I do this to keep my expired books, and when I want to download a new one or want to read something new, I use my iPad mini until I’m done with the ones on my Kindle and can take it back online. Works great!
I took the plunge and bought a Kobo Libra colour. It’s great so far and I am enjoying the trial of Kobo’s “plus” subscription. I really love that I can borrow ebooks on the Kobo - not using the built-in Overdrive (my local library uses Borrowbox) but via Adobe Digital Editions - the Kobo is simply a more open system.
Please don’t keep borrowed books for weeks or months past their due date by going into airplane mode. Libraries are usually very tight for funding and ebook lending is strictly limited by publishers. If you have the book out on loan, someone else is probably waiting for it. I can understand (and have form for) keeping a book an extra few days to finish reading or studying from it (Back in the day you’d choose to pay a fine to do that!) but keeping books for weeks or months is directly depriving someone else and public libraries are one of the rare triumphs of community over profit and needs to be supported that way.
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With Overdrive, the books are auto-returned at the two week point, and the next person in line receives the book. It just doesn’t disappear off of Kindles in Airplane mode. I’ve heard public librarians endorse this method, it doesn’t hurt anyone.
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Would Stylus support be worth it on the 8 inch Sage or the 11 inch Elipsa? Or should I go for the cheap E Reader and perhaps a Remarkable for notetaking?
I have both a Kobo Libra Colour and a Kindle Colorsoft.
I think the Kindle Colorsoft has a slightly better screen than the Kobo, but they’re both pretty darn good.
I got the stylus with my Kobo, but found it to be mostly useless. (That may be be partly because of my difficulty holding and using it. I’m not great with a regular old pen anymore either.)
The page turn buttons on the Kobo are nice.
I’m a long-term Kobo user (still using and loving my Forma). I’m also based in 
, so borrowing library books through Overdrive was (and remains) a Kobo exclusive experience here. I know everyone’s experience varies, but I wanted to maybe touch on a couple of comments here to add a different perspective:
On the flip side, I found changing brightness and inverting the screen to be way more tedious than on Kindle
I have not used a Kindle to change brightness. Going throught the appearance settings via the shortcut at the top of the screen is tedious, but the Kobo does allow you to swipe up or down along the left edge of the screen to dial up or down brightness. This does not apply to inverting the screen, however.
This may be a hot take, but I prefer using Libby/Overdrive with Kindles even though Kobo has the built-in functionality. The Libby app is much nicer to use than the Kobo in terms of finding books, and on Kindles, you can put them in Airplane mode and keep access to your checked-out books after the hold expires. As someone who reads long fantasy novels, this is a really nice feature/bug.
I also prefer to use Libby on my phone (or even the web) for browsing, placing holds and borrowing books, but if you are signed into your Overdrive account on your Kobo, any books you have borrowed through Libby will automatically show up on your Kobo when you next sync. I also have used the airplane mode trick to eke out a few more days of reading for those extra-long books. It works on the Kobo too.
Again, experiences and opinions vary, but wanted to give @MurphysLaw an additional Kobo user perspective.
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Long time Kobo user here too, also from . I’ve got an old, somewhat beat up Kobo Clara HD that’s somehow still ticking along, but I will probably replace soon.
I don’t feel that buying ebooks from the Kobo store is really worth it - they’re usually the same price as Indigo charges for the physical book. I haven’t used the subscription service so I can’t comment on that.
Where Kobo shines for me is library integration via Overdrive/Libby. I do like @JasonS and use Libby on my phone to browse & check out what I want, then when I sync my Kobo it’s automatically there. Where I live I’m a member of 2 libraries and it handles that just fine.
For non-Overdrive ebooks you can use Adobe Digital Editions, which is sometimes a pain in the butt, but usually works. Or, if you somehow have DRM-free books Calibre works great with Kobo.
I have never used a Kindle, so I don’t have anything to compare it to.
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