I still use my Kindle Paperwhite that I got as a replacement from Amazon 7 or 8 years ago… Before, I had a touchless one with a faulty screen. Amazon replaced it no questions asked to a newer model and sent it to me via Express delivery. I didn’t expect that.
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I use a Kindle Paperwhite, the generation previous to the current one. I really like it. I also think Amazon has the best delivery system. Buy an ebook and find it on your Kindle pretty much instantly. Beats copying stuff to and from a card for me.
I read on my IPhone, and have for more than 10 years. At the beach I’ll grab a physical book, but only as to not ruin my phone.
For school books I used my iPad.
I can’t imagine spending money on something that only reads, myself, but if distractions are an issue for some, I get it.
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Those small e-reader are so good with the sunlight. Not as good as real paper.
But way better than standard phone and tablet.
The real issue is reading PDF for me on those ereader.
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I’m down to only ten small UHaul boxes of physical books. I buy digital whenever I can so I can bring more of my library with me more easily.
From an eyestrain perspective, an eReader is a no-brainer. I spend far too much time in front of screens, and eInk is noticeably more pleasant. If they weren’t insanely expensive, I’d use a 32" grayscale eInk as my primary display for coding. (I used monochrome XTerminals in the '90s, so I know I can deal with the lack of color).
From a cost perspective, things are less clear. You can read Gutenberg books for free already. Used physical books are cheap, and used isn’t really a thing for eBooks. Some libraries have eBook programs, so that may be able to help. eBooks are sometimes but not always cheaper than the physical book (printing is actually a tiny fraction of the cost of book production. Things like proofing and editing are more significant costs and apply to both physical and digital)
Absence of distractions is a fairly minor motivation for me. More important is that my Kindles usually have about a month of battery life with the wireless turned off, while I’m fortunate if an iPhone’s battery lasts all day long.
Finally, there is privacy. If you want to read a book about how great B*r is, you can do it on an eReader and no one will know. 
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For fiction books (or everything which isn’t bound by layout) I really appreciate eReaders. I’ve read at least one of these per week for about 10 years on my trustworthy reader of choice (so, yeah, quite a lot of even daily reading with no problems at all).
This.
From a hardware perspective I guess I’m quite the minority, but I’ve always loved readers which are as “open” as possible and which are not bound to a single format or company (I hate any kind of copy protection measurements with a passion).
I’ve used a Sony PRS-T1 for about 8 years and since then a Tolino Shine 3. Both of them got and get fed with Calibre (= are not bound to any shop or online account).
For technical literature, books with a lot of illustrations (i.e. Comics) or books I’ll need to copy snippets from for quoting I prefer, of course, a tablet like an iPad.
Not sure, I’m with you on this.
My books are mostly coming from Calibre 
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I used the original B&N Nook for a few years and loved it. However, my reading patterns changed a lot since then. Before, I was mostly reading in subway as I spent a couple hours a day commuting. Now, I’m reading in bed before sleeping, and for that use case a phone or a tablet with a black background is much more suitable.
I considered buying a reader with backlight, but that completely defeats the point of eink in my opinion.
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Kobo for me. It syncs very well with ebooks from most public libraries.
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Had a couple Nooks from different generations. I did like e-ink, but the slow processors were frustrating.
These days I use my iPhone 13 Pro Max but only during daylight hours. The books app for iOS has good facilities for text formatting, and the True Tone plus Night Shift are great for reducing fatigue. I basically have Night Shift on all the time.
The 13 Pro Max display is great too, I can tell a difference against my IPad Mini 4 for reading.
Retina XDR vs Retina display. XDR is noticeably less fatiguing.
I reckon the first iPad Mini with XDR is the one I’ll buy as an e-reader.
I still read a lot of paper books. Typically reading those at night and the digital version during the day, since it’s always in my pocket, on my phone, no matter where I am.
I recently bought an iPad mini for reading. I chose it over the new kindle (which my coworker loves) for the added functionality of music, drawing, and video. I absolutely love it. I think it’s the perfect size for my purposes. I recommend Libby for all your eBook rental needs. Plus with the iPad, if you want to read something with color illustrations (ie Tales from the Loop), you can.
I’d recommend setting it up as its own device (not from your phone or computer). that way you can be more conscientious about what apps you install and limit any notifications/messages/calls that could potentially distract you from your reading.
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I can highly recommend the Remarkable 2. It’s a pdf reader and editor, and notepad with a paper-like writing feel and no backlight, so kind on the eyes. Given it only deals with pdfs, it may limit your options on what you can load on to it, however; so it’s usefulness depends what format you’ll be using.
Once a pdf is loaded to it, it is excellent for simply reading (I’ve read a couple of books on it), adding notes, drawings or commentary, highlighting and extracting excerpts, and other nifty tricks that help me both reduce my paper usage at work, and review documents and construction drawings.
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If you’re going to look at the remarkable, also look at what boox and supernote have on offer, especially in an academic context. I’d probably go for the Supernote A5X, personally. I think there is value in having a reader separate from a tablet, especially if you need to focus.
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I’m interested in their Palma 2 that just came out
Using my keyboard kindle since 2010. Original usb cable started cracking & disintegrating several years ago so it’s been wrapped in electrical tape; still works fine though, no need to replace.
Tried loading pdf textbooks for uni but didn’t work so well with the tiny writing & diagrams.
I don’t mind buying kindle format books from amazon. If the formatting’s rubbish, someone will generally say something in the reviews and then I don’t buy it.
I had the Nook too, I used the hell out of it for a long time but that rubberized coating turned into greasy sludge after about 7 years 
it was a great little e-reader though.
I was skeptical of this myself, but having gotten a Paperwhite a year ago, it is far easier on my eyes than a phone screen. It also has blue light filtering options (of course phones do this now too). With the brightness set relatively low, the backlight from the e-ink screen seems entirely different from an LCD / OLED display.
I got interested in e-readers because I’m extremely nearsighted and I found being able to change the font size is very helpful in making reading more comfortable for me. And I find that reading on regular phone or tablet screens strains my eyes much faster than it does on the e-ink display.
YMMV but I love the paperwhite.
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my wife and i we are heavy ebook/ereaders users. especially for nonficition books an export function of highlights is important to me. helps me to build my “second brain” https://www.buildingasecondbrain.com/
Same! But the battery no longer holds a charge 
Still get a week or 2 out of mine so it’s definitely dropped a bit
I’ve had several e-readers over the years and they were all pretty good to be honest…
However, I only bought devices which let you upload your own epub files… Never used a store. There are ways to hack the most common readers, even those from Amazon.