I'm thinking of getting one so I can read more, particularly on my upcoming vacation to Hawaii. I have an iPad and it is too big for reading. Lugging a bunch of books around is not optimal. Thoughts??

I absolutely love my kindle fire!

I have a kindle paperwhite, an iPad Air and an iPad mini

I like the kindle paperwhite because it doesn't need to charge regularly. It is for books only though. For travel, I tend to take the iPad mini because I can browse the internet, read and play games. We actually originally bought the iPad mini for our trip to Italy where I stored maps, restaurant information and overall tourist information. If you are an amazon prime member, you get one free book per month to read with the kindles. Otherwise, there are lots of free/cheap books to use and you may be able to check out books from your local library.

I have a Kindle Fire and it is awesome.
Not only can you buy/upload and read books, but it also uses the Android format to download useful apps that you may need and it has a web browser so you can get on the internet.

Really useful for things other than book-related (even though that certainly is a big reason why you're getting it!) But you'll be making a really good investment.

I have a Pandigital Android, a basic Nook reader and a 9 in Nook I use to get online because I like to have the bigger screen. I recently bought a basic Kindle, because Amazon has so many free Kindle ebooks. You will have to review what's available and decide what features you want. Since you already have an Ipad, you may want a dedicated reader that doesn't access the internet. They offer a longer battery life. Read the reviews and see what other people liked and disliked about each one. I like the long battery life of the basic Kindle touchscreen. It does not have a lit screen, so if you are interested in reading in the dark you will need that feature. Remember that the more features you have, such as backlit, color, internet access, the shorter the battery life will be. I like that it is small enough that I can easily carry it in my purse.

I have a Kindle paperwhite and a Kindle Fire. For reading purposes only, I like the paperwhite. The paperwhite screen looks more like the pages of a real book, which is important to me. Reading on the Kindle Fire, even though the brightness, coloring, font, etc can be adjusted, is still like reading from a computer screen. For full disclosure I am one of those people who much prefer holding a book in my hand than using an ereader, and use my paperwhite mostly for travel so I'm not lugging books around.

For everything else that is not reading, I use my Kindle Fire.