[Nook Color General] Sirchuk:
1. I have been finding a mixed answers on battery life. How long will it last with say moderate reading?

I would guestimate about 6-8 hours of reading

2. Video play back? I read that it can and cant play back avi files and such.... i believe it needs to be rooted to do so? I would love to be able to watch movies on this that I can pre-load on sd cards and bring a nice library of movies with me.

Even rooted some videos are choppy. If you format the videos into one more suited for the NC, it'll play them very well. You could do this before you leave, but doubtful you'll be able to once you ship out. In 6 months time though, a lot can happen, likely a stable Froyo that will play most videos.

3. In-store access with rooted NC, I read that yes you can get on, and that you cant. I have 6 months before I leave and have a BN store nearby, would like to access free content before I leave.

There currently is no Android market on any nook color, rooted or not. You can side-load applications with a rooted one, but until someone gets the setup wizard working or a stock android version, you likely won't have the market. The guy at B&N told me that the Android market was going to be available in a future patch, sometime early next year, but take that with a grain of salt since it's from someone in a retail store.

Also, since you've already got an android phone, you can download applications from your phone and load them onto your NC, so it's almost the entire app store with just a little more hassle of moving them over. Of course, there are plenty of apps that don't work yet, but that should change with future modding

4. Will rooting the phone take away from any of the original e-reader functions? Will i still be able to buy BN books from the device? This will be mostly a e-reader that can be used for movies, music and photo viewing.

You still have access to the B&N app post-root, but even better you've got access to the Amazon Kindle app.

5. Not as important just thought of it, but are there any cases for the NC that hold extra sd cards? A small pocket that can be used for this?

No idea, might want to have a look around to see what's available. You can always glue an envelope of some kind to the inside of a case. The Micro SD cards are tiny, so you'll want to store them safely.

Basically im looking to use this device almost as a laptop replacement. I will not be able to access any wifi networks on ship with a personal laptop or device. They provide Department of Defense computers to access your DOD email and and limited internet. I could possibly get wifi access in some ports but its not gonna be common. So if I can use the device to do the things I mentioned above and maybe some games IE angry birds, and take up a minimal space in my rack. This device for the price it is I don't think i can find something better. If you know of a device that could be better, such as a ipad (hate apple) or the galaxy tab, if its worth the upgrade in price let me know. But I want to use it as a E-reader first.

It's far from a laptop replacement. With "hacking" anything you are at the mercy of the device if you don't have a computer to hook it up to if something goes wrong. The iPad is going to be much more stable, as well as have more apps made for it. Of course, it's 2-3 times the price. The Galaxy Tab is going to be the same thing I think. Since you've got time to wait, you might want to see where the modding goes with the NC. If a stock Froyo build comes out for it, it'll probably be the best tablet on the market for the price, with only some missing features of the Tab (that you likely wouldn't use anyway.