Interestingly enough, Consumer Reports rated e-Readers again in a recent magazine, and they had the new Nook (Simple Touch) at the top -- not that Sony eReader owners will like the new ratings, the various Kindles come next, but they did at least note the format support on the Kindles as a negative.
Not sure if you'll be able to see this if you're not a subscriber, but here is the link:
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/e...s-overview.htm
I own a Kindle, but the ratings seem "about right" to me, the new Nook screen seems to me OK, doesn't fuzz up like the older Sony's did, combine that with the consequent small form factor, it's a nice package. The original Nook was OK, pretty close to Kindle in function and handling, albeit a bit thicker, maybe needed to be plugged in a bit more, and the Color Nook was definitely a step forward -- although I went the full tablet route (which allows me to read both Nook and Kindle books on the same device, bigger screen, etc.) -- and a really good buy for the equipment.
Generally when Consumers rated something well that I'd bought, I thought they were geniuses, and when they disagreed, they were dummies ;-) Just human nature. And they definitely get things wrong at times, maybe even a little wrong a lot of times. But then I do give them credit for trying, and over time, they do seem to correct. We all need to realize that our criteria and weights for buying items may be different from Consumers, thus our own "ratings" perhaps different. I did observe the foreign car thing, I'm not going to call it a bias, and it was unfortunate (I have relatives in the domestic car industry), but I do think there were was in the U.S. domestic car industry, cost and reliability and focus issues (great trucks/lousy cars), a lot of which were overcome recently, these were legitimate and Consumers was far from the only one pointing them out. And over time, as the Domestic cars got better, they have risen in the ratings (as has been the case with Korea), which tended to lower Japanese and particularly German cars.
Do I agree with all the Consumers' ratings? Well, no. And clearly at times they're taxed to rate fairly and completely some of the more complex and numerous consumer devices on the market. But generally there are some things they are good at, and they are in any case a good first-step, particularly if you know little or nothing about a prospective purchase. Any consumer purchase judgement, given enough time, will benefit from a number of sources or opinions. There are a lot of magazines and newspapers and websites out there, none is perfect, but I do think Consumers Reports is in general one worth reading, even if one ultimately makes a decision in favor of something else.