Need Recommendation : Reader.

Planning to start reading again after quite some time.

What's the simplest(cheapest) reader can I go for?
-Should not strain eyes.
-portable.
-Don't need any fancy feature (not even WIFI or market place)
-I do already have epubs of most books that I want to read.
-Should be able to bookmark
-while a built-in dictionary & light would be great, its not a necessity.

Dont want to get something higher end unless I get:
- Improved pdf experience.
- Hassle free way to read manga/comics. (mainly manga)

This is the cheapest I found

https://youtu.be/YhcPX1wVp38

@dmonkey ya using this right now. Just that its not portable enough.

Amazon fire hd8 tablet. Very much tied to Amazon ecosystem, but many e-reader apps. Add storage with card slot. I use it all the time. love it.

Wait for the next Amazon sale day and get the cheapest Kindle for a reduced price. Note however that Kindles can't read epub files. Or look for different cheap models sold by bookstores etc.

Afaik no reader without wifi or marketplace exists, my mother once bought the cheapest reader she could get like 5 years ago and it already had wifi and an integrated mp3 player. It's technically possible, so companies just stuff it in.

If you can find a reader with "improved pdf experience" please let me know, I have yet to see one, no matter the price. PDFs are a pain on ebook readers, period. If possible download or convert them to epub/mobi with Calibre first.

If your main focus is comics/manga/pdf and they're colored I'd go with the recommendation of @helloworld and just get a cheap normal tablet. Crap for the eyes but you get color and all the apps you may need.

@deadlyRants I still use calibre just to manage ebooks. Good stuff.

I tried converting some technical pdf to epub, butchered all the scientific symbols. No good at all.

Manga/comics are not priority. Epubs are.

Cheapo Android tablet seems like the best option so far, but really like how easy eInk displays are on eyes.

@deadlyRants

Cheapest Kindle + Calibre.

I have some Amazon-bought books, but many are also epub/pdf or even just bundled png scans from coworkers — with Calibre it's all really a breeze.

I picked a Kindle because of the screen & build quality, battery life & software is pretty great. Plus it supports AES encrypted PDFs which was a company requirement back then (patent/trade secret information).

Note that PDFs are never ideal on e-readers because they don't reflow naturally, but having support for it is still neat.

Oh btw if you REALLY will use it mainly for manga & pdf with images instead of reflowable/scalable formats such as epub, then Onyx Boox are better than Kindles because of their 10"+ size and exceptional PDF reader software.

But the 500-700 price tag is a bit steep compared to 90-140 for a Kindle Paperwhite.

I guess it also depends how good your eyes are, personally I have little trouble reading small fonts without zooming on a 6" e-ink screen, but some people really hate it. I like the Kindle size because it fits right in my pockets, so I can easily grab it in public transport.