Reading outside in the sun seems to be one of those things Kindle does better but I live in North Carolina and never ever read in the sun. I read at the pool under the shade of our pool house, on our porches, sitting under trees but can't imagine sitting out baking in the sun and reading. I do know there are some who come to our beaches and do this occasionally but its it something I don't recommend or do LOL.

I am 72 and had cataract surgery about 2 months ago but have 20/20 vision and only need reading glasses. I use several reading apps (Kindle, Nook, Overdrive, Stanza, Bluefire) and read a LOT, using the night mode in apps at night, in bed, but preferably sepia in apps during the day. I carry the Ipad with cameras hiking, urban walking, etc so find myself using it for research, photo review, reading in many places and though I tried the Kindle and Nook found I actually liked reading on it better (I've had mine over a year). I'm used to using backlit monitors since I spend time in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop and don't find it particularly tiring though others might. Its personal. I do like to read hands free so use a PropUp at homel,put it in Apple (gen 1) case or Dodo case for carrying with me.

Diane

I use my iPad ,daily to read ,books I have loaded through kindle,borders,kobo and iBooks.
It is also fantastic to flick across and check emails and news items all with out leaving the chair.
It's multiple functions are something else.
When we bought iPads each ,my husband and I intended to use our ipads as book readers only.
Not so!
We are now fully into all the iPad has to offer.
At night we can read in bed and when either wants to sleep the night back lit options now makes for easy compatibility.
Before we would grumble if the bedside light was on for hours while the partner was trying to drift off.
It's made huge difference try I cannot comment on the kindle as I haven't used one.
But after reading all the other comments perhaps it would be good for bright sun reading.
Not that sounds decadent and spoilt.
Perhaps I'll just remain very happy with my iPad
Just get one and you will never be sorry or disappointed
 my 

I have a Nook B/W reader and the IPAD2. Compared as just e-readers, the Nook is better - lighter, smaller, easy to read on daylight, better battery life and cheaper to replace if it's lost or stolen.
That said, the IPAD is my e-reader of choice because of all the other things it can do - and I do not like carrying both devices. The IPAD is much better for reading technical PDFs with embedded images. Having Orverdrive on the IPAD sealed the deal.
The Nook is still used on the beach, planes or if I'm worried about damage or theft. I also loan it out to friends and family who want to try out an e-reader

It's heavier than my Kindle but other than that I like it just as well if not better. Right now I'm using the Kindle app not ibooks.

I haven't used my Kindle for more than a year, since iPad 1's debut. I read at least a book a week, plus lots of news, all on iPad. No eye trouble for me, luckily. I'm in. My 40s.

Originally Posted by Schuyler

So I guess another way to ask the question is, on a scale of 1 to 10 where one is very bad and 10 is very good (and where price is not an object), how easy is it to read text on an iPad compared to "other" readers?

I'd say a Kindle is a 10 for reading and the iPad is an 8 for indoors and 3 for outdoors in the sun. However you need to assess how much of each activity you are going to do and go with that. If you just want to read black and white books then kindle hands down. If you want to browse the web, reply to emails, and also read books, then get the iPad. If money really is not an object, get both. ;-)

For me, I'm mostly a web browser and rare book reader, so I went for the iPad.

I use both. All kindle books are accessible on iPad. I read with kindle in the sun and the iPad inside. In bed the kindle is lighter. I like them both

for outside i use a standard nook and inside a nookcolor i only use my ipad 2 for reading when B&N doesn't have a ebook out that kindle does
the ipad 2 is alittle big and the back is sort of slick for reading in bed

Originally Posted by bill_d

for outside i use a standard nook and inside a nookcolor i only use my ipad 2 for reading when B&N doesn't have a ebook out that kindle does
the ipad 2 is alittle big and the back is sort of slick for reading in bed

I put on a ghost armor back-only protection and it solved the slickness problem for me.