By most accounts, the Q400 is a great bird. I am friendly with one Colgan pilot (former USAF) who believes it to be an outstanding, forgiving, pilot-friendly airplane. On the inside, it's not much different from a CRJ.

For flights like EWR-BOS where your in-air time is less than an hour, they are perfectly adequate, though Colgan flights are the first ones to get canceled in the event of inclement weather.

Last year's accident was the tragic result of a number of factors converging at the worst possible instant (as most crashes are), but hardly any of those considerations were directly attributable to the design, maintenance, or build quality of the airplane. As for the crew issues, that's a topic of discussion I'd rather not broach. I have confidence in the professionalism of Colgan's flight crews.