Fellowes Booklift Copyholder, Metallic Silver, 21140

First thing you notice about this is the thin plastic material used for fabrication. This will not ever take the weight of a heavy book or a lot of pages.

I need this primarily for holding spiral notebooks and loose sheets so I can type data intensive projects in faster. And for that purpose it will hold.

The clips in the front (to keep the book open) are also not very sturdy. Just by prying them open I can tell they will not take much pressure.

The finish is also not up to the mark. There is a lot of misshapen artifacts and leftovers from the molding process. The back support and stand easily pop out with uneven pressure. But once you have set it to your liking there should not be any need to adjust it repeatedly.

For the amount charged you’d think the manufacturers could have easily used a much stronger material with better finish.

Expensive novelty item.

I often have to quote passages from books. When the book opens flat and remains open, I can type in the quote while reading the page but most books don’t behave nicely. This Fellows book holder helps by putting the book at a nice angle and keeping it open while I type.

It is not perfect. The holding mechanism sometimes hinders reading. A book in the holder is held open by two prongs attached to the little shelf at the bottom of the holder. If you need to refer to something at the bottom of a page, those prongs may get in the way of reading. It all depends on whether the book has large top and bottom margins or not and how thick it is. For a thin book, the prongs are more at an angle and have less risk of hiding text.

The holder’s maximum capacity should be in the 800-900 page range. Of course, whether a book that size will be properly handled by the holder depends on how the book was manufactured. The holder performs better with hardcover books of that size than paperbacks. I’m also basing the number of pages above on average academic textbooks. The holder can probably handle books with more pages that are printed on thinner paper, like some dictionaries, encyclopedias and sacred texts. On average, however, 800-900 pages seems about right.

I have not used it for travel but it would probably be quite adequate in that kind of situation since it can be flattened and put in backpack or suitcase quite easily. It is understandable that a holder made for travel might not have all the desired functionality. However, as a holder destined to remain permanently on a desk, it seems to me that there ought to be a better solution.

The stand folds up nicely and is easy to carry in a folder or laptop case. It works best for medium-sized books or books that don’t have too much of a tendency to spring shut. There are little clips that help hold pages down, but for new, small paperbacks that really have a lot of tension in the binding it is hard to keep them open or keep them open well enough for you to be able to read the page easily. Nevertheless, I can often make do. The real benefit is that you don’t have to hunch over your lap or the table to read a book, which often hurts your neck. I live close to a university and with as few times as I’ve had it out reading in a coffee shop, I’ve had several comments from people about how nice it must be or people just obviously eye-balling it. If you read a lot, you should really invest in a book stand. I got this one because it is fairly cheap compared to others. You could shell out more money for a more sturdy one, but more sturdy ones might also be a little more cumbersome to carry around.

Pros: It definitely does its job. Very practical and useful if you want to prop up a big book. You can adjust the level of incline as well, which is pretty convenient. Pretty sturdy if you don’t abuse it. Highly portable, it’s paper-sized so you can just put it in your backpack and take it with you. Item props big books best and even has little tabs to keep the pages open.

Cons: It’s rather flimsy. If you tossed a heavy book on to it too hard, it’d probably break somewhere. Plastic material bends with books over about 3 pounds, but not enough to bother you while you use it (only if you want to move it around). Unfortunately while the tabs keep books open, page-turning becomes a hassle. Product doesn’t work well with small paperbacks and will be better off keeping them open with your hands.

Overall: It’s a good product to have around if you’re just looking for an easy way to prop up a big book. Just by looking, I would guess that this item’s only worth a maximum of $10, but I paid $15 for it. So being made with rather cheap material, it’s on the slightly more expensive side, but it’s good enough.

Per chi studia tantissimo questo oggetto è un salvavita.

Piccolo, leggero, pieno di funzioni e molto resistente. Praticamente è l’ideale per la lettura o la consultazione dei libri.

La parte posteriore presenta una scaletta nella quale è possibile configurare l’altezza. Carina anche l’opportunità di alzare delle puntine per tenere ferme le pagine del libro, evitando che girino da sole.

Il punto di forza maggiore di questo leggio è però il fatto che può essere piegato completamente, diventando tanto sottile da potersi infilare ovunque. L’altezza complessiva è di poco più un centimetro da seduto, un risultato a dir poco fantastico.
Consigliato senza alcuna riserva, è un acquisto che non può lasciare insoddisfatti.