I have seen numerous posts about eye-strain caused when using the iPad as an ereader.

I have finished one book and I am halfway through another and I have not experienced any eye-strain at all.

I read for an hour or two at a time and find it perfectly comfortable.

Are people just really having issues with this or has all the chatter about it convinced them that it must be happening?

My issue is not eye strain but hand strain, the dang thing gets heavy after a few hours...

I believe that some people normally keep the backlight on their LCD screens way too bright so it does strain their eyes. They generalize that all LCDs will cause strain. It's just not adjusted properly, IMHO. I’ve always turned the brightness down as far as possible, consistent with comfort, and have had no problems reading on the iPad for 4-5 hours at a time, same as the Kindle.

The Kindle can be used outdoors in bright sunlight. The iPad is next to useless in bright sun. I know that some dispute my finding, but I can't practically use the iPad outdoors where the Kindle excels.

This is one of those topics that have been done to death.... and the arguments are always the same.... Most people have no problems reading on the iPad.... many like my wife and I have sold eInk devices and went to the iPad.... I actually got eye strain from eInk but read great on the iPad..... If for some reason you don't have tree's where you live, and your idea of a good time is to stand in direct sunlight and read.... then eInk is better..... and so it continues...

Here's a tip. If you are no longer interested in a particular subject, stop reading threads about that subject.

When people join a forum they talk about whatever interests them. It keeps the forum alive. The fact that you have already discussed it does not mean no one else can.

Again, if you are no longer interested, feel free not to read the thread. That is much more courteous than complaining about what someone else posts.

Martin, he is expressing an opinion, just as you are. There are several recent threads where you can post your questions, or even read them to find your answers. The fact that you seem to be commenting, or expanding on, what is happening in other threads with a new thread is a bit redundant.

But, to reply to your post, I haven't had any issues personally. While I have experienced eye strain with other devices, like my phone or Nintendo DS, I think it might be because of the small and bright screens.

I have a pool in my backyard and plenty of umbrellas on the deck. If you turn the brightness all the way up you can read very well in any shaded area.

That is not my experience, but you'll notice that I did say thatthere is disagreement with my findings.

Thanks for the tip! You're quite a sharp fellow

I have had my iPad for about two weeks and have read seven books with no problem and some of them were quite large Stephen king books oh and here is a link to the Thai book rest good for propping up iPad to read

http://www.levenger.com/pagetemplat...?params=category=17-148|level=2-3|pageid=5787

It really just depends on the person, I suspect. I've read about a dozen books in my iPad in the month or so I've had it, and yeah, it bothers my eyes after a few hours, even with the brightness adjusted. Not a huge deal, but it's there.

I mostly read at night, in bed, in the dark, before going to sleep.
Using Kobo in night mode, I have read up to two hours with no eye strain.
In fact, my Sony 505 was harder to read in similar circumstances.
Also, I no longer a reading light.

I like how Stanza allows you to easily change the font size back & forth with stretching your fingers on the screen....as well as changing screen brightness by a vertical finger swipe. Those features and night mode (white text on black background) help eliminate eye strain for me. But, when you are tired...you are tired. Nothing helps that unless they come up with iExpresso....

Agree, some of the reasons that Stanza is my main reading app..... I wish iBooks had more options....

I've spent hour after hour reading on the iPad, articles, forums and books and have felt no eyestrain whatsoever.
But of course that's jes' me...

I do love the comments about how it's hard to see in the sun. And Bremen said it best with his comment about not having any trees.

I would get eye strain reading anything in direct sunlight.

On topic though, I have no problems at all reading, I usually use black background at night too.

I would never read a paper book under direct sunlight, neither would I use the iPad that way. For me, not a problem.

Since I have never read a book in direct sunlight, and my curiosity was stirred by this thread, I grabbed a printed book and went outside in direct sunlight.
Now I know why I never read in direct sunlight. Even with sunglasses it was very difficult and straining. My eyes begged for shade.

I had a crazy eye strain during the first couple days that I used the iPad to read my ebooks. What I did was to lower the brightness all the way to the lowest level -- this seemed to eliminate any eye strain I had in the beginning.

Btw thanks for the heads up on Stanza. I'm testing it out later tonight for its night mode function -- I might just end up using it as my main reading app as opposed to GoodReader.