REVIEWS / E READERS / OWNER INSIGHTS
🦉 WE READ 639 OWNER COMMENTS
remarkable: what owners actually say
Owners love the paper-like writing experience but repeatedly flag slow software, a high price tag, and a device that struggles as anything beyond a note pad.
What owners complain about
- E-reader software is astonishingly slow COMMON
Font resizing locks up the entire interface while the backend regenerates page images for the whole PDF — described as 30x slower than a Kindle. The reading experience is treated as a secondary feature bolted onto a writing pad.
- Handwriting recognition is impractical SOME
One owner bought the device specifically to organize and full-text-search handwritten notes, but found OCR too imprecise and clunky, requiring many manual steps. Calls it a purchase they still regret years later.
- No mass storage USB file transfer SOME
Despite advertising USB-C for 'data transfer,' the device does not mount as a mass storage device. Owners must use workarounds or proprietary sync tools.
- Price unjustifiably high COMMON
At nearly 500€ for the 8-inch device, multiple commenters say it's priced close to an iPad and far above what the niche functionality justifies. Several say they would buy at $150–220 but not at current pricing.
- Slow software development and stale internals SOME
Owners note slow software updates and being locked to very old Linux kernel versions. One commenter describes it as classic 'enshittification' where hardware revenue funds development but software stagnates between product cycles.
What owners love
- Excellent paper-like writing feel
Owners describe the core writing and sketching experience as the device's strongest feature, with screen and UI responsiveness for note-taking described as 'fine' and the pen-on-screen feel as genuinely close to paper.
- Great for reading academic papers
One owner reads math and CS journal articles, including two-column layouts, and calls it a good substitute for printing — notes they are reading more and appreciating the separation from laptop and phone distractions.
- Active hacking and modding community
The reHackable GitHub ecosystem and community mods (including an SD card hack) are cited as a primary reason for purchase. Owners value that the bootloader appears unlockable and the GPL-licensed components keep the door open for custom software.
Surprising patterns
- Multiple owners explicitly warn that if you are considering the reMarkable for anything other than sketching or note-taking, you should not buy it — the reading and OCR features are widely seen as afterthoughts.
- The hackability is a bigger draw than official features for some buyers: one owner pre-ordered specifically because of community hacks they saw on the rM1, not the advertised capabilities.
- Commenters are baffled that the company employs ~500 people for only 3–5 devices, and note the company recently went from profit to loss despite roughly 5 billion kroner (~$500M USD) in revenue.
WHO SHOULD SKIP IT
Anyone who wants a versatile e-reader, reliable handwriting-to-text OCR, or polished software features beyond basic note-taking — and anyone unwilling to pay iPad-level prices for a single-purpose device.
Synthesised from 639 real owner comments across 4 platforms. Every point is grounded in the comments — no marketing, no AI guessing. How we do it →