Opinions on vices

[AGrant]

I need opinions on these vices. Looking to buy one and have narrowed it down to these

Danvice
Anvil Apex
Griffin Odyssey Spider

Thoughts, experience, opinions with these vices.

Thanks

[Crash]

I have owned an anvil, workhorse of a vise. Not much in the way of looks. Kind of rough in overall finish. Ie some sharp edges on the jaws. Sold it but wish i did not now that my daughter is interested in tying.

No experience with the griffin. Played with the danvise once and it felt cheap in my hands. I am a little rough with things and saw myself trashing it in short order. Lots of great tyers swear by them. See Al and Gretchen Beattys website fore more info.

Best of luck.

[namekagon]

Just got a Griffin and really like it but in all honesty,,,at $84/shipping included,,,it's the most expensive vise I've owned.

[AlanB]

My experience is limited to the Danvice. I haven't tied either of the others.

Honestly, I'd rather tie "in hand" than use a Danvice. There is a simple equation, Function + Quality = Price. The Danvice tries to do a lot at a very low price. If the price is held low, and the function increases then quality must fall.

The other thing when I tied on it, was that access to the hook was awful (I've only used the standard jaws). To tie a tail on a small hook the vice forced me to hold my left hand above the hook, right in the way of where my right hand with the bobbin needed to swing through. It was a struggle. If you look at most vices either the hook is the highest point, or there is space between the hook and the head of the vice. This is for your hand to fit into. Hold something horizontal in finger and thumb and look where your hand is. Now with the head of the Danvice so close to the hook where do you put the vertical part of your hand?

Do you really need all the function of a Danvice? If not you'll get a much better vice for your money if you choose something simpler and of higher quality.

Cheers,
A.

[RHenn]

I use the Griffin for tying smaller flies, and a Regal for the saltwater flies. Really like the Griffin !

[Uncle Jesse]

This is a good review of two of your candidates: http://www.flyfishohio.com/Vise%20Re..._Shoot-Out.htm

[whatfly]

Have played with all three, and I'd go for the Griffin. For the money, however, I'd probably just get a 2A and leave it at that. Next price level is the $150-200 range, and there are some much better vises in that range.

[Steven McGarthwaite]

I would go wit the Danvise, it is the only fly tying vise that can be set-up for a right-handed tyer, or a left-handed fly tyer. The Danvise has just about everything a beginner or intermediate fly tyer would ever need for dressing fly patterns. It is one of the best "Bangs For the Bucks" in fly tying vises!

Steven H. McGarthwaite (aka: Parnelli)

[Steven]

I have had a Danvice for at least 10 years, maybe longer now (Gary LaFontaine wasn't sick yet, how long a go was that? I got it through his mailer).

I don't know what being rough on a vice means, but I only tie about a hundred or so flies a year - nothing professionally or semi-professionally like some of these guys. It's held up well.

The upside is that it's cheap, it's true rotary, and holds hooks between 2/0 (maybe even bigger) and size 20 very well.

(FWIW, I have not had problems with space to tie down to size 24, but there are other issues - see below)

There are two downsides that I can think of off the top of my head.:

1) Size 22 or smaller, you have to be careful (very careful) with hook placement. Hooks have gone flying (I suggest wearing glasses). I've tied to size 24 being very careful.

2) The stem is 10mm, not the standard 3/8". There's barely any difference but enough so that a number of typical accessories that go around the stem don't fit.

[hap]

The Griffin and by a considerable margin. We had a number of Danvice models with issues like poorly formed jaws, chipped jaws, jaws rough enough that sometimes new tyers would drag their thread along the jaws and it would get caught and break, and screw thread quality issues. They were difficult to deal with and were abandoned.

Did not realize the pricing on the Griffin has changed so much... I use a 3ARP in my travel kit and it is enough for the purpose. It has been used for a lot of very large saltwater flies beyond the listed range and has been just fine.