazon paperwhite cover and really like it. It is svelte and rigid. The back is a hard plastic and the cover is a hard vinyl type material with a cloth backing. Sounds kind of cheap, but it really quite nice. I haven't seen the amazon cover in person (and could not stomach paying $39), but you would be hard pressed to tell the difference based on photos. I picked mine up from ebay for about $20 including shipping. This is the one I have: http://www.ebay.com/itm/230933581056

I have not taken it backpacking yet, but when i do will pop it into a ziplock inside the case.

I will try to weigh it tonight and get back to you. I see that if you search on the title, some really inexpensive ones come up too.

[Anonymous]

Try a bubble insulated mailing envelope. Should be able to find one in an office products store almost to the exact size of your Kindle.

[Mark Mendell]

+1 on the mailing envelope. Works great.

[steven franchuk]

I started carring it last year. I have been putting mine against the lid of my Bearikade cannister. Works well if your canister is vertical in the pack.

The only problem I have had is that the kindel I have downloads adds. And on one trip a button got pressed and my kindel turned on the wireless to go to the web site related to the add. Unfortunately the battery was not fully charged to begine with. The wireless quickly killed the battery. I had enough of a charge for the entire trip but on my second day the "please charge battery" message appeared.

[Pete Garcia]

My Paperwhite fits perfectly inside a quart freezer bag. Which my Reflectix FBC cozy is sized for! I pack my quilt in the bottom of my bag, then put the cozy (with Kindle inside) on top of the bag horizontally, down jacket on top of the kindle, and other clothes on top of that. I've only taken the Kindle with me on the trail for 2 overnights since I got it, but this system has worked well for me so far. I like the Ziplock container idea though, I may want to give that a shot soon.

[Marko Botsaris]

"I broke my kindle on a bear hunting trip …"

Well that's the first time I ever heard that phrase. Classic. Except for the "broke" part they should put that on the customer's quotes part on Amazon.

[Terry G]

I was able to weigh the amazon knock off cover I linked to above. It is 3.9 oz. Comes highly recommended. In conjunction with a ziploc freezer bag it is a pretty bombproof solution

[Duane Hall]

Your best bet is to buy one of the covers from Amazon. These are excellent.

[Jesse Perry]

ops, I forgot to subscribe to the thread, I didn't see all the great responses.

On closer examination, I think I broke the Kindle by flexing the entire device in the cover, not a strike to the screen as I initially thought. There are stress cracks about midway up the middle on both sides, and it is from one of these cracks that the screen break focuses on. Given that likelihood anything that prevents it from flexing this way would do it.

I like the idea of the ziplok box, and a place to put my sleeping socks, and that I use them pretty close to the same time. In addition, since it will be bulkier than the old kindle and cover, I am less likely to try and shove it between things, and have to be more deliberate in packing it. So I think that might be a winner.

Thanks for all the great ideas! I will let you know if I break it again in a couple months come Moose season.

JP

[Dale Wambaugh]

I was in the grocery store and remembered to look at the Ziploc boxes and bought a 2-pack of the medium/5 cup size.

Not bad for a couple bucks each. 2.2oz, roughly 5.25"x7.25" inside at the bottom and another 3/8" or so near the top and about 2" deep. I would add a Ziploc bag to waterproof and the box fits nicely in a gallon size bag.

It would make a good ditty box/organizer for other than Kindle use. One will definitely make its way into my gear locker to tame the horde of small items that migrate to the bottom.

[Scott Truong]

I've broken 3 of them.. one operator error, the others I really didn't know how it happened. Screen didn't crack per se, but the graphics took on a cracked-screen quality.

The lady at Amazon I talked to concerning the warranty said it happened quite often, especially with the earlier generation Kindles (not sure if the newer generation is much different). In other words, I believe they are rather fragile from any sort of twisting etc.

Great product, and Amazon customer service was excellent. I stomach the weight and just buy an actual cover because having it crap out at an inopportune time sucks. It's the twisting that you want to prevent, bubble wrap isn't going to do much IMO.

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