After receiving the chance to see the mean design and taking the opportunity place a size 12 hook into the hungry jaws of the Peak rotary vise, I was in love. So, I did what any love struck fly tyer would do and purchased the Peak rotary vise for $145.95 and took it home.
After racing home, I open the package, put the vise together, and start tying flies. The jaws feel good when they bite on the size 14 hook I feed to them. I notice how the Peak’s rotary function is smooth and a pleasure to rotate while applying everything from dubbing to wire on the fly. Weighing in at nearly five pounds, (4 lbs 14 oz.) the bright white pedestal keeps small materials visible and the vise stable while cinching down materials on the hook. (The other pedestal I own weighs 2 lbs. 5oz.) After all the cinching of tying materials, the jaws would rather make the hook bend than to give up their meal.
A couple months ago I was in the market for a new fly tying vise. My old vise was a cheap Super AA that did its job for many years, but I wanted something that was nicer than the Super AA. The vise I wanted needed to be a rotary vise, needed to hold hooks from midge size to huge musky size, had to be durable enough to last me a long time, be stable on a pedestal and not cost more than 150 dollars.
After reading reviews of what seemed like hundreds of vises I narrowed it down to three, they were the Renzetti, the Danvise and the Peak rotary vise. I liked the Renzetti because my Dad tied with one and according the reviews I read, the Renzetti seemed to be “King” of the vises. The Danvise seemed to be a good moderate skill level vise that was less than $100 and the reviews I read said that it held hooks very well. The Peak rotary vise looked mean and the reviews made this a notable vise.
After I narrowed my options down to three I went and played around with my Dad’s Renzetti for a few minutes. It was a nice looking vise and although it was cam lever design, I did not like the feel of the way the jaws gripped the hook. It was also a little over the $150.00 mark I had set.I found a Danvise at Cabela’s. The Danvise was all black, which I liked, but upon closer investigation I discovered that it was made of mostly plastic. That wasn’t going to fly. I just couldn’t bring myself to getting a plastic vise, after all I wanted a vise that was going to last a long time.
This is the point that I went to check out and purchase the Peak rotary vise. Putting the vise together is easy, simply follow the instructions. On a side note, do not try and “snap” the c-clamp on the shaft. I did this shortly after I bought my Peak rotary vise and the clamp broke. Lucky for me the customer service at Peaking Fishing is superb and they replaced the clamp free of charge. I have tied lots of flies ranging from size 22 to 3/0 with the standard jaws and they have held the hook with great force. The bottom line is that this is an excellent vise. It is made with strong materials and in combination with the fine workmanship of both the jaws and the rotary assembly, this vise is the most durable vise that I have looked at. For quality vises I think that $149.95 is a good deal.
I LOVE THE PEAK ROTARY VISE!!!
Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.