Neville Almond writes:

I bought a Kobo Nia (new model as of last month) and have done
basic checks to ensure its good to use. The checks include loading XCSoar ,
adding a Bluefly to the serial port, and checking the gps/barometric data
streaming is OK. Over the coming days I'll do more extensive checking, running
it in a car for several hours, but to date all looks good.

Key points (comparing the Nia to the Clara HD) are:

Cheaper - £90 instead of £110

Resolution – despite being 212dpi (Clara was 300dpi), the difference is
undetectable. This is similar to the experience of the out-of-production Glo HD
(300dpi) and Aura 2 (212dpi) – you just can't see any difference.

Battery – 1,000 instead of 1,200mAh. However, every new Kobo released gets more
efficient (e.g. with a Bluefly, a 2013 Mini ran for 4hrs on std battery, the
recent Clara 8hrs on std battery), so at least 7hrs, maybe even 8hrs, is
anticipated.

SD Card – now a monster 16Gb (Clara was 8Gb). Of no use to us; we rarely use
over 1Gb. It will make the recovery of digital images more time consuming, and
for sure 16Gb isn't (easily) transferred over the Internet.

PCB Layout – similar but slightly different to Clara HD. The last 4 models
haven't had EMF issues like the very old kobo's (such as the Mini and Touch) so
I'm not expecting any intereference with GPS signal. Wire routing being tested
in photo above.

Rear Cover – comes off a lot more cleanly than the Clara HD (a few folks out
there managed to bend/break Clara HD screens)

XCSoar Support - the Nia isn't yet formally supported, but then neither was the
Clara HD which has been in use for a few years by many hundreds of us

More info (and/or ready made units) available at
Gethighstayhigh.co.uk