I was at academy sports today and seen this reel with a 5:1 gear ratio and thought about it getting it for cranking.

Mine is in the bottom of a lake. It was no accident.

No if you want a Pflueger and a good decent crank reel;\

TRION LP; 5:31 at most stores for 99 bucks, I fished it for 2 years, great reel

I love my Pflueger reels, they are about half my arsenal, but I wouldn't buy below the Asaro, although I have heard good about the trion for $99, may be a good choice for 5.x:1.  I think it would be better to take an extra $30-40 and get a power version of last years energy.  Some dicks still have them for $80-90 and can also be found on ebay for that price.

The Pflueger Criterion is not worth the effort to walk it out to your garbage can.  Keep looking.

No if you want a Pflueger and a good decent crank reel;\

TRION LP; 5:31 at most stores for 99 bucks, I fished it for 2 years, great reel

    x2.  Great reel for $99.00.

    It also has a pretty good line capacity to handle long cast that comes with crankbait fishing.

 I just happen to have be reading the June issue of Field & Stream today at lunch. They asked 4 manufacturers to submit a $50 BC for testing

1) Diawa Strikeforce  rating 4.5    2 testers gave 1st place scores all 4 agreed they'd buy this reel.  misses - star drag kind of hard to get at compared to handle

2) Shimano Callisto rating 4.0    1 1st place score - liked the mag control, 1 felt like the drag and braking were loose

3) Pflueger Criterion rating 3.5    3 really liked it, one 1st place score, reel broke down on the 4th guy Pflueger offered to fix for free One guy said he "couldn't tell much difference from his $250 ABU"

4) BPS tny special 3.0   3 last place votes "sticky levelwind and too much plastic"

They asked 4 man's to submit reels in this price range and they were tested by 4 F&S fisherman.

 If it were me I'd be more inclined to wait for the BPS Extreme's to go on sale as they are often marked down to $59 or less. You can find on E-bay for probably less especially if used.

Note All had at least one first place except maybe the BPS

FFI- AKA Matt Crum