Usually one or two important factors cut the field of alternatives down considerably. Clearly price will do the pruning here, and the challenge will be to avoid the troubles that can come with less mainstream purchases. E.g, regarding Craig Tablet:
http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/di...cussion-thread
Some alternatives you might consider are the Velocity Micro R101 Cruz (~$120) or the PocketBook 701 IQ (but that's getting up over your price target at ~$160). If you're less into color and tablet-like features, then there are numerous E Ink display pure-play ereaders too: Kobo, Kindle, Sony, NOOK, etc.