Way back in 2012, The Guardian reviewed an eInk reader which cost a mere £8. The txtr beagle was designed to be a stripped-down and simplified eReader. As far as I can tell, it never shipped. There were a few review units sent out but I can't find any evidence of consumers getting their hands on one. Also, that £8 price was the subsidised price when purchased with a mobile contract. Their w…
Still using my 11 year old Kindle Voyage (now running the open-source koreader software) so I wouldn’t call that a bad investment.
e-readers may not be dirt cheap, but due to their nature as single-purpose and low power devices they have a very long usable lifespan.