Ray,
Yes I did. Thank you! Even in a re-read I goofed too!
Jeremy.
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I don't think I'm adding anything new here to what's already been said. I have the Cam Traveler and the Presentation 4000. They both work almost equally as well. The 4000 is noticeably sturdier (I have the pedestal), smoother (bearings), and higher quality. However, the Traveler can do everything that the 4000 can do. I was told that the 4000 jaws were stronger than the Traveler jaws, but I don't know that as fact. I found that the Traveler had to be tweaked a bit more often -- would loosen up from time-to-time. Nothing serious, but I have never had to adjust the 4000. It just works perfectly.
My first Renzetti vise was a Presentation 4000 with Cam Jaws and a salt water base. The vise is outstanding. When I tyed on this visse full time I bought a Renzetti Traveler to use on camping Trips and for tying at shows. I then got bitten by the Salmon bug. The presentation was not able to handle the larger hooks so I finally bought the Master. I sold the Travelr and now use the presentation for shows, trips and camping. Now lets get to the break down.
1) Travel with CAM jaws was good:
Issues: Lighter base, not as smoothe and a little harder to adjust and of course looks.
2) Presentation 4000 with Cam jaws and salt water base is a great vise.
Issues: none.
Now this vise was easier to adjust all around, smoother and looks very pretty. Able to go from hook to hook of the same size with no adjustments needed. Better tooling and machining. If tying Clouser minnows I do suggest getting the Clouser minnow arm. The vise far as the shaft is in a fixed making the true rotary function just a tad difficult. You would not notice this if you did not own a Master vise. Lastly this vise has a warrenty on workmanship for life. Also spare parts kit for around $7.00 dollars is available. I bought one and never thus far needed to use it.
3) Master Vise. This is the best vise on the Market. This vise does it all. Smoothe, nice looking, holds a tremendous amount of hook sizes and allows for adjustments to be made to keep the true rotary feature dead on with no issues. Life Time warrenty. Now this vise gives you a choice on finishes for how it looks. I do feel the different finishes is not worth the price. I also looked at the aluminum base for the vise at a show and still like the traditional Renzetti salt water base that comes with the vise. Now tying wet flies on this vise is great and and I learned a few techniques that you can only do easily with a Regal as stated by one other person. This would be for tying in a tag. Love this vise and will not trade this vise for nothing. Well worth the money.
Key point here. The "lifetime" warranty on Renzettis does not cover wear and tear on parts. So expect to have to replace screws, springs, o-rings, and even the jaws eventually, if you tie a lot. Buy the spare parts kit when you buy the vise, because you will need them eventually. I've always wondered if the higher end Renzettis (e.g. Presentation 4000 or Master) were more durable than the lower end (Traveler). I've got a Traveler and I've had to replace just enough parts over its lifetime (7 years, 750-1500 flies/year) that I've never wanted to buy one of the more expensive models to find out.
Based on the encouragement from this forum, I ordered and just received my Traveler. Having used it only to try it out I think it's great. I especially like the standard jaws being small enough for all the small size hooks I will ever use. If anyone has negative comments about quality of craftsmanship (IMHO )they might be more interested in the device for it's own sake as opposed to how well it works as a tool. I'm a happy camper.
Good luck with it...good tyin' for years to come!
I don't mean to pick on you whatfly but warranty expectations have really become a joke when folks expect companies to cover "wear & tear"! Does ANY manufacturer cover wear & tear? More importantly should they be expected to? Why do fly fishermen expect something as unrealistic as lifetime unconditional warranties including wear & tear?
No wonder manufacturers are going overseas to cut costs when fly-guys expect to everything to last forever just because it has a warranty and want to return worn out vises or wading shoes for replacement 10 years after they bought them. Yea I know they created the moster but we've turned it into a three headed Godzilla!
Back to vises:
For the same reasons I wouldn't buy a lightweight hammer if I planned on building wooden boats for a living; I own two vises for fly tying with my Traveler delegated to part time duties as a "travel" vise. :rolleyes: Even though my Traveler isn't my everyday vise; the only thing I expect to wear out is the O-ring. Most of the parts in the spare parts kit are there to cover loss not wear since it is realistic that you might see the spring fly off in the sunset when you replace the O-ring.
But maybe Renzetti should cover loss of parts too?
Sorry for the rant whatfly!!
Enjoy your new toy Ray
I've been using a Traveler for many, many moons now and haven't had a single complaint! You'll be satisfied with your purchase for a long time.
"Engineers don't idle well." And that includes Engineers that have been retired for over 20 years. I refuse to hibernate.