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Thought I'd update this with our experience so far. I ended up getting a nook STR and my wife got a refurb kindle 3, and we have been having an ereader battle over the last week to compare the two and see which ones we liked the best.
We put the same book on both readers and set the font size, screen margins, and line spacing to be as close to each other as possible.
The nook was $140 and the kindle was $99. The kindle is a refurb but I can't tell that from new.
The amazon website interface and content for ebook purchase is better than the anemic, poorly designed b&n interface by a long shot.
The nook wins on size and weight, though to be honest I don't know that this has much effect in terms of when the reader is in use, but certainly favors the nook in terms of portability (fits in purse better etc)
We realized in short order that both devices required a light in order to read them comfortably in most all our situations. They work good in direct sunlight and they work ok during a semi-cloud covered day outside but we have found that we use the lights most all of the time indoors, unless the room happens to be very brightly lite with little shadowing. The nook clip-on light works very well on both ereaders. At first I was annoyed that light was required so much of the time but I've since found that it's really not an issue and the light improves the reading experience a bunch.
The screens on both the devices are good. The eink is really easy on my old eyes, and both my wife and I find them easy to read as compared to reading for long periods on a computer screen. Having said that, I give the kindle a nod over the nook in the screen category. I find the nook background looks more clouded, less white and clear at times. This may have something to do with screen refresh difference between the two, I don't know.
The kindle allows a larger sized font to be selected and I wish the nook had that capability as well. The font on the kindle is thin, whereas the font on the nook is too thick to me eyes. There is a certain font size, line spacing, and margin setting that combined with the clearer background just make the kindle screen stunningly clear, bright, and super easy to read for me. I have tried every conceivable combo of font size/type on the nook and cannot reproduce it. If I were to change one thing about the nook, this would be it. I swear the kindle screen is so clear and crisp that I can read that thing from halfway across the room, even with these old eyes.
Also, it should be noted that my wife says she doesn't see that much difference between the two screens, so like much of what we discuss on here, it often just comes down to individual preference.
Shortly after I had my nook set-up b&n saw fit to put three 'sample books' on my device that I didn't request. I know that many people don't think this type of thing is a big deal, but it really irritates me and I find it a completely unacceptable practice. I believe the amazon approach is more ethical and honest where they offer a reader at X price point with advertising and another one at Y price point without. This leaves the choice up to the consumer from the get-go with no surprises. I learned real quick to keep the wifi turned off on the nook.
I was initially concerned about the nook page turn buttons being hard to press based on my in-store testing, but now I am Really happy they are hard to press because I often hold the device on or near these buttons while reading, and the page turn via the touch screen works very well. My wife on the other hand has complained several times that the page turn buttons on the kindle were easily false triggered.
The touch screen interface on the nook works very well and I am much more pleased with it than I thought I would be. Much prefer it over a hard-buttoned keyboard.
Perhaps the biggest discouragement in the whole deal is just the cost of the ebooks that we like. I downloaded a few free books, a couple $1-$5 books and one $15 book and of course the $15 book was the only one I found worth reading. My wife has found that the trilogies and the like start out with the initial book somewhat inexpensive and then subsequent ones have the price jacked up. This practice is just business/marketing 101 so I understand it from that perspective, and of course consumer demand is at play here with an emerging technology.
We are $250 into ereaders plus X amount into ebooks already and this is looking to be a more costly endeavor than I had hoped. Yes, we of course get enjoyment from it, but whether that enjoyment is so much better via the ebook reader vs the oftentimes less expensive paperback I don't know yet. I can see now that our monthly budget will need to be increased due to this endeavor. Oh well, I got a card for my nook and will try the side-loading deal this weekend. Maybe with more time looking at what is out there in inexpensive ebooks I can find some that appeal to me and are more budget friendly.
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