Zip - I tied my first fly in 1972, on a Thompson hand me down from my Uncle. I tied a lot of flies on that vise, and it served me well until my Uncle passed away. I was given his Regal at that point.
I used the Regal off and on with the Thompson until about ten years ago, when I bought my Renzetti Traveler. I think it was the first cam jawed one in the Valley, and I took to full rotary tying with delight. It holds hooks very securely - never popped a hook out, and never had one slip in the jaws. It was responsible for the single largest improvement in my tying experience. While I did tie commercially for a few years, I no longer do so. My Renzetti has seen many thousands of hooks in it's jaws, and it shows no sign of wear at all.
I now own the Regal, the Renzetti, an HMH Pro, and a Dynaking Kingfisher. None of them are perfect. I've discussed my problems with the Regal, so I won't go through that again. My Thompson was rugged, but it didn't hold hooks well if I wasn't very careful about adjustments.
I bought the Renzetti to replace the Regal, since I wasn't the original owner of the Regal (no warranty), and a new head cost almost as much as my Renzetti did. I won't get rid of the Regal due to sentimental value.
The Renzetti isn't perfect either. Despite It's name, it doesn't travel well. It takes some fiddling to get the rotary tension set up the way I like it, and it's not hard to bump it, and lose the adjustment when you cart it around. It works perfectly as my bench vise though. So far, I've replaced the o-ring on the jaws once - it cost me 19 cents at Home Depot for the o-ring.
I bought the HMH to use as a travel vise, since I'd given my Thompson, and a couple of cheap vises away to people I taught tying to. The HMH is really nice - the jaws take about 10 seconds to replace - mine came with the omni jaw, and the midge jaws. It is a bit more sensitive to adjustments than the Renzetti. If not adjusted properly, hooks slip in the jaws. The Renzetti jaws are easy and quick to adjust - as quick and easy as the Regal. The Regal uses the same jaw pressure on every hook - from tiny to huge - and that isn't necessary. The Renzetti takes very little pressure from the cam lever to hold securely. I just use one finger to tighten the cam lever. The HMH jaws are guaranteed for life, and they're under $40 for a new set. The HMH gives unequalled access to the rear of a hook, and is my choice for a non-true rotary vise. It does have one annoying habit, though - it tends to lose adjustment after tying about a dozen hooks of the same size. No big deal, as it takes 2 seconds to readjust.
I bought my Dynaking to use as a travel vise, simply because of it's small size, and lighter weight than my HMH. There's two things I don't like about it though. It's got a short barrel, and bobbins hit the stem when you spin them. Nature of the beast. The jaws are kind of crude, and they're soft. They deform quickly if you aren't careful about adjustment. The jaws are the same as the Barracuda jaws, and I expected better. Dynaking only guarantees their jaws for two years. A couple of my friends tie commercially on Dynakings, and they say the same thing about the jaws. New jaws are under $40, so it's not that big of a deal. Dynaking will also resurface them, I think once, for free.
So there you have it - my journey for the perfect vise. None of them are perfect FOR ME, but the Renzetti is closest. I use the true-rotary feature all the time, and it feels awkward to tie on my other vises because of that. They all rotate, but only the Renzetti is true, or full rotary. There's other true-rotary vises on the market, but Renzetti was the first.
H.A.
