Product review: Regal vise

[SlowNDeep]

Got a Regal vise yesterday and have been sitting here watching football and tying flies all afternoon.

The primary reason I got the vise is because mounting the hook in the vise is so simple, even when switching hook sizes. 8)

Tied a bunch of flies in sizes ranging from 6-16 and every hook got locked in really well, no slipping in the jaws at all. I'm really happy with this vise, it holds hooks SO much better than my old vise, even holds the 6's so good they'll bend before slipping (without using the notch)

I got the midge jaws for tying really small stuff but dont think I'll use them much. When tying with the 16's, I felt I could go a lot smaller without switching, and I dont tie much below 20's anyway.

I could go on forever, but I wont bore you to death. Suffice to say, this vise lives up to the hype; meeting all expectations, a rare event for sure.

[alanb_ct]

That's wonderful. What were you tying with before? You already know the minor things to look out for with the Regal. The jaws are so strong, you can sometimes flatten the wire on small hooks (used to be more of a problem when I used Mustad), occasionally a hook will fly out of the jaws (ping!), especially a tiny hook with not a lot of area in contact with the jaws. I hope the Regal gives you many decades of happy fly-tying, you have made a wise investment.

[SlowNDeep]

[quote author=alanb_ct link=topic=1220.msg7830#msg7830 date=1200914191]
That's wonderful. What were you tying with before? You already know the minor things to look out for with the Regal. The jaws are so strong, you can sometimes flatten the wire on small hooks (used to be more of a problem when I used Mustad), occasionally a hook will fly out of the jaws (ping!), especially a tiny hook with not a lot of area in contact with the jaws. I hope the Regal gives you many decades of happy fly-tying, you have made a wise investment.
[/quote]

I had a Traveler before this and liked it enough for sure, but was never really thrilled with the hook holding ability, and the mechanism of clamping the jaws. I hear that the new cam-locking jaws are easier to deal with , but you still have to adjust the front screw to each hook size, so rather than get the new jaws, I decided to go with the Regal.

As with anything, there are tradeoffs, and I'll gladly deal with the "ping" feature. If I ensure that the hook is deep enough into the jaws, I don't have to worry about that. When I do eventually decide to tie flies that are smaller than a 20, I usually do them in bulk just to get it over with, so I wont mind using the midge jaws, or even using the Traveler for them.

I am truly amazed at how well this thing holds the bigger hooks. Can really crank down on my egg flies now ;D

[Fascist Killer]

Did you get the standard jaws or the stainless?

[Nymphmeister]

Eddie, the cam version of the Traveller is a huge improvement, no problem with hook holding ability whatsoever. It takes literally about 2 seconds to change the jaw adjustment for different hook sizes.

[SlowNDeep]

[quote author=Nymphmeister link=topic=1220.msg7878#msg7878 date=1200976633]
Eddie, the cam version of the Traveller is a huge improvement, no problem with hook holding ability whatsoever. It takes literally about 2 seconds to change the jaw adjustment for different hook sizes.
[/quote]

I used the Traveler for a long time and was mostly happy with it, the true rotary feature is very nice, but I found that I used it very little. I have replaced the rear set screws twice, and am not satisfied with the way the vise holds larger hooks. I decided to give the Regal a shot because I know lots of guys who tie a lot and have one, and they are all happy with the quality of the product and the way Regal backs their product.

As much as people belittle Orvis and LL Bean, they really do a great job backing their products, I imagine Renzetti could learn a lesson from them and swap all the jaws with the inadequate locking mechanism.

Rego, I went with the standard jaws, because I dont tie a ton of really small flies (and it was available immediately at the show), but I have the midge jaws just in case.

[Nymphmeister]

In addition to my Renzetti, I also own a Regal, had it for 20+ years. It holds well, but the jaw chipped on me. As advised by others, small hooks can shoot out of the vise- I think that may be how my jaw got chipped on it.

[Fascist Killer]

Regal introduced stainless steel jaws in 07 (I think) to overcome the chipping problem caused by the PING!

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...equestid=20011

Has anyone tried the revolution? Doesn't quite have the clean lines of teh other regals but offers full rotary. From pictures it looks like the rotary feature is similar to the nor-vise, but without the inline jaws, though the regal jaws look like they're closer to inline than most.

[alanb_ct]

I have used my Regal (hardened steel, not stainless) for over a decade. Lots of pings, but no chips so far.

A little known fact about the Regals is that they are easy to change from right (the default) to left-handed tying. I am a lefty, but I successfully used the Regal with the head upside down for many years, until I saw an obscure Internet post somewhere. It took less than a minute to switch it over with an Allen wrench. The Regal is really a high-quality instrument.

[trout5]

I have a Traveller also, but the cam version and as Torrey said, the jaw assembly works great. I holds hooks well enough to break them if you pull too tight!