Some other differences--the old VS have a stainless steel main shaft, the new ones are titanium. BFD, in my opinion
The new VS have a sealed drag of some sort of graphite composite material. The old ones have a Penn-style drag with sucky washers made out of a material called Rulon. The good news is, you can get two HT-100 and one Teflon Penn washers of the 704-size and have a great drag without spending another deuce for the new reel.
As a result of the different shaft and drag, spools from the same size "old" VS reels won't fit on the new, and vice-versa
Threaded Mode