Some of you may have been following my attempts to find the perfect late-generation Kindle reading and lighting solution and my disappointment with both Kindle PW and the $79 Kindle 4/$69 Kindle 5 lighted cover from Amazon (e.g. the thread here http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,129956.0.html). The biggest problem with the last-mentioned lighted cover is that it shines in the eyes when reading in bed. The old Kindle 3 Keyboard lighted cover light had such a perfect angle that you could read it anywhere, but the newer cover is worse. It is the same with Kindle Touch, I understand.
I had been looking for a "hood" to place on the light, but finally got around to searching for my own solution tonight. It turns out, the fix is remarkably simple. All it required was a piece of cardboard, some double-sided tape and scissors. I found that there is no need to "hood" the light all around, all you need is a sort of ledge or shelf over the light.
First I cut a piece of cardboard. Mine was black, to match my black cover and black $69 Kindle 5, you could of course use whatever color you want as long as it is opaque enough. This is just regular, thin cardboard, the kind you can buy from crafts stores. Mine is cut around 1.9 cm x 3.1 cm, so something like 0.75 x 1.25 inches or so. Make it large enough, bigger will cover the light from more angles. Mine seems like a good size.
Once the cardboard is cut, before any tape is applied, I checked how to best position it on the top of the light bar. The rear of the cardboard is aligned with the rear of the light bar, so the only trick is to find the correct horizontal position. Too much on the left and it will cast a shadow on the top left part of the screen, so make sure that doesn't happen... too little on the left and the light will shine from underneath. The "hard" part is getting the left edge position of the cardboard right, on other ends it can be too big without bothering much (unless it is so big that it overlaps the page or goes over the Kindle edge). So, get the left and rear edges perfect and the rest will follow.
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Then I applied a small piece of double-sided tape on the top right corner of the light bar (on the straight portion, before it starts to slope down) and pushed the cardboard in place. What is great about this is that you can continue to operate the light normally and even close the cover with the cardboard still in place. It looks so solid that take care and chances are you'll never have to replace it (and if you do, it is not difficult or expensive).
It works pretty much perfectly. You can look at it from any regular angle, from straight on, from a little left, from a little right, top or down, and you still won't see the light itself. When reading in bed on my stomach I used keep the Kindle almost vertical to keep the light from shining into my eyes. Now I can place it horizontal without any issues, at least until I place it at such an extreme angle that the light starts to shine via the screen itself.
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Here is how it looks in action, you can see how the thin cardboard remains opaque (the camera was overexposed a little, in reality the light isn't that bright on the top of the page):
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This solution may not look pretty, but it seems practical enough and promising!
I had been looking for a "hood" to place on the light, but finally got around to searching for my own solution tonight. It turns out, the fix is remarkably simple. All it required was a piece of cardboard, some double-sided tape and scissors. I found that there is no need to "hood" the light all around, all you need is a sort of ledge or shelf over the light.
First I cut a piece of cardboard. Mine was black, to match my black cover and black $69 Kindle 5, you could of course use whatever color you want as long as it is opaque enough. This is just regular, thin cardboard, the kind you can buy from crafts stores. Mine is cut around 1.9 cm x 3.1 cm, so something like 0.75 x 1.25 inches or so. Make it large enough, bigger will cover the light from more angles. Mine seems like a good size.
Once the cardboard is cut, before any tape is applied, I checked how to best position it on the top of the light bar. The rear of the cardboard is aligned with the rear of the light bar, so the only trick is to find the correct horizontal position. Too much on the left and it will cast a shadow on the top left part of the screen, so make sure that doesn't happen... too little on the left and the light will shine from underneath. The "hard" part is getting the left edge position of the cardboard right, on other ends it can be too big without bothering much (unless it is so big that it overlaps the page or goes over the Kindle edge). So, get the left and rear edges perfect and the rest will follow.
Then I applied a small piece of double-sided tape on the top right corner of the light bar (on the straight portion, before it starts to slope down) and pushed the cardboard in place. What is great about this is that you can continue to operate the light normally and even close the cover with the cardboard still in place. It looks so solid that take care and chances are you'll never have to replace it (and if you do, it is not difficult or expensive).
It works pretty much perfectly. You can look at it from any regular angle, from straight on, from a little left, from a little right, top or down, and you still won't see the light itself. When reading in bed on my stomach I used keep the Kindle almost vertical to keep the light from shining into my eyes. Now I can place it horizontal without any issues, at least until I place it at such an extreme angle that the light starts to shine via the screen itself.
Here is how it looks in action, you can see how the thin cardboard remains opaque (the camera was overexposed a little, in reality the light isn't that bright on the top of the page):
This solution may not look pretty, but it seems practical enough and promising!
In other words, I need to be able to reposition lots of things!
