Dyna-King Trekker Vise

[thebassman]

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this vise? I am in the market for a new vise and in doing a search on the forum have found that Renzetti Travelers seem to be the go to for most. Like my last post on the Fishpond fly tying bags, I am looking for gear that can be easily put away and easily taken places. In a perfect world I would have a tying area at my apartment with a vise set up and then a travel bag with another vise, but alas.....I am not made of money and need one that can easily do all the work.

The dyna-king caught my eye, but I am wondering if it is worth the extra over the Renzetti Traveler.

 

[Cold]

In the interests of full disclosure, I've never tied a fly on a Renzetti, only checked them out in the store.

That said, I do own a Trekker and use it all the time. I picked mine up secondhand for about $150, and in my opinion, it was worth every penny. I also regularly tie with a Regal Medallion, and have tried (in the past) vises from Peak, Anvil, and Griffin, and imho, the D-K was distinctly superior to each of them. Not a huge, marked day & night upgrade, but a definite and appreciated one.

I think vises are one area where you never miss what you never had, and also an area that, at least within fly fishing, suffers from that in terms of asking for user reviews in a setting like this; everyone loves what they have and very few have ever used the models they're telling you not to buy because the one they have is better.

So long story short: I own, use (a lot), and love my D-K, and would imagine that functionally, it's on par with the Renzetti, but without actually having tied on a Renzetti, I'll not attempt to make a judgement between the two.

 

[Nuthin_Fancy]

I own a Regal Medallion and a Dyna-King Trekker. I purchased the Dyna-King because I was never really thrilled with the Regal, which has been since relegated to large bass and pike fly duty. The Dyna-King covers everything else is a joy to tie on.

 

[thebassman]

For those that have the Dyna-King.....is there any plastic parts on the vise??

For those that have the Renzetti 2200.....any plastic parts on it (besides the o-ring)??

 

[Cold]

For the D-K, the only plastic is the knob handles for the set screws...one to hold the main shaft into the base and the other to control the tension of the rotation arm. This is just the part you touch, the actual screw is metal, as are all of the functional parts.

 

[Rollingdog]

I found the DK trekker to be annoying to tie on (after a few years of use)
The tolerances are not tight on the thumb screws, which either leads to the vise being locked into place or it being loose enough for the heavy part of the goose neck to drop to the bottom. there is no option to turn the fly and then have it actually stay in place. This also keeps the rotary function from being a true rotary.

BUT, it is way better than the renzetti.

 

[Cold]

Your experience has been totally different from my own.

In fact, the first day I used it (probably about 4-5 years ago now), I adjusted the thumb screws to a tension that would allow me to easily rotate the vise, but that would also hold it in place wherever I left it...and aside from accidentally bumping the screw a handful of times, or taking it down to travel with it, I've never had to readjust anything.