I would as well contact griffin.
The superior 2a is a low budget very sound vise! no frills, it just plain old works! For 65 bucks its hard to beat and I think you can find one cheaper with minimal digging.
Regel has a propensity to shoot hooks across a room, those itty bitty ones you never will be able to find until its stuck in your significant others foot LOL! I used to comm tie on one running on average 3-400 dz or more flies in a winter. I refused to tie orders in summer other than fill in, I'd rather be fishing LOL. The other issue with a regal is if you ever have the notion of tying more than say a few flies. Or you have pre existing hand issues already...they are STIFF! read on.....
Let me give you a scenario. You're doing 40dz bunny leaches with eyes and weighted. You go through every hook tying on eyes, than, go through them again doing the lead, than go back through and tie the fly. Its a MUCH faster system than trying to do everything start to finish. That means in order to tie 40 dozen fly's you're opening that spring up 1440 times. By the time you're done your hands are sore, your palms are sore and you're trying to find unique ways to work the vise. I cringed at orders with lead or eyes when I had that vise and I'm grateful if I never have to tie on another one! I don't have weak hands or arthritic hands, but that thing will plum destroy them!
Imho a regal as highly rated as they come is HIGHLY over rated!
The last issue with a regal with standard jaws is when you shoot a hook you're chipping the edges of the jaws. Which in turn is reducing its hook holding capacity when it comes to size. Chip/round that edge and you're not going to hold the small stuff after awhile, more lost hooks, more unhappy foot incidents.
Some other thoughts is don't buy a half rotary vise if you want a true rotary. Just because it spins doesn't mean its a true rotary vise.
Full rotary means I can adjust the head to spin the hook on its shank. I really need to do a video to show how, and than why its a time saving feature!
Rotary to me means a vise that spins, which is almost every vise on the market. Rotary in a sense of sales pitches has lots its real meaning when it comes to tying. It's a misnomer that creates revenue at the expense of the in-experienced usually, seeing rotary it must be good.
Why?
Take a dynaking pro. Great vise! Turn that baby 90 and you have to readjust your hook. you cant wrap materials in a true rotary sense. it WILL Work with the head positioned at the 90 and not a 45 or so, as will any vise whose head can be made horizontal. Compare that to the dynaking sidewinder or equivalent, danvise rings a bell. One in which you're able to move the jaws up and down to accommodate the hook sizes, facilitates some serious cranking time at the vise! This is only relevant if you value your time at the vise, or you're a production tier. If you enjoy sitting for hours tying a handful of flies this rant is not for you!
There's a PILE of 'rotary vises' on the market. Those that turn. There's not so many TRUE full rotary vises on the market. And no a NOR vise is not what I'd consider true rotary imho. Why spend the same amount of money for a vise that isnt really doing what you're asking of it... it works in a sense, when you can spend the same or a little more and get a full true rotary. Or save yourself money being you don't need a rotary at all?
Sorry about the rant. Most of the flies I've tied as a com tyer are large. Salmon flies and lets face it our trout are not picky. Even our grayling don't care if its a 16 or 18, why go smaller, you're only damaging fish (inhaled deeply), so I don't. salmon fly's are usually on some form of large to larger hooks, again nothing small. So take this with a grain of salt. I'm viewing tying from a guy whose spent months behind a vise after working a day job, tying until you pass out or your tail bones broken. By no means an expert I have a long ways to go, but I do have plenty of stick time in a chair tying flies. The stuff I tied commercially were easier flies to crank out, so I was able to capitalize on it being more efficient. Use it how you will, time to tie other flies, or time to do other things...either way its a win win. Mind you I thoroughly ENJOY tying, but I enjoy being productive as well!
I had the opportunity to tie on a renzetti traveler this last trip. It's an ok vise, but in the sense of rotary it cannot do what I want in a rotary. I wouldn't buy it for the rotary aspect. Like the other 'rotary's (vises that spin). You'll end up repositioning the hook anyways...why not just turn the hook over. I also don't care for the small knob-handle to turn with. same with the nor vise (though I haven't tied on one in years now). The sidewinders giant knob makes spinning easy, with no handles to get in the way! We don't drive our cars with a stick, why turn a rotary vise with one?
Buying vises is a daunting task. Some questions have to be asked. How much can you afford, or how much do you WANT to afford? And what do you expect out of your vise? Is it a one hit do it all wonder? Do you want to go full rotary? do you want to potentially go into production tying even if its only a handful of simple patterns (its easy to get snookered into lol, not to mention buying things at costs makes it worth the venture!). If you don't want to spend much and don't need a rotary, the superior 2a is a sweet vise for the price and their are many many other great vises on the market. If you're ready to step up into a heavy hitter the side winder though awkward at first as it is, can really produce not only quality, super super tight bodies, but quantity as well! I'm not a video guy, but this is one department I've thought about kicking around the idea of doing one on.
There's nothing wrong with an HMH vise, or something similar if its going to hold a hook, but ask yourself for 200 bucks how many vises you're passing up with more capabilities than a old Thompson style vise? There's a quite a few. Or are you over paying for a vise that can do less? Again there's plenty of those on the market.
For me, It needs to hold the hook secure, whatever size I'm tying. If that means I need midge jaws to tie a 26, so be it. Something to think about the range of hooks the vise can hold, do you need/want midge jaws. I know for my pro I wanted them more than needed them. Tack on another franklin to that value. Something to think about.
It needs to be secure, I prefer clamp on. Something that's easy to get used too and the features need to be simple, rotary's are not inherently simple some more so than others. I don't need a high polished gem, I need something that's going to work, not exhaust my hands in the process (regal rant), after all I'm not getting younger/
The sidewinder for a full rotary fits the big stuff well. it takes a bit of getting used to, to tie small stuff on...so I don't, I go to the Dynaking pro. If I don't need full rotary I don't use the sidewinder. if it sounds like a sales pitch it is for 2 vises, no any particular brand!!! I don't care who made it if it works!!!!! I cant preach that part enough. I'm loyal to effectiveness and efficiency, not a name!
The more you can tie on the better you can answer your own questions. What fits your style of tying, your needs in a vise. Case in point the shop I tied for had 3 of us tying. Two on DK's one on Renzettis. not only did he tie on a renzetti he tied backwards at that LOL. 20 years we still give him heck about it, though you've seen a fly of his on the cover of FT mag years back and a few ODL stories on his excursions. One mean dude behind a vise! The heated fun we'd have late night pounding out flies was fun. But it taught me a lesson in what I need/want doesn't fit everyone's picture of perfection. Answer those questions yourself...get behind the wheel of as many as you can and pull the plug on the one that fits. I was fortunate to tutor under a great tier who made a living doing it. I just wish I could remember all of the lessons, this age thing is starting to STINK! LOL
