Hi David - I own two Regals. One with the standard jaws (chipped), and one with the stainless jaws.

The stainless jaw Medallion is sooooooo much nicer to work with! I've never heard of anyone chipping the jaws on a stainless Regal, and to get around that problem, I just put the hook into the jaws deeper, and then move the hook to where I want it to be. The stainless jaws offer great access to the back of even the tiniest of hooks.

The folks at Regal have offered to refinish my chipped jaws for $40 - nice folks to deal with. If you can swing it, I'd recommend the stainless jaws. They only recommend hooks up to a size 2 for those jaws though.

I still prefer my Renzetti overall, and since I use that for most of my tying, I'm not concerned about using the Regal for true rotary tying. It rotates, but trying to use it for rotary tying is awkward at best. The pocket pedestal is really nice for holding hooks, beads, etc.

H.A.