Looking to buy a reel dedicated to fishing shallow to mid depth crankbaits. I don't plan on spending more than 250-300. Any recommendations on as far as what your favorite reel for cranks is?

Hard to go wrong with a Curado E5 for that price range. Casts great and doesn't wear you out to fish with all day.

Zillion Crazy Cranker!

Daiwa Sol

For shallow and mid-depth cranks (say, down to 10-12 feet), you can use just about any reel or ratio - get whatever floats your boat. If you're going deeper than 12 feet or so, you might consider a reel with a low 6.x or a 5.x:1 ratio. The was a recent thread about cranking reels where the merits of high-speed vs. low-speed ratios were discussed - you might want to review it to get some opinions on the topic: http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1293677180

I personally use a 6.4:1 (26IPT) reel for shallow- & mid-cranks... :

EDIT - here's the link to another thread on cranking reels: http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1293145256

I have Citica 200Es on all three of my cranking rods. I have nothing to complain about. They cast cranks from 1/4oz all the way up to 1oz. It does have problems with some smaller, flat balsa baits though.

Daiwa Sol or maybe the new CuradoE 50.

Shimano Curado 50 E would be great for that. At 6.4:1 it would be a perfect cranking reel.

I have a Revo Winch which is 5.4:1 which also works great for cranking applications but seems to excel with heavier applications.

Same price range for both.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1291407899/10#10

it doesnt get better than that IMO.