eReader for the RV : Ditch the Books but Never Quit Reading

What RV52.com uses for book ereaders and why we made our choices.

Books are a terrible thing to have in your RV.

They are HEAVY and RV's have weight limitations. They take up space and RV's have no space.

My number one priority is to get rid of the books wherever possible. Here is what I've done and what I know so far on my mission to eliminate books in an RV. Warning - links are to Amazon in case you want to check out and maybe get the things I have.

Eliminate and Electronify (my new word) your RV Manuals

I've eliminated all manuals to everything - including every appliance, device, and thingy on the RV. You can find my manuals for the 399BHS Open Range by clicking on this link. I've put them on my master RV storage device and home server - a Macmini. You should not pay over $700 for a Macmini so check the price when you click.

To do this, I found online at the manufacturer the copies of the manuals. For example, I would go to Atwood to get the manuals for the furnace. This was not always possible. Where it was not possible, I scanned the documents and put them into my own PDF. You need a really good scanner for this. I've had many scanners and by far the BEST HOME SCANNER I'VE EVER HAD is this little Epson Workforce 600. I think any scanner in the series would work, so I referred the Epson 630 in the series. I love it. It is important that I use the WiFi copiously for access to this printer.

A good printer/scanner for your RV makes a difference

I'm going to put a reference here to make it easy to get ink cartridges for the Epson. Here is the link for the color cartridges for the 630 (which are different from my 600 cartridges). Here is the link for the black ink cartridges.

I then placed all of these manuals on my Apple MacBook Pro laptop and my Barnes and Noble Color Nook. These manuals are with me all the time and I can look them up whenever I want.

Good networking is important to eliminating books/papers in your RV

Maintain good networking to help in moving documents around. I for one don't like wasting my time. I'm VERY technical, and I'm pretty sure I run a more secure network with less problems and less maintenance than the Windows gearheads. We use the Apple Airport Express for our networking with stellar results. Go ahead and buy the cheap routers if you want. Its your time not mine.

Get yourself an eReader

I thought I would NOT like eReaders.

My advice. Try it. They are GREAT. I LOVE mine. I'd testify in a court of law that I love it and my wife will tell you as much. I'll put some pictures to the eReaders here so you can be your own judge. But I would rather read off the eReader than a book now.

This is the Barnes and Noble color eReader. I've found the device to be very, very good. It hooks into the Barnes and Noble web site. When my wife gave me her Nook (what they are called), we simply "reset" the device and put in my Barnes and Noble ID and it was as-if she never owned it.

What did my wife do when she got an iPad as an upgrade to a color nook

We got her an Apple iPad 2. Then she installed her Barnes and Noble Nook App and every book she bought was automatically transferred to her iPad. The iPad is incredibly fast. It is WAY better than the Nook. But for just reading books, the Nook is pretty good.

Do NOT buy books from Apple

The Apple books LOOK great. But here is the scoop. You can ONLY read them on your Apple products. If you use Amazon Kindle, or B&N Nook, then you can use Kindles and Nooks to read the respective eBook types, but you can also use them on PC's, Android devices, and iPads as well. That seems to me to be more safe for protecting your investment in books than being held hostage to Apple.

What about the kids and family reading your books

We bought the kids black and white Nooks. We didn't want to spend as much money on their eReaders since the still lose things. Often. Easily.

What about the Kindle?

 I like the Kindle eReaders. They are much lighter than the Barnes and Noble ereaders. I chose Nook since Nook would read more formats and had "book borrowing". But the Kindle looks fantastic so I would recommend it as well. I'll list some Kindle links here as well :













 The BIG Daddy Unit. With built in (FREE) cellular so you never have to know anything about WiFi.




 The smaller unit with cellular.
















 The smaller unit, WiFi only. A really stellar price.