Dyna-King Barracuda v. Renzetti Traveler
- This topic has 30 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated Dec 29, 2022 at 10:07 am by
.
-
Posts
-
I now have about six months tying on my Dyna-King Barracuda, to which I upgraded from a Renzetti Traveler (I had 10+ years and more than 1,000 hours on that one). Now this is not strictly an apples-to-apples comparison, but for people contemplating buying a high end vise, let me tell you, I could not be happier.
In tying on the Renzetti, I had the following complaints:
(1) The vise was too small; this is to be expected in a Traveler model, but the base was just not wide or heavy enough to allow the vise to do its job properly. I am not a fan of clamp vises because it puts the work surface too close to you, and the Traveler pedestal base is just too easily flopped over even when the vise is doing its job in holding the hook. This was most noticeable when spinning big deer hair bugs, or like Sex Dungeons such as the one I posted in another thread.
(2) Tightening a Renzetti screw sucks big time. I was so sick of twisting that tiny knob. Renzetti has changed over to a cam lock lever now but I think some of their vises still have that wheel lock. Avoid those!
(3) The Renzetti design on the back end of the vise is downright weird; sometimes if you forget that you’ve locked the center pedestal down and go to move the rotating lever, you’ll unscrew the whole lever apparatus and have to re-calibrate everything, mid-tying session, which is a pain in the ass.
(4) Finally, the finish on the Renzetti just did not hold up. I don’t know if their aluminum oxidizes or what, but my vise slowly went from shiny bright metal to washed-out, gray, even dusty. The brass tarnishes, of course, as all brass will do, and man, the finish on the pedestal did not like getting glues dripped on it one bit. Head cement is basically permanent no matter how you try to remove it.
Meanwhile, here’s what I love about the Barracuda:
(1) It’s burly. Full-sized hair bugs are no big deal and there is no stability loss whatsoever even wrenching on kevlar thread. Again, though, this is not quite a fair comparison as the Traveler is a travel model.
(2) The jaws are awesome. They hold tiny hooks, they hold huge hooks, and they have been very durable. I don’t see any need for midge jaws unless you’re just a masochist and want to tie #22s all day. This vise will easily grip a #20 and probably would go smaller.
(3) The system is designed so none of the parts can unscrew from each other if you accidentally do the wrong thing with the vise locked. See above.
(4) The metal finish is much shinier and seems harder, and the pedestal especially has a harder powder coating, which has already proved more resistant to errant epoxy and glue.
(5) Finally I cannot say enough about the locking mechanism on the vise. It is literally night and day versus that damn screw.
So there you have it. A vise should be a lifetime purchase. They shouldn’t wear out and there’s not much room for “improvement” if some new model comes out down the road. Most vise designs are at least decades old at this point. So don’t waste your cash on a $150 vise that you’ll have to upgrade when you’re not happy with it. Shell out the extra hundred or so, or buy a nice vise used, and avoid the headaches of a cheaper, or “travel” vise from the get-go. The one caveat I would like to add is that I have not tied on a pro-grade Renzetti, so I don’t have anything to say about the quality of those. They probably have significant improvements from the Traveler; I just know these are two of the most popular vises and my advice is to spend the money to go big from the start.
Zach
I once thought that blue flavored gatorade was the best gatorade flavor ever.
Then I tried purple and it tasted way better.
I now buy purple gatorade.
I once thought that blue flavored gatorade was the best gatorade flavor ever.
Then I tried purple and it tasted way better.
I now buy purple gatorade.
but we all know the strawberry one guarantees you catch more fish 😀 😀 😀
Comparing an old screw style Traveler to a Barracuda is a little skewed.
This is more alone the lines of the barracuda though it’s fit and finish put the cuda to shame. 🙂
I’ll own mine till they throw me in the ground.Mike –
Does that one have the same design on the handle, where if you lock that central pillar screw and then try to rotate the vise, you can back the entire lever assemblage off? That was annoying. I do like the cam lever. The Dyna-King vise head has grooves cut in it for different size hooks, which do indeed seem to lock the hook in tighter, but loading it is not as easy as it was on the Renzetti, when it was just a matter of placing the hook wherever you wanted it and then turning the screw over and over.
Also, do you ever use the bobbin cradle? I took mine off both vises. It never worked for me in any rotary vise; inevitably the thread would unwind unless I half-hitched it and that seemed to add more time than it was ever worth.
As for the finish, my Renzetti looked like that when it was new, too, but over 10 years the finish oxidized to its present dull gray.
I have a Renzetti Traveler that I bought two years ago. It looks similar to the one pictured above but no brass just black metal. I tie semi commercially and have used and abused this vise for everything from 20s to 6/0 striper bucktails. I love it. My only complaint is that it wont hold the 9/0 jigheads that we use for cobia bucktails here. Im going to have to spring for the Master for that kind of range.
I’ve not had that problem Zach. It just works for me. The entire thing is made of SS and Brass. If it starts to look bad just clean it.
The cuda is a great vise as well. Congats.
Not necessarily the hook size as you get above 7/0 that doesnt work for me, it is the weight of the jigheads that I need to tie that the vise wont handle with thread pressure. I gotta fund my addiction for fly fishing with making tools for the darkside….
Zach, three years ago I made the same upgrade and never looked back. For me the jaws are 95% of the equation. I found the Traveler (c-clamp with cam-locking jaws) was fine for hooks from 2/0 to 16. I mostly tie saltwater patterns, though, and at 2/0 the hook would start to slip with pressure. The Barracuda simply doesn’t have that problem, and I use 6/0 hooks a lot. Not a great quality image, but you get the idea.
Finished product… and yes, that’s my ruler.
I regularly use the bobbin cradle. Do you whip finish by hand? If so, throwing a half-hitch onto the fly takes less time than saying “half hitch”. A handy trick. I actually find the more annoying thing to be that after using the cradle I have more thread out of the bobbin than I want and need to rewind it a turn.
I still have the Traveler as a backup– its easier to travel with. 😉
ps
The green thing on the vice base is a magnet that was given to me at a conference to hold on a name tag. It’s a great and cheap addition for keeping hooks where they’re supposed to be and away from the floor and my kids feet.
A slightly different model but basically the same jaw locking method from Dyna-king: the Professional.
This vise is a real work horse. No flimpsy parts. Together with the heavy pedestal it will get the job done.The thing I don’t like about the Regal vise is that there is only one tension that’s held by the jaw. I don’t like the idea of having a 16 hook held with the same force as with a 3/0 hair bug. Basically every bunch of size jumps the tension needs to be adjusted. With the Dyna-king’s this is possible by turning the knob at the jaw.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.