Roller or flat tappet.

Hi Guy's yeah i know you have probably answered this before but i am a fan of flat tappets especially solids, but you can't beat progress so i am considering a solid roller for my 496 bb with AFR 315's victor manifold etc, but from reading a few of the threads relating to roller maintenance i tend to think is it worth pounding out lifters amongst other valve train components (especially when using big solid rollers .700 lift 260-270 dur @50) when you can run solid f/t successfully year after year as i have, for example my friends 502 which has a crane f/t .659/.679 lift 272/280 [email protected] .050 & made 612hp & 608ft lb in which is basically a crate cast iron headed 502 with some port work, victor, 1000hp holley, etc etc .
So getting back to my original question can solid rollers be maintenance free to an extent or is it to be expected to replace such items as lifters every 15000 miles as evident from all the second hand lifters on ebay. If it means spending big bucks initially then so be it. Sorry guy's for such a long thread but i need some convincing. Thanks Mick (Down under).