Barnes and Noble has a big sale ongoing with a bunch of deals on books and Nooks and all manner of products.
They have the Nook Glowlight 4 Plus on sale for $139.99. That’s a really low price for a 7.8″ ereader; they have to be losing money on it. I don’t remember it being priced that low before. Other 7.8″ ereaders sell for a lot more than that. There’s the PocketBook InkPad 4 at $299 and the Meebook M8 for $259. There aren’t very many ereaders in that size available anymore.
The Glowlight 4 Plus came out in September of 2023 so it’s not even that old by Nook standards. B&N might replace it with a newer model later this year, as a B&N rep confirmed that new Nooks will be coming out in 2026. Maybe they’re trying to clear out some inventory before then, but the 6″ Nook Glowlight 4 isn’t on sale at all—it’s actually $10 more expensive than the 7.8″ model.
Barnes and Noble also has Nook covers and accessories on sale for 60% off, and their Lenovo-branded Nook tablets are $50 off. Some of the Nook cases are only $9.99.
They also have “thousands” of hardcover books on sale for 50% off. It’s unclear how long that sale will last, but the Nook Glowlight 4 Plus and Nook tablets are on sale until February 15th, including accessories, so those deals will be going on for a while.
Nooks aren’t as popular as they used to be, but some people really like them, especially when it comes to the hardware. They are one of the few brands that still have dedicated page buttons, and the 300ppi E Ink screen looks really nice. There’s nothing else comparable to the Glowlight 4 Plus in this price range. It might be worth considering if you want something different. Nooks do support sideloading so you aren’t dependant on B&N for ebooks, but there are some software limitations.
That’s my main ereader right now, and I really like it. Everything I have on it is sideloaded.
Same here. I bought it late last year as I wanted a larger e-reader with page turn buttons. While the software is merely serviceable, the hardware is great (IMO), and when you’re actually reading it works fine. It’s just a little slower in first opening a book and the reader doesn’t have a lot of customization in the software. For what it is though, I really enjoy it. And like you, I’ve sideloaded all my content (which I manage in Calibre). I’ve never actually purchased any e-books from B&N, so I can’t say how the store experience is.
I picked up an open-box unit Glowlight 4 Plus on eBay for $105 shipped in early January. The seller seemed to have a number of them. At any rate, it arrived, looks new/unused, seems to have a battery in excellent shape, and generally was a heck of a deal for an 8″ e-ink device. The hardware is quite nice!
The downside is that the Nook software is on the slower side than say, a Kobo Forma or Sage, and it has a really, REALLY old epub rendering engine, so you’ll not see things like small-caps or pop-up footnotes or those modern niceties.
An odd choice by Barnes & Noble is to NOT have hyphenation? Even if the epub code calls for a book to be justified and hyphenated, it won’t hyphenate.
Not a huge issue with an 8″ screen, but possibly bothersome for those who might be getting said 8″ screen specifically because they NEED larger font sizes. However, as long as the publisher hasn’t hard-coded alignment, you can adjust to left-aligned text to avoid rivers of white space.
Some other niggles, although there is a font weight adjustment, it’s super basic, i.e. it just turns text bold, rather than adding subtle degrees of weight like a Kindle or Kobo can do. And forget loading your own fonts. As for library ebooks, there’s no wireless delivery, so it’s PC and cable time with Nook.
The buttons are nice and work well! You can hardly do better at this price point if you like an 8″ mid-size screen in your e-ink reader.
I bought one to compare to my Kobo Libra and was sorely disappointed in so many ways. The dictionary is in a small gray font that you can barely read. You can’t add other dictionaries or fonts. There is lots of ghosting when you turn pages and there doesn’t appear to be any way to adjust the refresh rate. The bezel is massive making the device much larger than it should be. I would not take this even if it was free.
I appreciate those above who took the time to respond and provide useful information about the Nook Glowlight 4 (NG4). I have been wanting a ~8-inch reader for a long time, but have been reluctant to purchase this one because of the many negative reviews. Thus, these comments from ereader enthusiasts who own and use an NG4 are helpful. However, I am wondering if any of you are bothered by the fact that the dictionary entries are shown in a much lighter shade than the regular text.
I’ve never actually used the dictionary feature on it so I wasn’t even aware that the font was lighter. So, for me anyway, this is a non-issue.
I can still read them (late ’60s for age), but yes, this is a very POOR choice by Nook for accessibility. I’m more bothered by the fact the same is true for the table of contents, which I use more often than I do the dictionary.
It could definitely be an issue for those needing good contrast on text to read.
I’d like better contrast for dictionary and table of content text, but this isn’t my primary reading device, nor my only 8″ device, and, I have a pretty good vocabulary from 60+ years of voracious reading, so I don’t use the dictionary all that often.
There are, of course, 8″ devices that do not have as many compromises as the Nook Glowlight 4 Plus, BUT, they will cost a considerable amount more. Some, like the Kobo Sage, are becoming hard to find, and may be discontinued. Others, like the Pocketbook Inkpad 4, are close to $300.
You could also look for a used device, possibly acquire one even cheaper than I did, just to try it out for yourself. Resell if you hate it.