After being outbid time and again on ebay and not having the funds for a LV or LN, I took a chance and purchased a Wood River #4. Since I haven't seen a lot of reviews for the Wood River planes yet I thought I would share.
First Impressions: It seems pretty well made to me. For comparison, I have two other planes: a Buck Brothers block and a LV BU Jointer. Overall workmanship is certainly not in Lee Valley's class, but it's miles ahead of the Buck Brothers.
Before using. there was plenty of oily stuff to clean off and the blade did have to be sharpened.
To test it out, I put it to work smoothing a scrap piece of walnut. Once I got it adjusted, I was very happy with the result. This was the first time I've used a smoother plane and it only took a few strokes to decide that I probably won't be buying a lot sandpaper in the future.
At this point, I have only two complaints about the tool: First is the lateral adjuster, which is just a stamped piece with the end twisted. As others have noted, it looks like the rivet that holds it on will loosen up with time. It's really the only part of the plane that feels cheap. Second is that the handle is a little small for my hand.
On the whole, I give it a thumbs up, but I think they should dump the wooden box it comes in and use the savings to improve the lateral adjuster.