Yesterday Sony added the Daily Edition and Pocket Edition ebook readers to their refurbished products section, the 6″ PRS-650 Touch Edition is missing, however, and once again is out of stock, as it always seems to be.
The Daily Edition is selling for $239 refurbished, $60 less than the regular price (don’t pay attention to the $329 listed on Sony’s website; it has never sold for that much).
The Sony Daily Edition features a 7″ touchscreen, comes with WiFi and free 3G from AT&T, 2GB of memory, SD and Pro Duo memory card slots, web browser, and the battery life is rated at 10-22 days. Check out my hands-on PRS-950 review for more details about the Daily Edition.
That’s a good price for the Sony Daily Edition but I can’t say the same for the refurbished Pocket Edition, which sells for $152, just $27 less than the regular price. You are better off getting one from Best Buy for $119.
Both refurbished units are available in silver and include free shipping.
That $119 is a killer deal, if the differences between the old 300/600 carry over, no way is the 650 worth the $100 premium it commands now (if you can find one). Too bad Sony can’t keep up with the demand for the 650, I guess they were cautious after the Touch didn’t sell that well, even though the glare problem is really overstated. You very quickly learn to hold the 600 to minimize glare without thinking about it. Also, compact flourescent bulbs exacerbate the issue. The worst problem with the 600 was the horrendous boot time from a big SD card library, which is easily avoided. So folks looking for the bigger screen might look at the 600’s again, I feel no compelling need to upgrade this generation myself.
While I think the PRS 650 is a nice e-reader, getting the refurbished PRS 950 for $10 more over the 650 is a very good deal considering the larger screen (you can zoom documents larger) and the Wifi/3G capability. I looked at the PRS 350 seriously as well, but the deal breakers were the screen is too small and there’s no memory card slots or wireless. The PRS 950 packs a lot of capability into the same form factor as the Kindle 3 and Nook Wifi/Nook Color. And Sony offers a 3 yr extended warranty for $30 or for $70 get one that includes accidental damages, no questions asked. While it’s more than double the standard warranty given the pervasive use of e-readers, accidental dropping or water damage are not out of the question and if you sell the e-reader the warranty can be transferred to a new owner. Also, the battery is built in, the warranty covers the battery and that will not last more than 18 to 24 months so the warranty is a very good deal and you get better coverage than if you bought the unit new.
I bought one of the $119 350’s for my girl, and I must say the smaller screen size doesn’t bother me nearly as much I thought it might before I read a book on it. i don’t read/edit docs or pdf’s though.No card slots isn’t a worry with 1.5 gb internal storage, I actually find myself getting overwhelmed with choices if I preload too many books at once anyway. I don’t need wireless or 3g. In short, I can get two 350’s for the price of either a 950 or 650 so it’s a no brainer for me.