Review: PageFlip Firefly

Late last year we told you about PageFlip’s Kickstarter campaign to help fund a new page turner model, the Firefly. If you’re in the market for a page turner you’ve got lots of great choices, but we’ve always loved our Cicada for its all-in-one form factor, price, and replaceable batteries. The Firefly takes these strengths and improves upon them decisively, and the results are well worth the cost.

The Firefly isn’t a huge departure from its smaller sibling; it looks similar and works how you’d expect, but the refinements add up. It’s heavier, first of all, which makes it more stable than the Cicada and gives it a good feeling of heft. It’s almost twice the weight, and a little more than the AirTurn BT-105’s standard configuration (two ATFS-2 switches and the pedal board).

It’s the same width as the Cicada but its pedals are stretched farther forward and angled downward, giving you a more comfortable and reliable target. Its pedals are also lighted (configurable), so you can find them in poorly-lit environments, and the mechanism feels much smoother while still giving you enough feedback to know when they’re engaged.

First impressions matter, of course, and in this arena a lot of page turners fall short. The Cicada’s code entry system for pairing is simple but not obvious, and the BT-105’s single color-changing LED is sure to drive you mad when things don’t work as expected. The Firefly includes the Cicada’s easy one-button reset and does away with the code, making pairing and re-pairing a breeze.

If you’ve been considering getting a page turner, be sure to check this one out. It’s a solid entry and definitely worth a look. Find out more at PageFlip.com.