Airport X-Ray Machines Killing Kindles?

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Traveling during the holidays? Own a Kindle? Well then, you should probably read this.

According to the UK's Telegraph newspaper, Kindle owners have said their e-book readers produced blank screens and were nonfunctional after passing through the X-ray machines at European airports. Amazon has replaced users' dead Kindles, and the company stresses that airport security scanners aren't to blame. An Amazon spokesman told the Telegraph, "Many Kindle users travel by air, and their Kindles are screened by airport security every day without issue."
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I'm skeptical. I think the problem is probably something else. Probably rough handling of baggage the Kindle is contained in.
 
I'd be interested in seeing the failure rate of Kindles for frequent travelers vs the general failure rate. I fly all the time. I'm averaging more than six flights a month and none of the electronics I regularly carry has failed in almost four years of this, of course none of what I carry is an ereader...
 
Count me in the skeptical group as well. I'm a frequent flier in a company of project managers and field workers who are also all frequent fliers (there are 130 of us right now) and I have yet in my 5 years of working here as IT manager received iPads, HP tablet convertibles, Macbooks or laptops of any kind for repairs due to airport X-ray machines.

Majority of my laptop repairs consist of LCD inverter failures, drive failures and stuck keyboards, all of which are easy to fix. None of the repairs are due to being zapped by X-ray machines.

Are Kindles lacking some kind of electrostatic protection?
 
Ravynmagi said:
I'm skeptical. I think the problem is probably something else. Probably rough handling of baggage the Kindle is contained in.
Click to expand...

yeah same here. I've flown with both my phone and tablet and never had an issue with either going through the xray machine (although, was a little nervous about the possiblity of something like that happening, despite the DHS/TSA agent telling me that I have nothing to worry about)

I'm guessing that it's either a coincidence or they were mishandled. Although, carry on stuff like a kindle would be within sight almost the entire time.
 
although its not impossible, i'm calling shenanigans here. i have to put my stuff through an x-ray machine going into where i work EVERY time. i have put an old crappy cell phone through, i know many coworkers that do the same. as well as kindles, laptops, etc. there has never been a problem.

x-ray is very close to gamma in the electromagnetic spectrum, might as well say its the same. there just isn't enough exposure time to matter and its nowhere near what really damages electronics - electrostatic.

now hitting camera film is a different story...
 
I work for the largest electronics manufacturer in the world. We routinely x-ray our products as soon as they come off the assembly line as part of inspection process to insure that all of the components are soldered on correctly. Its a very common practice in the industry.

I'm sorry, but I call BS on this, I seriously doubt its the x-rays themselves that are causing the damage. The static electricity caused by the belts mentioned in the article is more plausable.
 
I'm wondering if anyone that has already posted is from Europe? The article specifically states x-ray machines in Europe, not saying anything at all about the US. Would there be any difference between the machinery in Europe and here? And I'm not just talking about the x-ray machines, but the conveyer belts that even carry the baggage through the machines.

Doubting something when you have no facts is hard to do. As well as proving it true.
 
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