Usually word of mouth - but that can be either from people I know (friends, fellow online people), or sometimes it might be buzz from the media. Usually that’s in the form of CBC’s Canada Reads. I don’t often pick things up based on retailer suggestions.

One thing I’ve done recently to help battery life is change the settings to have the device power off after 20 minutes of inactivity (I think it’s 20 minutes - either way it’s the longest time period available in the settings).

Battery life

Maybe I simply don’t read as much on my Kobo as you do, but I find the battery life amazing. I rarely charge it. As I type that, I realize that I read quite a bit of paperback books though.

cases

I’m not too picky about this. I use the navy blue Kobo case designed for the Clara. It’s not the greatest thing in the world but I enjoy it.

All in all, I don’t have much to compare it to other than a VERY old Kobo - like one of the originals I believe. It was incredibly slow and battery life on that one was horrid. Yeah, the screen was bigger than the Clara, but the Clara is leaps and bounds above that ugly thing I was using.>

I use a Kobo Clara HD. There’s a newer version available (it’s a Clara model, can’t recall the exact name) but the Clara HD does the job well. Of the reviews I’ve read, if you own a Clara HD, upgrading to the newest model may not be worth it for you.

I also use my iPad Air + Google Books, and the Kindle app, for things that are either on those accounts or don’t play nice with the Clara HD. For example, PDF advance reader copies do not work very well on the Kobo, and converting them with Calibre doesn’t always work either.