Well didn't get votes in time but I do love my paperwhite as well :D. Haven't tried the alternatives(other than older kindle versions) personally though.
I strongly recommend to anyone here to go for the Kindle. I have a Kindle Paperwhite, and two people in my family have Kobo Glos. While the Kindle is more expensive upfront, the books are cheaper, and it has less issues. One of the Kobo Glos came with only 247MB, when it should have had 2GB, and no Micro SD card would fit in the slot, because the locking mechanism was broken. Kindle has had no problems, and I've saved money overall.