Japanese-Canadian ereader maker Kobo announced three new reading devices on April 10, with all three up for pre-order immediately. Two of these are colour ereaders and, even at full price, offer excellent value – particularly the Kobo Libra Colour.
For the launch price of AU$359.95, you get a 7-inch screen that makes colours appear a bit more saturated as compared to some of its competition, plus there's stylus support too. Importantly, it's the most affordable colour ereader in its size class available in Australia – scoring a full five stars in our Kobo Libra Colour review on account of its performance and value for money – despite needing to purchase the Kobo Stylus 2 separately.
However, Australian book retailer Booktopia is shaving a decent chunk of change off the pre-order price of not just the Libra Colour, but of the other two 6-inch devices that were announced alongside it – the Clara Colour and Clara BW.
All three are already listed with a 10% discount on Booktopia's online store, but add the code SENIORSSA10 at checkout and you'll save an additional 8.9% on the price of the ereaders. That means, the Libra Colour is down to just AU$291.60, which is cheaper than the AU$315.95 retail price of its predecessor, the Kobo Libra 2.
You can also add the Kobo Stylus 2 to your cart and the same code will discount the full package, getting you both for AU$399.56 – that's a steal, considering the 8-inch Kobo Sage retails for AU$449.95 without the stylus.
Note that pre-orders end April 30.
At full price, the Kobo Libra Colour is only AU$44 more than the current RRP of the Libra 2, that launched in 2021 and has been our pick of the best ereader since then. However, the Libra 2 is marked as being out of stock on the Kobo Store, while Booktopia doesn't seem to be listing it any longer.
So if you'd like a 7-inch Kobo ereader, the Libra Colour is it, and you get more for your money now. Honestly, at a little over AU$290, it's remarkably easy to recommend as you can save on ebook purchases by using OverDrive to borrow from a public library – most Australian public libraries now support this platform.
And if you do want to take full advantage of its features, we'd strongly recommend picking up the Kobo Stylus 2 from Booktopia with the same checkout code to save on its retail price of AU$119.95.
If you want a more portable ereader without the writing capabilities, then you can pre-order the Kobo Clara Colour for just AU$210.60 with the same checkout code of SENIORSSA10, which will also discount the Kobo Clara BW down to just AU$193.50. Both are 6-inch ereaders, with the former getting you a colour display, while the latter uses a new monochrome screen tech – called E Ink Carta 1300 – that gets you a faster display with better contrast than before.
All three ereaders have been built with up to 80% recycled materials, 10% of which was ocean-bound plastic. Moreover, the packaging is 100% recycled, with soy ink used to do all the printing on the boxes.
Importantly, at these prices, these three Kobo ereaders are hard to beat in terms of long-term value if you take advantage of the OverDrive support to borrow ebooks and digital magazines from a public library.
You might also like...
- Shopping directly from Kobo? Take a look at our Kobo coupon codes for this month
- Looking for a large-screen ereader? Check out our in-depth Kobo Elipsa 2E review.
- Kindle vs Kobo: how to choose the best ebook reader for you
