Independent Extensive Review
Premier Vice review The Midi Vice
Louis Price. Instagram @wonderboy_fly_tying
the last vice you’ll ever buy!
“I Absolutely Love It”
full month of extensive testing results
· This review will cover everything about the Midi vice that I concluded at the end of a full month of thorough testing.
· Rated at buy myself personally.
· (My Credentials) I am a competition winning fly tyer with many years’ experience and I have tried and tested many vices.
Detail rating 1-5
Aesthetics 5
Put Simply this vice is beautiful! With the beauty of modern day engineering combined with tradition design… it’s a masterpiece.
Value For Money 5
At £950! This is not a cheap vice by any standard… but you will struggle to find anything even close to this level of quality without buying an older vice which could set you back more than double the price of the Midi vice. When you buy right, you buy once.
Grip 5
I have only ever used one other vice that has the grip strength and precision hook hold that this vice has and that was the Law Vice... not a bad thing to be compared to by any means.
Comfort 5
I find its size, shape and mechanics to be ideal. It’s fantastic for tying smaller flies around 16,18 and even 20’s up to much larger trout flies in the 10,8 and even 6’s. I have also tied larger salt water lures and all in the same jaws.
Customer Service 5+
Second to none! Absolutely sensational customer service from a fantastic company that genuinely loves everything to do with fly tying, fishing and all that goes between.
SUMMATIVE WRITTEN REVIEW FOR THE LAST VICE YOU’LL EVER NEED TO BUY
I met the owner of @premier_vices (Steve Haworth) through Instagram and found that I had a kindred spirit straight away. Steve is the founder of the Midi vice and through a comment of mine, stating how beautiful his vices looked, he asked if I would be interested in reviewing his magnificent feat of engineering… of course I obliged.
So here it is! The full ins and outs!
Right… first let’s address the elephant in the room, it looks very similar to the formidable “Law Vice”. Arguably one of the greatest vices to bless the fly tying world, now this is where it gets interesting. It performs just as good… if not BETTER! The Midi vice sports the same jaw engineering which has in my opinion, the strongest hook grip with the least amount of effort used to tighten. So… why wouldn’t you buy a vice that demonstrates this extremely high level of quality for a fraction of the price that you would be expected to pay for a vice that is no longer in production and could possibly be decades old? The way I look at it is, if I was asked if I’d like a car that looked and performed like a Ferrari but cost the same as a four door hatchback, would I be interested…? I’d have to say, “Shut up and take my money!”
Now that that’s over, let’s talk about the performance and the features of the vice. The Midi Vice has the best hook grip I’ve ever used on a fly tying vice, as well as an ingenious feature hidden inside the jaws. There is a reversed spring tucked between the jaws which works in a very interesting way, when you loosen the jaws, the spring retains a small amount of tension on the hook and doesn’t release until you press the tension screw. This makes it much easier to situate the hook and tighten up in the desired position for tying, it also means that when you have finished tying your marvellous little creations, you simply loosen the tension screw and press to release. This results in less flies dropped on the floor and less battling with a vice that is difficult to loosen.
I tested the jaws rigorously throughout the weeks that I had it and I tied from size 2/0 to size 20. I tied a large Tarpon lure as my largest fly and a tiny poly-winged Midge as the smallest and the amazing thing about the range in size isn’t my tying ability, but the fact that they were all tied in the same jaws! I’ve had many vices in my tying career and I can honestly say that it was a massive relief to not have to constantly change jaws from small to medium then to large just to change my choice of hook size. Brilliant!!!
Behind the jaws there are two perfectly sized looped springs to hold your materials or thread out of the way while tying, as well as an elbowed bobbin cradle which you can pivot into whatever position you find comfortable.
The pedestal is machined from a substantial billet of aluminum that allows you to pull on a larger fly without the worry of it tipping or even moving. It also has four very smartly placed recesses machined in the top of the pedestal which allows for storing your hooks, beads, feathers, furs… etc.
The rotary action is very comfortable, with a tension screw at the rear to allow the tyer to increase or decrease friction to position the fly at any point of rotation without it falling or moving. For example, when tying cheeks on a buzzer or the under beard of a Diawl Bach.
The looks. Quite simply, it’s beautiful! I absolutely love the design and sleek feel. It sports the best quality materials, that are all sourced in the UK, so that means no cheap labour or materials are used in the construction or manufacturing of this vice. Another fantastic reason to support a small businesses like this is the fact that every item is treated with the same amount of time, love and dedication. Something that is missing in the larger companies through personal experience.
This vice can include the addition of a “C” clamp, tool bar, a sight board (available in different colours), a parachute attachment and several other bits and bobs that are all made to suit the feel of your vice.
The service that you will receive from Premier Vices is absolutely second to none. Steve is always ready to take a call for any of your questions and he offers a comforting and friendly transaction from the start to… well… pretty much whenever you fancy a good old angling chat :-).
His service is delivered with confidence and a level of comfort that I have only felt in dealing with family and friends. You can rest assured that when you buy from Premier Vices, you are buying smart and I have always lived by the rule that if you buy smart, you buy once.
I will finish this review by stating that I honestly feel that if you, the customer choose to purchase the Midi Vice, you will be buying the last vice you will ever need. It is in all ways precise, prestigious, and perfect and therefore forever a Premier Vice!
