Not a whole lot of experience here, but I have owned a 5500SS for about a year and I don't like it. The antireverse is horrible> I've used many other spinners that I liked better. I think Penn is the BEST reel company ever but I'm dissapointed with the new SS series, have used a 8500SS and 6500SS also.
Trade it for a 704Z - my friend gave me one, an older one and I opened it all up, scrubed all parts in Simple green, soaked all metal in Paint thinner and put it together packing it with Penn lube. AWESOME REEL I have to say, it's my surf reel and I love it.
