You can't tie flies without a good vise; it's kind of the foundation of your fly tying house. So it's only fitting that the first fly tying review for this winter is on a vise.

The Peak rotary vise was sent to us in plain box much like the other vises on the market. The directions for assembly are simple, and easy to follow to put the vise together.  We are not talking about a whole lot of work, so it doesn't take an engineering degree to get this thing up and running.

First Blush

Right off the bat, the first thing that jumped out at me when I first was looking at this vise is how well built it is out of the box.  It has a white powder coated base that you don't see on any other vise on the market, and that really sets the Peak apart in it's price range. The arm to rotate the jaws is smooth and the whole thing has a really nice finish. I put this vise next to my trusty Dyna-King, a vise that costs twice as much as the Peak, and found them to be fairly similar in look.

So, all of that means that the vise is nice to look at. That's great, but it has to function well to really make the grade for me.  And, having a Dyna-king to compare it to will make this a tall order for the Peak.

Function

First off a little background: There are two main types of vises, stationary and rotary. Stationary is just that simple: a hook is placed in the jaw and the fly is tyed. I told you - simple. A rotary vise is one that rotates the fly as your tying it. Two nice advantages you can see the side of the fly that's not facing you or any view top, bottom etc. The second advantage is any materials can be wound on the hook with the vise. Some people have a preference but a lot of tiers use a rotary vise. Then two main ways to mount the vise. One is the clamp version, simply the vise is clamped to a desk. The second is the pedestal vise, a large base to sit on a desk. The peak can be ordered in either version and we were sent the pedestal version.

The two main functions of this vise is how well it holds and locks a hook and how well it rotates. The jaws on the Peak are nice and by rotating the nut forward for larger hooks and backward for small ones it will hold a nice variety of hook sizes. The jaws are very good for tying salmon and steelhead flies that are thicker diameter sized hooks and smaller diameter trout or bass patterns. The company has as an extra purchase, midge jaws for small hooks and salt water jaws for hooks used that are bigger then 2/0.

The rotation will hold steady at any point of the turn. It's surprisingly smooth turning a material around the hook multiple times. The trick is to turn the knob and have it not to loose and not too tight. Like the jaws, Peak makes brass knobs as well as an extra to replace the ones that come with the vise.

I must note that the vise is connected to the base with an Allen wench and that's the only bothersome thing, if you like to travel with your vise or just go over to a friends house to tie flies your going to need to bring the wrench with you and not lose it there or back on your travels.

The Extras

Like a car you can excesserize your your Peak Vise. I mentioned the knobs, and jaws, but there are some others that will make your tying more convenient. The thing I like is how the base has three holes in the pedestal base and some of the excessories you can add fit in the other two holes, like a light and a waste catcher (click here to see more excessories) so you can stay at the base price or spend some extra coin on some added convenience for your fly tying.

The Verdict:

When you look at a Peak rotary vise online and it's 149.00 USD you really don't know what to expect. I had never used one and even though the pictures I had seen the vise looked nice. This is a really nice vise, very well built and solid. Now I will say that I am not a production tier but I do fill up some fly boxes every year and I feel that this vise is perfect for that role. In doing a review on a vise unlike a fly rod or kayak you can't know how it will hold up over time, however the Peak vise comes with a life time warranty and we plan on using the vice and adding to this review over time if needed, that's the great thing about electronic media. The connection of the vise to the pedestal base if your into traveling with your vise is not the most convenient. The bottom line is that the Peak is a great vise for the tyer on a budget, a beginner tyer just learning and does not know if they will continue to tie flies. High quality, to low cost.

(Click Here to find a Peak reseller near you)