I've read lots of forums concerning bike tires for hybrid bikes. Everybody has their own opinion. Since tires can be fairly expensive and hard to compare head to head, I was wondering if anybody knows of an unbiased bike tire comparison similar to the way Consumer Reports reviews consumer products. I am looking at qualities such as puncture resistance, rolling ease, traction etc. Any help would be appreciated.

Let's see if I get the first post giving advice but not answering the OP's actual question: Nope, I don't know of any reliable unbiased reports or sites comparing bicycle tires with the criteria of Consumer Reviews. My opinion, is group-thinking opinions have been much more valuable for almost every product I can think of.

You have to take into account, what you think are each persons values, bias, and conditions or environment they use their product. (Weigh their opinion) So far sites like BikeForums, Budgetlighting forum, various outdoors, knife, and kitchen knife forums, and a smattering of Amazon reviews have done well for me. My outdoor equipment, bicycle tires, woodsman's and kitchen knives, cutting boards, sharpening stuff, wood carving knives and chisels, smartphone mfg and OS, all have performed pretty much as expected.

Often I find head to head opinions of similar tires from members here, and other forums. (where I just lurk, honest!) Find the folks that have tried lots of different tires, get to understand what their criteria are, and you should be able to get down to 3 or 4 different tires.

Then you go to each mfg site and look at their tire construction graphics, try to understand what their proprietary puncture resistant bands are really made of to finish off your opinion of the best tire to try.

I have done a little study project on the subject. I have seen the results of empirical studies that tell me trends as follows, for tires of a particular width:
(1) If you want lesser rolling resistance, a more supple tire (more threads per inch) is what you want. Usually this suppleness seems to be at the expense of flat protection. The heavy honking thick and stiff tires like I have with flat protection are not light and supple.
(2) Slick tires have less rolling resistance than heavily treaded tires, especially treads with wider gaps between treads.
(3) Higher pressure tires have less rolling resistance than lower pressure tires.
I don't have an answer regarding specific brands and models; my experience is limited to two sets of tires from different manufacturers that are so similar in characteristics that it's scary: Conti Town Ride (came on bike) and Schwalbe Marathon Dureme (discontinued, bought on sale). The Conti's do well for me for training if I keep them inflated to max pressure. I haven't tried the Schwalbe's yet but since their max pressure is 20# higher than the Conti's, I expect them to be a little faster, although they are the same size (28x1.6).

How would one rate a tire: miles per dollar, divide by number of flats? One can compare rolling resistance to another brand & model in a carefully controlled comparison study (I had one around here someplace but forgot which thread it is in), but how can you assign a number that quantifies it for a table? I hope I didn't sound like I know what I'm talking about here; sometimes I can't help myself.

A friend just told me about these tires which he really likes: Compass Bicycles: 700C Tires. Note that these are 26s. Check out some of the blog articles on that site; they talk about suppleness too.

Marathon Supremes. Good grip on the road and corners very well, more supple than the Town Ride tires that are OE on my bike. Supposed to be very flat resistance using Vectran fabric. And the 700x40 version is 500g so they're super light for a tire that size. Down side is the tire is $80.

These are not designed with off-road in mind, but I have taken this tire off-road on maybe 100 miles dirt and single tracks with about 30 PSI in them and they handled ok. Just gotta be careful and pick good lines.

Ditto these. I have 700x32 on mine. I ride it everywhere, over debris, and even broken glass and they are holding up well. I ride mine with 80 PSI (I'm 135 lbs). I could ride with less pressure if I wanted to, but I like the firm ride.

I've ridden them down dirt roads and they go ok. Cornering in the dirt can be sketchy though. There isn't much grip. This tire is more road biased. And they are extremely light to boot.

throwing more money down does get you a nicer tire..

you would choose a different tire if fast cornering were the criteria rather than long wearing.

High coin tires usually do well.. had a few exceptions.

Low end.. cost efficient and wear usually is nearly the same per wt. I ran a set of old style Chen Shen 26" with diamond tread.. low pressure with the rib down the center. Over inflated them winter riding.. they rolled very well. Had over 3500 on them when I mounted them on a bike flipped. Likely their still going.

If you want to get the most value from your tires you have to use them for what they're made for. Mountain tires don't last long on pavement and road tires are shredded by dirt and pebbles just as quickly. However, I have to second Aladin's testimony on Cheng Shin's long-lived tires. The second most distance I ever put on a set of tires was the pair of Cheng Shins that came on my first multi-speed bike I ever had, a 1995 Huffy Free Spirit 15-speed MTB. They outlived the crankset at over 4000 miles (somehow the cranks came loose from the chainwheel). My longest lived tires are still in use. Bontrager Select Invert, 2007 vintage. They've been on 3 bikes with 5000 miles combined mileage. Too bad they don't come in 29" or I'd get another pair. Seems when it comes to road tires for 29" MTBs, I'm limited to Big Apples or Fat Franks, so that decision's made for me. Thanks, Schwalbe!