Vise help

Still fairly new to fly tying but I have already worn out the vise that came with the cheap starter kit I bought a few months back. I am soon to be in the market for a new one and I'm looking for the best vise under $200. if anyone has any advice or suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.

DanVise, it's half that price!

Peak Vice about $155.00 Made in the USA !!

Peak is considered the work horse and a great purchase.

I purchased the APEX rotary vise from BPS for $115. I love it. Also American made and great customer service.

I was just watching and reading some reviews on the Peak Rotary Vise looks like a steal!!! Plus all the awesome accessories you can buy for the sucker. Might be a little while before I can get the thing but I wanted to go ahead and get my feelers out for when the time comes. I think I can limp through until then with the cheap one I'm using now. Looks like the Peak vise with the pedestal breaks down pretty easy for traveling too. That is a big plus for me!

My local club had a bunch of guys who use Norvise, I couldn't resist. I LOVE IT! It's purdy too. It gets a spot in the living room. Norm is Top Notch too!!

Apex anvil is working for me. Allows me to tie down to a 26 with no problems. Vice will go smaller, but I can't see smaller than that. When I was down in Texas I had a peak, traded it off for the anvil since I tie nothing bigger then a 16 it seems anymore.

I was in the same boat as you not long ago, and I got the Renzetti Traveler for around $165. I absolutely love it, as you will any of the ones mentioned above. You won't believe the difference a good quality vice makes compared to the Indonesian piece of junk that comes in your starter kit.

I use Renzetti for last five year.. No issues..

+10 on the Renzetti Traveler!

Now I'm torn...both the Peak and Renzetti seem like great vises

Tomorrow morning, run in to either bass pro or Cabela's (I think Cabela's is closer to Mineral Wells) and ask to play with each of them. One or the other will feel better to you. That's your vice....er, vise. There will probably be a couple of fellers out front of the fly shop at tables, sharing what they know.
Either one is a good choice.

Kirk

The best advice you've received is to make a trip to a shop where you can put your hands on the vises. Try to tie a fly on the "finalists" if possible, then pick the one you are most comfortable with.

With that said, a few years ago I was in the same position. I wanted a new vise, but didn’t want to spend too much money. The Renzetti Traveler and the Peak rotary were a couple of my finalists, and both are good vises.

Here’s my take on them, they differ in two distinct areas. You'll need to decide which is most important to you.

The “fit and finish” of all the Renzetti vises is one of the best in the industry. They make a nice high quality tool. I don’t think Peak does as good of a finish job as Renzetti, but it is a workhorse of a vise that will last a lifetime. I know several people that tie a lot of flies on their Peak vises and they’ve been very happy with them. So, how important is the "fit and finish" of your tools to you?

If you’re looking for a clamp style vise then this may not matter, but the weight deference between the two pedestal bases is significant. The Renzetti is made as a travel vise and it has a lighter weight base. The Peak has a heavy and wide base. The Peak is very stable, but it is heavy to travel with. So, what is more important to you, stability or portability?

Good luck!

Thanks for all the helpful info. Does the lighter pedestal base on the Renzetti make the vise much more unstable?

You're not going to like this response, but whether the weight of the pedestal matters is really a personal preference decision and the type of flies you like to tie should also be considered.

An extreme example are deer hair flies, to get them tight, many tier's put a lot of pressure on their vise. So, a stable vise is important to most serious deer hair tier's (and many of them will even use a clamp vise for the extra stability). On the other end of the spectrum, with many trout patterns, you'll bend the hook before you'll ever move even a lighter weight pedestal base.

I personally like a heavy, stable base, but I ended up buying a vise that weight-wise is between the two you're considering. I've been very happy with it. So, having an extremely heavy base will not be a show stopping issue for all tier's, but there is something really nice about tying on a vise that has one (just ask anyone with a Dyna-King Baracuda ).

As for the actual question, no, the Renzetti Traveler is not an unstable vise. If it was, the previous posters that own them would have been cussing them instead of praising them.

Good luck!

Again thanks to everyone for all the useful input and advice! This forum has been a great help in a lot of ways and I am very grateful for all the wisdom I've gained just by admitting I have no idea what I am doing at times.

I don't spin a lot of deer hair, but I do tie a lot of big clousers. I've never found the Renzetti Traveler to be unstable at all. Bottom line is that there isn't a pedestal base on the market that you can pull thread laterally and not make it slide.

If you are really leaning into your flies, then you should be using a clamp base as opposed to the pedestal.

I agree. I don't use the Renzetti either, but the owner of Backwoods where I sometimes go to fly tying classes uses one and I've never seen it unstable. I like it, but it's not the vice I want. It's not a bad choice though and price isn't too bad.

So... which one did you go with TrentonLee?

??
Inquiring minds want to know.

Kirk