1) http://flaHost.com It's brand new, and it has really good prices. Plus, I'm a staff member, so if you PM me, I'm sure we can arrange something extra
I've had sites on GoDaddy and Lunarpages, and for my money, lunarpages is better, but YMMV depending on your needs and core skillsets. I like being able to do most things from a cli, so I like lunarpages, despite that silly button interface.
I'm using hostgator right now and I'm really happy with the service they provide. I really like the inbuilt scripts so I don't have to install anything by myself. Also, their customer support is awesome
StartLogic is my favorite. I got a rebate at ratemyhost.com so the I actually got the first year and a half of hosting for free.
A cheap host is generally unreliable, but what the heck, FlaHost is run by a person called Attitude, who is pretty good at what he does. So it would be good. As for the best host, I'd say HostedFX is the best. The link is in my signature, I'm not in the mood to go and search for one. They are good, and trust me, I know loads of people who use it and are plesed with it.