My HMH Standard Vise Review

[Fontinalis]

I dropped out of the fly tying scene for a little over ayear due to health issues with my Mom. A few friends reached out to me andinformed me the things we are going through with my Mom they had gone through tooand had felt the same way. They talked to me and told me I need to get backinto tying besides playing music in Bluegrass jams. I used to be a Renzetti guyand own a Master and a few other models. I really started disliking Renzettifor issues that I will not discuss on this forum. So I did sale my vises anddid start the quest of looking for a vise that would suite my needs. I startedlooking at Regal and loved the vise far as hook holding power but did not likethe material holder and the fact I had to buy two other heads at a pretty goodprice because I also tye midges and Salmon flies. I next looked at Dynaking and liked the Barracuda's but I reminded myself that I did not want another true rotary vise. This was due to I never ever used the true rotary function andonly used the rotary function to turn the fly to look at the other side. I also felt the Renzetti cramped my hand space to access the hook. I noticed this after I played and tried a Regal. So I kept looking, I decided that the vise needed to fit my needs and be simplistic, built well and last. After a few more weeks I settled on buying an HMH Standard Pedestal vise. Here is my reviewafter a few weeks of tying:

1) Hook Holding power is not an issue at all. I did have a hook slip on me once or twice and decided to read the instructions onhook placement in the jaws. Once I did this, I have NOT had a hook slip on meagain. I also experimented and was able to bend a hook up and another down and the hooks never slipped in the jaws while doing this.
2) I tye all sizes of flies now a days so being able to tye midges, standard Trout flies, Bass Bugs, Salt Water Flies andSalmon flies. I bought the two other jaws for this vise at a very reasonable and minimal price that would allow me to tye the Midges and the larger Salt Water and Salmon flies. I can change out the jaws in 15 seconds on this vise with minimal effort.
3) Hand Access/Work Room, this is not an issue at all and have plenty of room for my hands and easy hook access for tying
4) The head on the vise can be move up and down with ease. The adjustment is done via the allen wrenches that is provided withthe vise.
5) I still wanted to be able to look at the otherside of the fly from time to time and the HMH Standard allows me to rotate the fly to see the other side. I can also if I want lock in the head to not move at all. Again this feature in NOT a true rotary but allows me to meet my criteria of being able to see the other side of the fly if I want. This action is a very simple setting on the vise and again is extremely minimal.
6) Adjusting the Jaws to go from hook to hook is simple and can be done with one finger using minimal amount of pressure.
7) The vise jaws are opened and shut using the collet. Anyone ever worked on a Thompson will understand this feature. Since I first started tying on a Thompson this was not an issue for me. If you areworking on a Renzetti traveler with the cam jaws, it may take a little getting used to.
Simplicity of the vise and adjustments and setup needed is very minimal. The vise is extremely in my opinion very simplisticand user friendly.
9) Looks, the vise to me is very good looking and I love the design. To some people this is not important how the vise looks and to others it is. If you have an ugly looking vise that sits on your tying desk andyou have to look at it all the time, some people will want to get rid of it even though it truly holds hooks.

Now this vise I do recommend taking a look at andconsidering buying for your next vise or an upgrade from your starter vise. There are a lot of good to great vises on the market and I do suggest that you try them before you buy them. I truly love this vise, but you might try it and not like it. This is what is great about this time in life that we live in.There are so many choices to choose from and one of them will fit your needs. Just thought it would be nice to share my findings and review on this vise.