Quote:
|
Originally Posted by basswipe
It saddens me that Penn never gave the 704/706 reels some basic improvements like a sealed drag,infinite anti-reverse and a ball bearing line roller
(on the 704) and get rid of the plastic sideplate.It would make for as close to a
perfect surf reel without breaking the bank.
|
The 704/706 reels were their own worst enemy. Very little profit margain and by and large, only surfcasters buy them. That's the only market there is for old style cupped spool reels. In the overall fishing picture, it's a miniscule market. Plus, unlike most other reels, they're not cash cows when it comes to replacement parts--they're just built too damn simply and too damn good. You can almost bet that when new ownership whose biggest concern is the bottom line acquires a company, the first reels to go will be the ones that are cheap and durable. No company is going to spend the money to re-engineer, and re-tool to produce, a 45 year old design that has limited market appeal. The bail post on the 704 is too small to accept a ball bearing, and people who are a lot smarter than me have thought for about 15 years whether there's any way to jerry-rig an infinite anti-reverse into the existing reel body, without finding one. So you have to redesign the bail post, the bail itself, and re-design the body to accept a one way roller bearing somewhere. What you would end up with is a old-fashioned cupped spool reel with limited marketability, at probably double the existing price. It wasn't going to happen, unfortunately.
Hey, I like 4x4 trucks with solid front axles, manual locking hubs, and a durable gear-driven transfer case instead of a chain-driven "shift-on-the-fly" one. A lot of serious 4x4 buyers feel the same way. Auto makers don't build trucks for us any longer--they build them the way most people are going to buy them. You can get a Ford 250 or 350 with manual hubs but without a solid axle. You can get a Dodge or a Jeep Wrangler with a solid axle, but you can't get hubs. You can't get a GM truck with either. If you want to make money, you have to market what the majority of your customers want, and let the niche market fend for themselves.