eReader Holiday Gift Guide: Middleweight Division ($200-$300) Part 2

It’s time for Part 2 of our eReader Holiday Gift Guide: Middleweight Division ($200-$300). If you missed Part 1 where we talked about the Kindle, B&N Nook, Sony Touch Edition Reader or COOL-ER eReader check it out here. Also, if you’re looking for $200 and under eReaders, see our Lightweight Division comparison here. Our $300 plus Heavyweight Division is here.

We covered the more popular eReader models in Part 1 of the post, but let’s talk about some very worthwhile eReader you may not know about like the Bookeen Cybook Opus, Astak Pocket Pro, Astak Mentor and Dulin PocketBook 360.

Let’s start with the Bookeen Cybook Opus.

Rundown: The 4.2? x 6? x 0.4? Bookeen Cybook Opus is billed as the “lightest on the market” at 5.3 ounces. It features a five inch, 600×800 resolution, 200 dpi E-Ink screen with a built-in accelerometer that will switch between landscape and portrait viewing. It has 1GB of internal memory with an additional Micro SD card slot for expanded storage and a changeable battery rated for 8,000 page flips.

Pros: Portable, light weight, twelve sizes of font, portrait or landscape viewing with a turn of the device, expansion card slot.

Cons: No touch screen controls, no wireless connectivity, five inch screen compared to six inch screen more common at this price point.

Verdict: The Bookeen Cybook Opus is all about small size and weight. The entire device is for those that want an extremely handy and portable eReader that they can travel with. The Opus doesn’t offer the Wifi connection that the Nook and Kindle have which could be a major turnoff for most people.

Where can I buy it: The Opus is available for $250 on Bookeen’s website. UPDATE: Amazon is currently selling it for $215!

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The next two eReaders we’re going to talk about are from Astak. Astak makes some very dependable readers that have gotten some very glowing reviews. First up is the smaller of the two, the Astak EZ Reader Pocket Pro.

Rundown: The Astak EZ Reader Pocket Pro has a 5″ screen with 600×800 resolution, a SD card slot, six levels of grayscale and weighs 6 ounces. It also comes in white, black, blue, maroon, pink and purple. It supports local library eBook checkout. The Pocket Pro features text-to-speech (TTS) on some publications through its headphone jack.

Pros: The Pocket Pro’s screen is very clear and easy to read, it can connect to eBook stores to download content, very light, speedy processor, removable battery, variety of colors.

Cons: Five inch screen instead of six, no wireless or touch screen capability, same model as BeBook Mini with more cost.

Verdict: Astak has established itself as a quality company with great customer service. Their EZ Reader line is put together well and all feature excellent screens. Astak lacks the distribution and name brand recognition for most people, but those who have gotten them have alot of great things to say about them.

Where can I buy it: The Pocket Pro is for sale at Newegg.com for $249, but Astak has a special going where you can buy it for $199. It says that it’s only available to the end of October, but it looks like it still records the $199 price on their website. We recommend trying and picking it up there first, and if the price jumps back to the $250 range going with Newegg.

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Now let’s focus on the Astak’s other offering, the six inch screened Astak Mentor.

Rundown: The Astak Mentor is $30 higher than the Astak EZ Reader Pocket Pro. While the Mentor’s screen is an inch larger than the Pocket Pro it only has four levels of grayscale compared to the EZ Reader’s eight levels. Both come with a SD card slot to expand upon the eReader’s internal storage and feature a 600×800 pixel screen. The Mentor supports TXT, FB2, HTML, HTM, MOHI, PRC, PDF and EPUB formats, has an 170dpi screen resolution, weighs 6.2 oz. and connects to your computer via MiniUSB. It measures 7.2 by 4.7 by 0.3 inches. The Mentor uses a common eReader model (same as the Foxit eSlick).

Pros: Support of ePub and PDF, light weight, six inch screen, expandable card slot.

Cons: Half the screen levels of the Pocket Pro, no wireless, no touch screen, older model.

Verdict: Good for those who want a six inch screen from Astak, but at $279 there won’t be many who will pay more for the Mentor than a Nook, Kindle or even the smaller EZ Reader Pocket Pro.

Where can I buy it: Newegg for $279.

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Finally we have a rather new addition to the $200-$300 eReader family — the Dulin PocketBook 360.

Rundown: The Dulin PocketBook 360 has a 5 inch E-Ink Vizplex display and runs on a Samsung S3C2440 AL-40 400MHz CPU with Linux OS. It comes with 512MB of internal memory but has a MicroSD slot. Aside from it’s ergonomic looking design it also has a built-in accelerometer that will position the text in landscape or portrait format depending on how you’re holding it. It can read FB2, TXT, PDF, RTF, HTML, PRC, CHM, DJVU, DOC, EPUB and TCR formats and supports JPG, BMP, PNG and TIF image formats. It also includes RSS, calendar, notes, dictionary and clock functions and games like Sudoku, Chess, Solitaire and Ship Battle. It measures 4.6” x 5.5” x 0.39” and weighs 5.3 ounces.

Pros: Slightly different style than more eReaders, snapping case protector, very light (at 5.3 oz. the same as Bookeen), RSS feeds, automatic landscape/portrait positioning, runs Linux, dictionary, notes, calendar and other additional programs.

Cons: Sadly no Wifi, no touch screen, small internal storage (although expandable SD or MicroSD solves it).

Verdict: The PocketBook 360 looks like a really fun device. The curved styling will appeal to some and turn off others who are a fan of the minimalist, slab designs. Some of its best functions (RSS and HTML) are hamstrung by the lack of Wireless connection. Still, the PocketBook 360 represents something different than most other eReaders and the inclusion of games (Soduku, Chess and Solitaire), dictionary, notes and calendar makes this eReader a little more useful than most.

Where can I buy it: Dulin’s website currently has it for sale at $240.