When Kobo unexpectedly discontinued the Kobo Glo HD last fall after releasing the Kobo Aura Edition 2, it appeared that the Glo HD’s cycle had come to an end, especially after Kobo removed it from their website and stopped selling it several months ago.
But the Kobo Glo HD isn’t totally gone just yet.
There are still some for sale online, and the price is pretty reasonable, about the same price as a Kindle Paperwhite with ads.
Currently there are a few sellers on Amazon that have the Kobo Glo HD for around $118 with free shipping.
It’s still a nice ereader for the price and the hardware is current. In fact it has a better higher-resolution screen than the new Aura 2 that sells for $119.
It didn’t really make much sense for Kobo to discontinue the Glo HD because now they don’t have a 6-inch model with a high-res screen to compete with all the other 300 ppi ereaders. I guess they figured it would be better if the Aura One was their only 300 ppi option.
The Glo HD probably won’t be around for much longer so if you want one you better get one before they’re gone for good.
I still think it’s the best ereader on the market at that price. Shame they are discontinuing it. For me, hands down better ereader than the Paperwhite 3.
I’m still using my Sony PRS-T1 that I bought in 2011, although I did just purchase the basic Amazon Kindle for $50 in late 2016 so that I could read my Amazon books on an e-reader.
So I use the Sony for all of my e-pub books and the Kindle for my Amazon (mobi) books.
Guess my point is that e-readers really haven’t evolved that much over the past few years. The e-ink screens got a little bit better (for mid-range/high-end readers) and the reading light (which is not a feature I care about). So getting an old reader can be a really good deal!
In some ways my 6 year old Sony PRS-T1 is a bit better than the basic Amazon Kindle, for example physical page turn buttons, but I really like both devices, and you can’t beat the $50 I paid for the basic Kindle this past holiday shopping season.
No need in buying Kindle as you can convert EPUB to MOBI in free Calibre program
I assumed the Glo was being discontinued due to a high failure rate. I bought 2 of them late last year at an improbably low price ($80 Canadian) and both have died miserable deaths already. Both were replaced with little discussion by Ratuken with the Aura.
I could totally relate. My kobo glo HD just died today. I’m still crying right now suffering for my loss.
The sale apparently ended — checked and saw that it’s now at $129.99 with 2 remaining in stock.
I agree with Dave, though. After mine suddenly died, I looked for info on the problem and found a growing number of others reporting the same issue. (It suddenly thought the battery was dead, then the board near the battery heated up at a scary rate whenever plugged in afterward.)
Unfortunately I got mine secondhand, so no free replacement for me. 🙁
I’ve used my GloHD for more than a year now. It has functioned without a hitch so far and I’m especially happy with how easy it is to import and read books downloaded as epub or pdf files from the internet. I also use Calibre (free ebook software) to convert other formats to epub.
I don’t want to get stuck in the apple-like confines of Amazon/Kindle 🙂