Skip to content
Kobo Clara BW

Kobo Clara BW

By Kobo · E Readers · Desk & Streaming Setup · More from Kobo

  • 6-inch E Ink Carta 1300 HD screen, 300 ppi
  • ComfortLight PRO front light with temperature control
  • IPX8 waterproof
  • 16GB storage
  • Bluetooth for audiobooks

Price not listed

New
Used, refurbished, open-box

Stores are listed in a fixed order, never by price or commission. Prices are snapshots. Check the current price with the store.

Problems, parts and running costs

Summary

A compact 6-inch, 300 ppi e-reader for library borrowers and EPUB sideloaders, with a warm-light waterproof body and weeks of battery per charge. Check the price against the Kobo Clara Colour before you buy — the colour screen and faster dual-core processor cost about $20 more.

Strengths

  • Weeks of battery life, with one owner finishing several 300-plus-page books on a single charge.
  • IPX8 waterproofing covers bath, beach and pool reading.
  • OverDrive and Libby library borrowing are built in, with no desktop software required.
  • Open formats — EPUB, KEPUB, sideloading — keep you out of Kindle lock-in.
  • Genuine iFixit parts and official repair guides are unusual at this price.

Weaknesses

  • It sits only about $20 below the Clara Colour, which adds a colour screen and a 2.0 GHz dual-core processor.
  • No page-turn buttons; everything happens through the touchscreen.
  • The textured plastic back feels slippery and budget-grade to reviewers.
  • Some owners report uneven front lighting, and at least one returned the reader over it.
  • No cloud file transfer, no text-to-speech, and sideloaded books do not sync across devices.

Verified specifications

Display6-inch glare-free E Ink Carta 1300 HD touchscreen, 1448 × 1072 at 300 ppi, with Dark Mode.
Storage16 GB, rated by Kobo for up to 12,000 eBooks or 75 Kobo audiobooks; one owner measured about 12.3 GB usable after a firmware update.
Processor1.0 GHz single-core with 512 MB of RAM.
Battery1500 mAh; Kobo rates up to 53 days at 30 minutes of reading per day, 10% front light and wireless off.
WaterproofingIPX8 — up to 60 minutes in 2 metres of water.
Front lightComfortLight PRO with adjustable brightness and colour temperature.
ConnectivityWi-Fi 802.11 ac/b/g/n on 2.4 and 5 GHz, Bluetooth for audiobooks, USB-C charging.
FormatsEPUB, EPUB3, PDF, MOBI, CBZ, CBR, KEPUB and Kobo Audiobooks.
Fonts and languages13 fonts with 50+ styles; 21 languages.
Library borrowingOverDrive and Libby are built in.
Not supportedstylus, Dropbox/Google Drive transfer, text-to-speech, sideloaded audiobook sync.
Materialsexterior uses a minimum of 85.5% recycled content; textured plastic back.
Warrantyone-year limited in the US.
Dimensions4.4 × 6.3 × 0.36 in (112 × 160 × 9.2 mm); 0.38 lb (174 g).
In the boxeReader, USB cable, quick-start guide; the 10W adapter is sold separately.
Full research notes and sources

Screen and front light

ComfortLight PRO adjusts both brightness and colour temperature, and the warm light is repeatedly praised for reading with the lamps off.

One marketing claim is contested: that Carta 1300 beats Carta 1200 on contrast. TechRadar and others see visibly better contrast, but The eBook Reader’s side-by-side with the older Clara 2E found text slightly darker there, and owners describe unit-to-unit panel variance. Treat the contrast gain as real on some units and a wash on others. The smaller gripe is uneven front lighting, which some owners report and at least one returned the reader over.

Battery life and charging

The 1500 mAh battery is the point of this class of device. Kobo rates it for up to 53 days at 30 minutes of reading a day, 10% front light and wireless off; owners describe real-world use in weeks, and one r/kobo owner finished several 300-plus-page books on a single charge.

Charging is over USB-C, and the 10W adapter is sold separately for $14.99 from Kobo.

Repairs and running costs

Kobo is one of the few e-reader makers that publishes official repair guides with iFixit and sells genuine parts — battery, screen, motherboard and covers. iFixit rates a battery swap Moderate, about 30 to 45 minutes, with the cell held by stretch-release adhesive. The trade-offs: a sticky waterproof coating that complicates opening, a USB-C port soldered to the motherboard, and a broken IPX8 seal once the case is open. A genuine N365 battery is $59.99 plus tools at iFixit; The eBook Reader notes a screen replacement runs about 70% of a new device once shipping and kit are included.

Match parts carefully. There are three hardware revisions — N365, N365 B and P365 — each with its own iFixit guide, and parts are not interchangeable between them. The US warranty is one year, though a Nov 2025 UK document shows two years in some markets; Kobo’s store adds 45-day returns and free shipping over $30. Extras to budget: the Basic SleepCover and Clear Case at $19.99, other SleepCovers and the Kobo Remote at $29.99, and the 10W adapter at $14.99. No subscription is required; Kobo Plus is optional.

Is it worth it?

At Kobo’s own sale prices it is an easy recommendation: the Clara BW was $119.99 in Kobo’s December 2025 sale (through Dec 26) and $139.99 in the August 2026 sale at Kobo and Best Buy, against a $129.99 launch price in April 2024. At regular retail — $159.99 at Kobo’s US store as of September 2026, and about the same at Staples Canada — the math gets harder, because the Clara Colour adds a colour screen and a 2.0 GHz dual-core processor for roughly $20 more. Digital Trends recommended against the BW at exactly that gap. The critique is fair: at full price the BW’s wins are openness and repairability, not specs. If you read mostly text and borrow from the library, it stays the friendlier buy; if colour matters, the Colour is the better screen for the money.

Which model this is

This page covers the Kobo Clara BW, model numbers N365, N365 B and P365 — three hardware revisions with separate repair guides, so match any part to the number printed on the back case. Kobo released it in April 2024 alongside the Clara Colour as the replacement for the Clara 2E (2022), and sells it in Black only with 16 GB of storage and no stylus support. Don’t confuse it with the Clara Colour or Libra Colour, which share the body but add colour screens and cloud file transfer. The Amazon listing for this model is ASIN B0D1KV8J76.

Sources

Manufacturer:

Independent reviews:

Repair and parts:

Owner reports:

Prices and sales:

Buying guides for this category

Compare with

Related products