Usually we skip right over the extended warranties offered by companies at time of checkout. The reason for this is most devices will not fail within 2 years under normal use.  Devices usually fail between 3-5+ years.  This article will give you a bit of insight into the warranties offered for the Kindle 2 and the Kindle DX electronic reading devices.  It will tell you what it will cover and what it won't.

Original Kindle 2 and DX warranty

The manufacturers warranty that comes automatically with the Kindle 2 and Kindle DX protect it for 1 year. This means that if the device stops working one day or the battery fails, Amazon will automatically replace it. Now it is important to tell you that if you drop your Kindle, and it stops working, you will have an expensive paperweight and it will not be replaced.  If you drop your Kindle and it still works, then fails within 1 year of purchase, you will be required to ship the device to Amazon, if they determine that the failure is a result of your past accident (drops) they will not replace it.

2 Year extended warranty

The two year extended warranty is available for new Kindle owners who add it when they buy their Kindle, it is also available to Kindle owners who have purchased their device within 30 days. This is very nice, if you choose not to add it when you buy your Kindle, you can add it within a month and be covered. It is important to add that the extended warranty is not administrated by Amazon, rather a 3rd party company called "Service Net", which has a Better Business Bureau A+ rating.

What it covers:

• Accidental damage (Dropping your Kindle) within 2 years
• Device failure within two years

What it does not cover:

• Flood (Your Kindle takes a swim in a flash flood)
• Acts of God (A freak wind storm causes a tree to fall on your Kindle)
• Acts of war (You are backpacking through a war zone and your Kindle takes a bullet)
• Fire (Your Kindle suffers third-degree burns in a reading room fire)
• Misuse (Using your Kindle to play frisbee)
• Pretty much everything else

Cost of warranties

Kindle 2: $65.00

Kindle DX: $109.00

If we take a look at these numbers, this cost protects you from accidental damage and device failure for two years, so basically you are paying $32.50 per year for the Kindle 2 and $54.50 per year for your Kindle DX. This small amount will provide you peace of mind in case you accidentally drop your expensive electronic book reader.

Prices are listed in US Dollars, only US customers are eligable for this warranty.

Editors Note: We dropped our Kindle 2 yesterday onto a concrete floor and it landed face down. As we paused for a second to reflect and pray that the screen would survived, we wished that these warranties could be sold to people outside of the US.  We flipped over the Kindle 2 and it looked fine, the Kindle took the hard hit and survived. We were lucky, some people are not.

Conclusion

We despise extended manufacturers warranties as they are just about making another couple bucks from you. However, when a warranty includes accidental damage protection we shift gears very quickly.  We absolutely recommend this warranty as it protects your investment for two years.  Drop your Kindle 2 or Kindle DX and break it? No problem, call the toll free number that you recieve and they will ship out a replacement for you very quickly.

Remember, before you buy it, read through the Terms and Conditions.  This is essential, it will tell you exactly what is covered and what is not.  You can read through some of the reviews on Amazon and the poorly rated reviews are from people who failed to read the fine print and were surprised when their Kindle was not replaced.  Being a smart consumer starts with reading the fine print.

We recommend this product to everyone who inquires about it, because for the cost of 3 books (5 for Kindle DX) you have peace of mind in case that beautiful device slips out of your hands in horror.

Product Page

2 Year Warranty for Kindle 2

2 Year Warranty for Kindle DX

(Note: These links open a new window, if you do not see the new page, disable any popup blockers)