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i've gone thru many 704's and 706's thru the years. it was my first work horse spin reel for the surf. i started w/ a green 706, which after a few years of using i learned to hate the roller noise, especially w/ a fish on. i graduated to a 706z, which was a little better, but had the same issues. the reels would be under water a lot during wading, so whatever oil was in the roller would be gone by the end of the night.
on the 706z, the side plates were plastic, so they never held a tight seal to the housing, not that the 704/6 series were all that water tight in general. so, water penetrated and about once every other month or so the reel would need to be completely taken apart and regreased. this could be every 2 weeks to 4 weeks in the fall depending on the number of trips in that time. the drags needed to be cleaned after every trip, or at least every other or else they stuck. every other week, new drag washers. all this got old quick.
the 704's were better, especially after making them manual rollers. no roller noise. drill a few holes in the rotor cup and you now had it wash out sand freely. but, again, it needed constant attention.
"babysitting" one or 3 of these thru the fall or thru the season gets old fast. i've had several start to seize during the middle of fishing trip after coming close to the window of needing a new greasing. the reels were not made for constant underwater abuse, so it was time to upgrade. i didn't have time to constantly babysit the reel each night and thru a fall run. if the reel was kept out of the water, or only an occasional dunking it was fine.
years ago i purchased a vs250. it was the best investment i made to my surf fishing purchases that year. no more babysitting the reel. all i needed to do was rinse the reel off, an occasional few drops of light oil on the shaft, roller, and handle and it was new. i gladly paid the $40, or now $50, to have the reel service then to constantly do it myself w/ a penn 70x thru a seaon.
this is not a bash of a penn 704/6 as much as it is my own experiences with the reel. i still use one as a backup reel, but it is not part of my primary surf arsenal. it all depends on how hard you fish and what you expect out of your reel/gear. for me, less TLC is important as time is of the essence sometimes.
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