I seriously considered the Atlas as a second vise (I was already tying on a Regal clamp, but was looking to add a "true" rotary, as well as a pedestal), and when I checked one out in the store, it just seemed a bit too...rough...for my tastes at that price point.
Various bits of fit & finish seemed like they could have benefited from a little more attention to detail, some of the knobs, surfaces, etc. could have been smoother...that sort of thing.
I ended up picking up a used Dyna-king Trekker for the same $150 and it's been a workhorse.
I really think vises are one of those things that you love whatever you have. If you start with a $10 Indian vise, you like it because it's all you have. Then you upgrade and you like that because it's so much better than what you had. Add to this the fact that most people will only try, let alone actually *use*, a tiny fraction of the vises on the market and you end up with lots of people with very strong opinions based on comparatively little actual experience. That's not necessarily *bad*, but it's certainly something to keep in mind.
In MY opinion and experience, the $150 price point seems to be a magic number in tying vises. You're well above the low quality entry level stuff, but you're also still clearly below the tier of "high end" vises like the D-K Barracuda, Regal Medallion, and Renzetti Presentation series. Everything at this proce point is a quality instrument, but also presents a compromise in some aspect. The trick is finding a particular compromise that you can live with.
The Peak seems by far to be the pick of the litter among tyers, though for my personal use, I'd never have it replace a Regal, as WingQuill has done. In fact, for the same $150, I'd rather have the Regal Inex and its awesome jaws than the Peak, which I've found to be a little fussy in its jaw settings, with a tiny turn of the adjustment leading to big changes in hook holding position. It's certainly not a bad vise by any means, but when I borrowed a Peak from a friend, that particular quirk stood out to me. (It should be noted though that at the time I was tying strictly on a Regal Medallion, which has no need for any jaw adjustment whatsoever. When I added my Dyna-king, I did note that its jaws were only slightly less fussy than the Peak).
Coming back to the Atlas, though, it seemed many of the edges could have benefited from a small chamfer or at least some extra grinding/polishing, as they seemed sharp and rough enough to fray thread, which really raised some concern to me, and ultimately led me to hold off on the purchase...only to find the used Dyna-king a few days later.
