Reading in the dark - is the cover with a light any good?

[booksandwool]

I am so so near to buying myself a kindle, finally, having fallen so hard for the ease of the kindle app on my phone. I keep buying books when they're cheap but my phone's not a great medium for lots of reading.
And I could get the basic one for only £49!
But I read a lot in the dark (small baby) so I need to know whether if I splash out on the proper cover with an integral light is it really comfortable for reading for long periods (say up to a couple of hours in one go)? I've never done well with book lights for reading normal books in the dark, so I'm keen to find out how effective the light in the cover is. Could I easily see to add highlights and annotations? (and does a keyboard come up on the screen for this??)
Really grateful for any insights from anyone who has one.
(Don't really want a paperwhite, I don't think, too much glare, too expensive)

I have one and yes, I can read for hours by it. The light is bright but not too garish that it hurts your eyes in the dark.
I would 're commend them.

Thank you fuctifino - v reassuring. Can I ask which cover you have? I looked at them again last night and itseems Amazon aren't really promoting lighted covers now, not sure why.

I thought they only did them for the old Kindle Keyboard?

Oh no! Does this mean that those of us who want to read in the dark end up pushed to the Paperwhite?

I have had two of those covers with an inbuilt light and they were both useless. Worked a few times, then patchy, then just stopped working. It is an old Kindle though so maybe things have improved? Bl**dy expensive there were too :(

I have an official kindle cover with light from Amazon and I think it is brilliant. My 10 yr old also has a kindle and I bought the cover for him too so he can read in bed and no probs whatsoever. I read for hours and hours if I can't sleep, on planes never have any probs and it doesn't disturb anyone else.

I have a coue of cheap ones a friend got me off eBay. Can ready no problem with them and never had any problems. I junk Amazon want people to buy the paperwhite so you may find a better choice elsewhere

I have a Kobo Glow (or did have til i ganked it on holiday.... ) and you dont need a cover with it, as it is back lit - this is pretty good for reading with one hand and easier to manueover (no ideas how to spell that!!) with one hand too :-)

you can get the glow for around 80 (i'd also wait til after xmas for the sales)

I had a cover with a light on my old Kindle - it was good for reading by but noticeably heavier than cover without light.

I have a paperwhite now (I managed to break the old one with my elbow - don't ask) and it's a lot lighter, I wish I'd had it when I was breastfeeding.

I really would reconsider the paperwhite, it's brilliant well worth the money - if you drop on the right deal, you can get it for £89.

You can readjust the brightness to your liking in 20 steps. I have mine on 5 or 6 and in the daylight it just looks like a basic kindle and in pitch dark there's just a gentle glow to make it visible in the dark. There's no glare.

I used to have one with the external light on the cover which worked well, but last year I bought a Paperwhite, which I love. I think if you do a lot of reading in the dark, the Paperwhite is ideal.

Oo, thank you, I'm feeling nudged to the Paperwhite....
So, a supplementary question, just hypothetically, how much would it hurt a baby if you dropped it on that baby's head occasionally?

I had an original kindle with a cheap cover with a light. I now have a paper white. I love it. It's not too glarey, you can adjust the brightness. The baby will be fine but maybe you could get a tiny cycling helmet if you are worried.

Hypothetically, obviously, an older Kindle does not leave a dent and did not even wake the baby.