Is this online site that helps you check link popularity reliable ? http://www.opensiteexplorer.org tell me your opinion ...
It's fairly reliable and gives a good picture of a site's quality (backlinks). But best used in conjuction with other similar tools. I find it very good when assessing the quality of a potential link partner. Far better picture imo than the pr.
Why dont you try mozila seoquake tool...This tool simply amazing,just add this tool to mozila firfox and he tell you every thing about website....
I've used it once or twice, seemed quite good. Although I haven't tried SEOquake so I think I'll give that a go.
I've been using OSE for 2-3 times, and it's pretty good to analyze you or your competitor's backlinks although I prefer MajesticSEO.com than OpenSiteExplorer