Please forgive me for not reading the entire thread.
I own a Zojirushi Rice cooker and I must say, it was well worth the money. I looked around on ebay for one and found a 5.5 cup for 150 including the cost of shipping. I didn't bid right away and lost out on the auction. When I had the money to burn, I searched again and found another for 150 including shipping and bought it right away. Turns out, I bought a 10 cup.
LOL!!
It's very simple to use and it was well worth the 150 spent. My GF and I make a lot of dishes (and I like the rice by itself) so it's getting a work out. I've talked to a few others who have them. Some swear by the 30 dollar ones you can get a Wallmart, others complain about it cooking poorly, but than don't wanna spend cash on something better. A friend of ours has a Panasonic one (IIRC) that works good considering it's older than dirt, but doesn't compare to ours.
IMHO, as long as you make enough dishes calling for rice, you should spend the money on it. You can make everything from sticky rice to moist rice just by fiddleing with the amount of water you add.
Here's a pic of the one I own.
10 cups is WAAAAAYYYY more than we'll ever make, but for the price I found it on ebay for it's worked out well. It'll work more when we get out into our own place and I get to cook more!