Can you read PDFs on an E-reader?

newer kindles can. I'm guessing it's the same functionality across all devices, but I'm not an expert.

My Sony Reader can read PDF's. Even scanned PDF's (i.e. where the file is basically a bunch of images of pages). It can even zoom in/magnify on text PDF's. Has trouble with the image ones. I'm 99% sure that any reader not associated with a service can do PDF's.

Sure. Pdfs are quite as flexible as some other formats because they are more a picture than a text, but I prefer them and I do read them on my kindle.

Most ereaders can read PDFs, but PDFs aren't usually formatted for small screens. Particularly if they have graphics, they probably won't look good.

I've had some of the "image" PDF's try to fit entirely on the small screen, and not give me the option to magnify. Makes the text feel like 0.2 point font.

The iPad does a nice job with PDFs. You can tap the screen and it fills out to the vertical margins. Then you scroll up and down on the page.

I have an older Kindle. It does okay but not if the PDF has 8x10 or 6x9 aspect ratios. I format pdf books at 6x7 and they work well on the Kindle. See the FREE book in my signature. It's a pdf. Newer Kindles might be better with other sizes.

I find reading pdfs is fine so long as I turn the reader to landscape.

Most text PDFs on a Kindle are frickin' horrible. It is a source of boundless annoyance to me that agents often opt for a PDF version of an MS to send out on submission. They end up as tiny shrinky-dinky image files with loads of dead white space around them.

PDFs work fine on an iPad - it's basically about the amount of screen space available. But a Kindle is about 30% the size of the A4 page the PDF is generally made from.

As said previously, most E-readers can display PDFs - although if you are going to be looking at images, then maybe not the best idea. If the PDFs are text only, then you shouldn't have a problem reading them i.e. having to press magnify at every turn, OR you could also use a program like calibre to convert the PDF into a more ereader-friendly format.
If you want a cheap device - similiar to ipad but smaller, you could check out the Kindle Fire (it's a colour tablet), and very economically priced - around 200 dollars, I think. You can only get it in America at the moment - sorry for us peeps in Europe.

Usually I convert them to .mobi format because it makes them easier to read. And I've had no problems with this because it means I can use PDFs the way I read books on the Kindle. Like font size etc.

Kindle DX

I have two ebook readers:

1. Nook (for epub format)
2. Kindle DX (for azw, mobi, PDF)

The smaller ebook readers, like the Nook and the regular Kindles, may read PDF, but they are too small to handle the format, which is not a "reflowable" format. In other words, the page will always have the same format, regardless of screen size. That is not a bad thing; that is what a PDF is supposed to be like. But PDF was not meant for tiny screens.

The Kindle DX is larger than the regular ebook readers. I have found that I can read a screenplay in PDF format very easily on the DX. In fact, it is superb for this function. The print is reduced in size, but not all that much. And the DX knows to cut out the wasted space in the margins, so that helps, too.

Depends on the e-reader, as said above

I do know that if you send to Kindle it will convert for you, although the airtime will be charged to you, minimal as it is.