Vice upgrade

[chris kowaleski]

I need to upgrade my tying vice, i'd like to get a midgrade one or so. Anyone have any reccomendations?

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Pretty good. I'd like to have one. Maybe Xmas....

[Leo Nguyen]

Hey Jesse, you're right about the vices are being placed in an interesting shootout. Regal Inex, by research and observation on other using it, is pretty much as stiff and dead as the $40 vice I have right now, designed for beginner. However, adding that extra edge for $15 to get the Regal Medallion Traditional Jaw, or even adding $35 for the Big Game Jaw, you're golden, and have more flexibility.

I've check out Bass Pro Shop on all the mentioned vices, and even the cheap end. My chime on the dime I will put out is the Regal Medallion Traditional or bigger jaw, or the Peak Vise.

There's one thing that I favor the most between the vices: the ease of switching in and out of the hooks, as well as the grip strength. The Regal Medallion tossed all the quick release lever jaws out the door. The tension on the Regal jaw is crazy, and the ease of just squeezing the existing lever to open the jaw, then let to go clamp the hooks down. The quick release lever on the other models requires constant adjustments to match the hooks' sizes and holding tension discouraged me a bit. I'm dealing with the $40 vice that cause me enough headaches because of the poor tension on the jaw adjustment nob. Saving it up for the Regal.

[Jesse Denton]

I can't think of the name of the vice I am currently using, it was a little over $40 from Netcraft.  I have tweaked the rotary part where it works very smooth and it locks steady with ease.  The jaws could be better but I tie a few flies at a time and don't really mind spending an extra 0.50 second aligning and tightening the jaws.  I have had a few trout fly hooks go flying but its rare.  My biggest problem with my tying isn't my vice. 

[Leo Nguyen]

I tied both large and small species. Panfish primarily. Then trout. Then large species, primarily bass, then others. The $40 vice, and even the high end $150 has a grip issue. The fly demo guy agreed. He even suggested to big with the $279 Regal combo set rather than the top notch $325 set if I am planning to use large species hooks. I smirked, and Regal was the last impression I have heading out.