I was incredibly excited when I saw the Kobo Sage announced in the fall. As someone hoping to pursue a PhD, the idea of being able to notate my ebooks and PDF articles hugely appealed to me. (And quite frankly, as a reader who reads 150+ books a year, the majority of which are ebooks.) Yes, $300 seemed like a somewhat steep price tag, but if it could do both of those things well, it would be good money spent. However, that is not what I got with the Kobo Sage. Today I’m sharing both my Kobo Sage review and my Kobo Clara HD review (2022).
This post is in no way sponsored- I paid for all devices/accessories with my own money.
Before I get into the actual reviews, I am going to be upfront- I returned the Kobo Sage after two weeks. (And I forgot to take any pictures, apologies!) For $300 CAD, and the additional $50 CAD for the stylus, I was horrified and disappointed that the product was SO awful. And yes, the customer service reps were nice but none of them seemed to grasp that for almost $400 CAD with taxes, I should not have to spend hours and hours and hours troubleshooting, resetting, and tracking my battery life to the minute.
Kobo Sage Review
A touch screen ereader with note-taking/ stylus capability and audiobook capability.
Dimensions: 16.05 x 18.14 x 0.76 cm
Cost: $299.99 CAD, $49.99 CAD for stylus
Kobo Sage Pros:
-You can take notes using the Kobo stylus
Kobo Sage Cons:
-You can only take notes using the Kobo stylus (you can’t buy another), the notes can take several days to sync, and you can only read/see them on note-taking compatible devices (as of April 2022, that is the Kobo Sage and the Kobo Ellipsa)
-The battery life is dismal. I had to track it over several days, and a sync could take 10-20% off in one go. With regular reading and notetaking (I would estimate at 3-5 hours of reading/notes in a day), I was through the battery in 2 days.
-You have no choice in syncing audiobooks. Kobo doesn’t force you to load up your entire ebook library, but every time it syncs, it will download an audiobook- henceforth why syncs are zapping the battery. I tried removing the audiobook from my Kobo Sage so it wouldn’t do that, but it a) moves onto the next audiobook, and b) I have almost 200 audiobooks, this could have gone on for ages. I’ve lodged several complaints, but I’ve got no idea how this didn’t come up in testing….
-The USB-C cable provided was faulty- plugging it into my Chromebook to charge would force-shut down my Chromebook. When I contacted Rakuten about this, they said they had no other cords to send out and I had to use another one of mine. It’s irritating because I paid money for this cord, and when every device needs one and wears through them, it gets to be a pain to replace them.
-This is a borderline con- it is very large, too large to comfortably hold. I was using it for academic writing, meaning that sitting with it on a table in front of me felt natural, but it would not be a pleasant general reading device.
Final Thoughts on Kobo Sage:
Here is where I shout my thoughts: WHO ON EARTH THOUGHT THAT FORCE LOADING AUDIOBOOKS ONTO AN EREADER WAS A GOOD IDEA? According to my messages with Kobo, you can expect 4-5 hours of battery life if you are streaming an audiobook to a bluetooth speaker or headphones. FOUR TO FIVE HOURS TOTAL. Who wants a device that will be dead in half a work day that you need a separate speaker for? And this device IS clunky for audiobooks, make no mistake about that.
In terms of the note-taking, it was…okay? There is a slight lag (though I’m not sure if that is normal for note-taking on non-tablet devices), and it never really felt natural. Factor in your notes not syncing for several days, and that I had to reset the device multiple times in the two weeks I had and lost multiple rounds of notes, and it is VERY underwhelming for a $300 product. And while they were polite when I called in several different times, they really had no troubleshooting suggestions or ideas.
Do not buy the Kobo Sage- use your audiobooks on the Kobo app on your phone, and save your note-taking for a better device.
Kobo Clara HD Review (2022)
A dedicated ereader.
Dimensions:
Price: $149.99 CAD
Kobo Clara HD Pros:
-Great battery life! My Kobo Aura (which I randomly won in Kobo contest I didn’t know I entered…) has finally started to show some slowing down in the battery department. I’ve only had the Clara HD for a week, but it has the same quick pick up and strong battery life I expect from Kobos.
-Fast sync- my Aura also has started taking an hour or longer to sync (I’m guessing it has to do with an update, because resetting it didn’t help).
-Easy to hold- it is a smaller sized device with a good-sized screen, making it easy to hold for general reading.
-The price tag is much better- $149.99 CAD is still steep for some people, but much better than $299.99 CAD for the Sage.
Kobo Clara HD Cons:
-None thus far- it performs exactly how I expect my Kobo to perform
Final Thoughts on Kobo Clara HD:
These are only rumours, but I have heard that Kobo will be introducing the audiobook function/capability into all of their devices. While I have nearly 200 kobo audiobooks and over 800 ebooks purchased, moving to having audiobooks on all devices would make me leave Kobo. If I have to worry about 10-20% of my battery being gone every time I sync because it’s forcing a new audiobook on, it’s a useless device. And being able to sync across devices is one of the features I love about Kobo, so turning off the wifi eliminates that feature.
The Kobo Clara HD is a dedicated ereader, and it does everything it is supposed to do beautifully. It is new, so doesn’t have any of the speed/sync issues that older models collect after some time. And the Clara HD was released in 2018, meaning that any bugs/ issues should have been ironed out by now.
Want unlimited reading? Kobo Plus might be for you!
If you want a good, dependable, enjoyable and easy-to-use ereader that isn’t bogged down by audiobooks, buy the Kobo Clara HD!
Cheers,
The Historian
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Getting your kobo to consistently sync with overdrive/your library is an exercise in frustration. Books won’t download; it loses the connection to overdrive and then won’t re-login. Be prepared for hours of failures with no messages and no real help from Kobo.
Hi Bob! Thanks for commenting- this problem has started in the last month for me, as well. Unless I check the book out on my Kobo, it never appears and seems to defeat the point of “syncing with overdrive”. I am wondering if it has to do with the push to Libby from Overdrive. In any case, I will be updating my review in the coming weeks as it does not seem to be solved!
I bought a Kobo Clara HD last week and returned it less than 24hours later. I bought it because it was supposed to be the best ereader for accessing library books but I found it very difficult to use. There was no search by genre or categories and I could only link one library at a time. On my Libby app I am linked to 4 libraries and I use them all the time. It constantly tried to get me to buy books from the Kobo bookstore, defaulting to the bookstore every time I opened it. My internet in Regional Victoria is not great but whenever I changed a pages it flashed as it synced, turning on and off in a most irritating way. At least I have solved my query re which is best: tablet or ereader. I am sticking with a tablet, they are more versatile; I can download multiple libraries, use a variety of apps, have better screen resolution, and cruise the internet if I wish. I was surprised in your article to note that the Clara came out in 2018, I had thought that it was more recent. So glad I returned it …..
Thank you for sharing this!! I only have one library card on my Overdrive/Libby, so I’ve not navigated multiple cards on any device but that is frustrating. I do all of my searching/holds in the app on my phone and then download the ebook on my Kobo when it comes in. However, since mid-June 2022, I’ve had problems with about 30% of library epubs just not loading onto my Kobo. It’s not the end of the world for me to read it on my tablet, and I still use my kobo a lot as I’ve got 1000+ ebooks in my kobo library but it is getting to be quite a friction point!