"I have until tomorrow to return this reader..are there less problems with ADE and other readers?"
Product activation, or digital rights management 'activation', management of those activation keys, associating keys with email addresses, etc.. etc.. seems to me to be an adobe problem, more than a device specific problem.
In your case it was not the device that caused the problem with activation, it was your rights management as controlled by adobe. The countless other individuals over at
http://forums.adobe.com/community/ad...gital_editions will, and apparently have already, pointed you to the correct procedure to resolve your experience with this widespread problem.
Unlike digital rights management, over which you have no control of what-so-ever, returning the device is something that you yourself are in complete control of ( at least for the next day ).