Spartan Vise

Have been tying flies for over fifty years. 41,of my tying years have been with an HMH Spartan vise purchased in 1982. This vise has been flawless - the quailty is superb. I'd buy another Spartan or the Standard vise immediately if this Spartan ever wore out. But, that isn't going to happen because the design and build quality is that good!

I'm new to tying and spent a lot of time reviewing vise options. This really seemed to hit the sweet spot of everything I wanted in a vise – full rotary, high build quality, replaceable jaws - at a better price than what I felt were comparable vises. And it's definitely lived up to my expectations. Would buy again in a heartbeat.

I did a lot of research before buying this vise since I was sick of fighting with the lower-end vise I'd been using for years. This vise is clearly high-quality and holds the hook firmly without slipping, I also like the very easy to use rotating feature to be able to see around the fly. The pedestal is very solid and heavy enough that the base never moves. The one aspect of this vise that I really don't like is the angle adjustment. I don't think this is something people change very often (I know I never do) and it's a good thing because it's incredibly difficult to get this one tight enough to stay in place, and it doesn't stay there for long. This means that whenever I have to put pressure on the side of the vise to close the jaws tightly I also have to fight the angle adjustment to keep it from moving up and down. Periodically I get out the Allen wrench and crank down on the angle adjustment socket to try and lock it back in place but I have to put so much pressure on it that I'm afraid I'll strip the socket. This is too bad because 1) it's the only real problem with the vise and it's annoying and 2) I could have saved $50 and gotten the simpler SX model without the angle adjustment and been much happier. My advice is to buy the SX unless changing the angle of your jaws is important to you.