A couple days ago I posted about the Kobo Libra 2 being available again from Kobo, albeit refurbished, and they also have some other refurbished models in stock, including the 1st gen Kobo Elipsa, and the price is a lot lower than usual, and it’s a lot lower than other 10″ eNotes.
Right now you can get a refurbished Kobo Elipsa for just $219 from Kobo’s website. That’s the same price they’re selling the smaller Kobo Sage for (refurbished) so it doesn’t really make sense.
However, there is one big potential gotcha about their listing. It says the cover and stylus are sold separately, and if you elect to buy both from Kobo it will set you back an additional $120, which is totally insane. First off, their official cover is way too big and bulky, and second, you can buy a compatible stylus for less than half the price that Kobo sells them for.
Being able to get a 10″ eNote for $219 is a pretty good deal. It doesn’t have a 300ppi screen like some of the newer models, but it has the exact same 227ppi screen as the Kobo Elispa 2E that Kobo is selling for $399 new.
There are very few differences between this model and the newer Elipsa 2E that replaced it in 2023. They added a warm frontlight and changed a few minor details, none of which are worth paying anywhere close to $180 extra to get.
Kobo shows the Elipsa as being $180 off, which is a bit disingenuous for two reasons. First, they show the list price as $399, and they haven’t sold if for that high in over a year, and when they did sell it for that price it included a cover and a stylus. Since the 2E came out they’ve been selling the original bundle for $349.
After you subtract the $120 for the stylus and the cover, the price isn’t as good as it would seem, but considering you can get a compatible stylus for $30 the price is still pretty good at about $250 plus tax. Amazon also has Kindle Scribe refurbs on sale for $233 right now, and they are a better deal considering a stylus is included and they have a warm frontlight and a 300ppi screen, but $220 is by far the lowest that Kobo has sold their eNotes for since being released.
See my Kobo Elipsa review to learn more about the device.
Caveat emptor! My experience is that Kobo uses the term “refurbished” very loosely. I received a “refurbished” Forma that I had to return immediately. Kobo admitted it was defective. I believe I received a returned and defective device. One that was neither refurbished or even checked to be working properly before it was sent to me.