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I bought my first VS 250 in 1998. It has never been back to any of the 3 factories VS has had since then. Anything that had to be done, I did. I figure if I sent it in every year, I would have spent between $250 and $350 on srvice alone (even without parts), just to keep a lifetime warranty in effect. Which is useless to me now because they probably don't have many of the parts for my first generation reel. The reel only cost me $439. Almost buying it again over 10 years by having it faithfully serviced, when it obviously doesn't need it? Not for me.
Reel still works fine. It has Penn fiber washers in the drag, which are better than the original ones. The drag can be serviced as easily as a Penn, too. Pop off the retaining spring--the washers even go back in the same order as a Penn. Inside, the reel is no more complex than a Luxor 300. Don't be afraid to service it yourself. Just go slow and careful when you're seating the gear in the crosswind or traverse block--that's the only land mine to watch out for. You're better off removing the main gear from the plate, seating it in the block, and then carefully threading the side plate on, rather than trying to seat the gear while it's still in the plate.
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