# Oberon DX Cover-Is It Worth The Price?



## ghum (Feb 13, 2009)

I was fortunate to be one of the Beta testers for Oberon's DX cover and therefore had the opportunity to voice some input to Oberon prior to release of their covers. I had some reservations about the price but Oberon Emailed the Beta testers to address those concerns. For those that are interested here is their justifications:

" We can't afford to lower the price without giving up our already slim profit. For this reason we want to take a moment to educate you on our pricing so that you can have a more informed perspective before giving us your response.

The DX is a very expensive cover for us to produce and is in fact the largest piece of leather we cut for any product we make. (The portfolios and extra large journals are made in 3 pieces). Here are some points to consider:

*The DX cover requires twice the amount of leather to produce than a K1 or K2 cover, the cover itself & the extra piece of top grain leather covering the spine area of the inside cover.

* This very large piece of leather needs to be relatively free of scars & common imperfections so the normal percentage of waste leather we get is much higher than that of a smaller piece. A golden rule of leather manufacturing is the larger the piece of leather used in a product the more expensive it becomes. Also, many leather products brought to market by some of our competitors are made from leather that has been sprayed with a coat of special paint to cover up imperfections. We do not have this option as any coating of leather prohibits us from successfully burning & tooling our images into it.

*The larger the format we work in the more difficult the work becomes, more buffing, skiving, dying, glue prep etc. The DX cover requires the most expertise in the shop in terms of craftsmanship.

*The added feature of the thong / kindle stand is an added cost in materials and labor.

*We invite you to investigate the price points of other handmade covers and products from companies such as: Cole Haan whose K2 costs $100-115 and is made in India. It's almost half the size of our DX cover.

http://www.amazon.com/Cole-Haan-Hand-Stained-Leather-Generation/dp/B001IZZ7RC

Renaissance-art leather journal measuring 7 x 10" is $119 (Our DX cover is 8 x 11") http://www.renaissance-art.com/Prod17/Product.aspx

One more example would be Epica leather covers made in Italy whose journals start at $100: http://www.epica.com/LEATHER-p-1-c-2.html "

Well, after having used the Oberon cover now for several weeks I am happy to announce that while initially I was a critic of the price I now see that I was wrong. It is hard to appreciate the quality of the cover until you actually have a cover in hand. In these difficult economic times price is always a concern, but for those who can afford the best, Oberon is the definitely the best! I was wrong and glad to admit it.


----------



## Mother Beaver (Nov 13, 2008)

It's definitely worth it!  I have the blue ROH for my DX.  It's gorgeous.


----------



## Wunderkind (Jan 14, 2009)

I don't have a DX but I saw one yesterday in an Oberon cover and the cover was beautiful. I have an Oberon for my K2 so I can appreciate the quality of these covers and would definitely get an Oberon if I were to buy a DX. The quality of Oberon's workmanship  definitely shows.


----------



## whiterab (May 29, 2009)

Depends on your point of view.

When one looks at the cost of manufacturing and compare the cover to other pieces of good leather that large, the Oberon cover is a bargain.

If you look at the cost of covering a piece of electronics and compare the functionality to cheaper covers, the Oberon route is expensive.

This means the "worth" of the product is totally subjective.  Made my choice.  My DX cover was my second Kindle cover from Oberon.


----------



## ghum (Feb 13, 2009)

I agree with you whiterab.  It depends on your  your priorities.  For functionality, other covers will do just as good a job. However comparing Oberon to other covers is like comparing driving an economy car vs driving a luxury car- both will function nicely but one is more enjoyable to use than the other.  What I did not expect when I used Oberon is that it made reading with my DX a more enjoyable experience.  I don't why  this is so except to say perhaps the tactile feel of the high quality leather reminds me of rich leather covered book.  In any case I am very happy with Oberon.


----------



## Skydog (Mar 16, 2009)

Yes!


----------



## Patrizia (Oct 29, 2008)

I have covers for all three of my Kindles and I have to admit this one is impressive


----------



## jazzi (May 4, 2009)

Definitely worth the price!


----------



## Spiritwind 1 (Jun 18, 2009)

I agree! Very worth the price. . .I did not even blink when they told me the price. (even though it was hard to come up with$$$$) I do understand how much time and $$$$$$ for quality materials it takes to do a quality piece of work/art. I am an artist myself and it takes alot to make quality work not even counting talent to make a piece of art. Go Oberon!!!!!!!


----------



## lglpoet (Aug 19, 2009)

Hell yes it's worth the price.  I received mine earlier this week. Took be about 45 minutes to come to the definitive conclusion that this was the DX cover (Tree of Knowledge - dark green) for me.  It is my fourth. If there's a fifth it will be another Oberon especially if they put the image of the owl in flight on the cover. An owl for the cover of your personal library carrier - how perfect.  The quality of my cover is greater than the price.  Even my daughter (16) loved it.  Hands across the generations is enough for me.


----------



## lglpoet (Aug 19, 2009)

Oops.  I have the Tree of Life (wraparound) not the Tree of Knowledge (no wrap around).  When I look at it I think of the closing lines of Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening"  

    The woods are lovely dark and deep
    And I have promises to keep
    And miles to go before I sleep
    And miles to go before I sleep


----------



## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

I'd still like to know if the Extra Large Journal fits the Amazon Hinge for the DX.  I might just go for the Kindle cover in this case because both together would be pricey, but it's good to know your options.  I've also heard people more worried about the additional strain with hinges on the DX so I'm not sure...


----------

