8% of 458 verified Kobo Clara BWowners don't recommend it, and 1 describe specific problems — based on real owner comments from Reddit, enthusiast forums, and YouTube.
For balance: 81% recommend it. This page collects the complaints so you know what you're signing up for — read the full owner report for both sides. How we score
“the screen lighting is too uneven to work for me when in any kind of the night mode warm color. I am loving going back to such a smaller size device though.”— PixelSquish on Reddit
“Cá em casa temos um Kindle (Paperwhite 12) e um Kobo (Clara BW). Pessoalmente, prefiro de longe a experiência de utilização e o sistema operativo do Kindle, é muito mais rápido.”— BlameScienceBro on Reddit
“I like my pocketbook verse a lot, I returned a kobo Clara bw for it. I like pocketbooks UX and app, especially that it will sync side loaded content to their cloud.”— sunflowersandcitrus on Reddit
“I’m having the exact same issue on my Kobo Clara BW I purchased recently. Sometimes when tapping to turn the page it’ll become unresponsive. When tapping it again it’ll skip two pages.”— heezii on Reddit
“Now I'm based in the US tried kobo clara BW and KLC and I had some personal flaws about them, and so I went back to kindle. (they were accessibility issues regarding vision).”— thedeadp0ets on Reddit
“I bought Kobo Clara BW recently, after day 2 it broke. I didn't even drop it, I put it between the bed and bed frame, which really isn't a lot of pressure. Even had the cover on. What a bullshit.”— hooodoo on Reddit
“I found the quality of the KC BW screen similar, but didn't care for the cheap feeling of its build and lack of buttons (besides, it crashed when I was trying it... never a good sign).”— Vellmar on Reddit
“I bought a kobo clara bw as replacement (basically to spite Amazon) and I've been very disappointed. It's baffling how a modern kobo manages to be inferior in every way to a kindle of 10 years ago.”— HugeBob2 on Reddit
“I'm experiencing it now with a new Kobo Clara BW. If I can't work out which file is causing it I think I'll just factory reset it, then transfer books one file at a time, which might reveal the culprit”— gma on Reddit
“I bought a Kobo clara BW this week and it's going back. Maybe I'm not tech savvy enough but the whole thing seems to be aimed at selling you ebooks, after having sold you some expensive kit to read them on.”— KittyCritter987 on Reddit
“this is my Kobo Clara BW. Claims to be the best screen for BW, running the stunning Carta 1300. Yup, still has the yellow tinge with 100% brightness.”— Qubezo on Reddit
“The reason I'm sticking with the KPW though is that the UI for reading is more adaptable and better. For instance, when zooming in text it can take forever to readjust on the Kobo.”— shadowscar248 on Reddit
Not complaints — practical notes from owners that didn't affect the score.
“I have a Kobo Clara BW, but I'd like a bigger one for reading manga. I'd like something in the Clara style, but without a button, I can't find anything interesting right now.”— Onitaz on Reddit
“I bought a Kobo Clara BW a couple months ago and have converted all my Kindle books. I'm kind of balancing between the two, mostly using the Oasis still”— agrannymoose on Reddit
“Really wish it was possible to disable the audiobook support on my Clara BW as I love audiobooks - listening to one now - but I never want one to land on my ereader as their filesize is comparatively massive.”— SomeGuy58439 on Reddit
“It won't work if you buy from Amazon because they'vestopped letting you download the book file to a PC/phone but I've had no trouble transferring epub downloads from Project Gutenberg to my Kobo Clara BW from my phone.”— EviWool on Reddit
“I had the same problem with my Kobo Clara BW when I bought it a few months ago. Updating my Calibre to the newest version fixed it.”— mistermegabyte67 on Reddit
“When my husband lightly scratched his kobo clara bw screen, i IMMEIDATELY bought a foilo case thing. I ain't taking no chances 😂”— Careful-Grapefruit41 on Reddit
“I have experienced this on my Kobo Clara BW. It happens randomly after changing some settings (not sure which ones), but after exiting the book, locking and unlocking the device; or after restarting the device, the problem goes away.”— ConspiratorGame on Reddit
“I honestly just gave up, got a kobo clara bw and will buy a better device when pocketbook gets their hands on carta 1300. i really want an 8" carta 1300 with linux and a quad core 3gb at least...just does not exist”— S1egwardZwiebelbrudi on Reddit