The Regal Medallion starts at $220 and is the vise to buy if hook changes happen constantly at your bench and you want a lever jaw instead of a screw or cam. It is not the vise for a tyer who wraps ribbing and hackle by turning the vise, because Regal's own materials say only the Revolution series, not the Medallion, is a true rotary design. Buy it if you tie a mix of hook sizes across a session and want one of eight interchangeable jaw heads to match. Skip it if wrapping in rotary is the reason you are shopping, and read the Renzetti Traveler 2200 review instead.

Spec sheet

  • Series: Medallion, Regal's original vise line since the company's founding
  • Jaw mechanism: spring-loaded lever (no screw or thumbscrew to turn)
  • Jaw options: Regular, Stainless Steel, Midge, Big Game, Monster, Shank, Hook, Tube Fly (8 total)
  • Hook ranges by jaw: Regular 22 to 1/0, Stainless Steel 32 to 2, Midge 32 to 6
  • Hook ranges by jaw, large: Big Game 22 to 5/0, Monster 1/0 to 8/0
  • Rotation: 360 degrees, plus 220 degrees of head articulation (tilt)
  • Base options: pedestal or C-clamp
  • Left-hand conversion: field-adjustable with a 7/64 inch hex wrench, no parts to buy
  • Warranty: limited lifetime, repair fee $75 in the contiguous US, $85 elsewhere
  • Made in Orange, Massachusetts

The jaw: a spring lever, not a cam

Regal's jaw closes on a spring rather than a cam lever or a threaded collet. You press the jaw handle open, drop the hook in, and let go: the spring snaps the jaws shut on the hook bend. There is no screw to turn and no cam to flip, which is the source of Regal's reputation for the fastest hook change of any vise in this price range. Renzetti's Traveler 2200 uses a cam lever that needs a preset gap for the hook size in front of you; the Regal needs nothing set in advance because the spring tension is fixed at the factory for that jaw's rated range.

The tradeoff shows up at the edges of a jaw's range. Regal's own care guide warns that "improper hook placement will invalidate your warranty and may cause damage to the vise jaws," and shows diagrams of correct versus incorrect placement, because a hook seated too shallow or too far back in the jaw throat can chip the hardened tips under spring pressure. That failure mode, a chipped jaw tip from a hook forced past its jaw's rated range, is explicitly excluded from the warranty. Buy the jaw rated for the hooks you actually tie, not the one you own already, and the spring does the rest.

Hook size limits and jaw options

No single Regal jaw covers the range a Renzetti Traveler or Griffin Odyssey Spider covers with one head. The Midge jaw holds size 32 up to size 6, built with a geometric tip Regal says leaves extra room around small patterns. The Regular jaw, Regal's standard head, spans size 22 to 1/0 and is the one most trout and smallmouth tyers should start with. Big Game goes from size 22 to 5/0 with two hook grooves machined into one side of the jaw for saltwater and bass hooks. Monster tops out at 8/0 and starts at 1/0, built for hooks too heavy for the other jaws, and Regal is explicit that it is the wrong jaw for small flies. Stainless Steel is a slimmer profile jaw built for finesse tying at size 32 to 2. Shank, Hook, and Tube Fly jaws serve specific tying styles (shank flies, improved bend access, and tube patterns) rather than a simple hook-size spec.

The catch is that jaws are not interchangeable across Regal's own series lines: a Medallion head does not fit a Revolution body, and Regal's FAQ recommends buying jaws within the series you already own. If you tie size 18 nymphs most nights and size 2 streamers on trips, you will own two jaw heads for one Medallion body, not one jaw that does both. Regal does sell a Medallion upgrade program: send in your current head and get a different jaw at a discounted price with return shipping included in the contiguous US, which is the practical way to add a second jaw later instead of buying a second vise.

Rotation: 360 degrees, and what that does not mean

Every Regal Medallion turns 360 degrees and tilts 220 degrees, which lets you look at the far side of a fly or angle the head for a better view of the hook eye. Regal's vise identification page draws the line for you: the Medallion "rotates smoothly but with some resistance" and has no brass knob, while the Revolution series is the one built for controlled, continuous rotation with a knob to set the speed. Only the Revolution carries Regal's true rotary function.

That distinction matters for one specific technique: wrapping ribbing wire, dubbing, or palmered hackle by turning the vise instead of walking the material around the hook by hand. On a true rotary vise like the Renzetti Traveler, the hook shank stays on the axis the head spins around, so the thread and material wrap evenly without you compensating. On the Medallion, the head rotates around the stem, not around the hook shank, so spinning it to wrap material does not keep the hook centered the way a true rotary head does. Turning the Medallion is for viewing the fly, not for wrapping it.

The base and bench setup

Regal sells the Medallion with a pedestal or a C-clamp base, chosen when you order through a dealer since Regal does not sell direct from its own site. The company does not publish base dimensions, clamp throat depth, or a vise weight on its product or spec pages, so there is no number here to compare against the Renzetti Apprentise's 5 by 5 inch pedestal or the Griffin steel base sold separately at $58.40. Left-hand conversion is a bench job you do yourself: loosen the hex nut under the jaw ball with a 7/64 inch hex wrench, swing the jaw handle to the other side, and retighten. No parts order, no shipping the vise back.

What is missing from the base package is any mention of a bobbin cradle or material clip bundled with the Medallion, the arm that holds a bobbin out to the side during rotation on vises built for rotary technique. Given that the Medallion is not a true rotary vise, the omission fits: there is less reason to free up a hand for spinning when spinning is not how you wrap on this vise.

Durability and the warranty

Regal backs the Medallion with a limited lifetime warranty against manufacturing and workmanship defects. The exclusions are specific: normal wear, misuse, and any disassembly or repair by someone other than an authorized Regal technician all void the warranty, and Regal calls out improper hook placement by name as a cause of jaw chipping that the warranty will not cover. If a jaw head does fail within the terms, Regal repairs or replaces it at the company's discretion, and vises sent in outside warranty pay a flat $75 fee in the contiguous US or $85 everywhere else, with a 2 to 3 week turnaround from Regal's shop in Orange, Massachusetts.

The care instructions point at the failure mode Regal expects over time: a drop of gun oil on the head and stem periodically, the same maintenance a firearm gets, to keep the finish from drying out. There is no mention of bearing wear or rotation stiffening in Regal's own literature, which tracks with a spring-and-lever jaw having fewer moving parts than a cam system or a true rotary head's bearing race.

Who should buy the Renzetti instead

If wrapping in rotary, turning the vise to lay wire ribbing or palmer a hackle evenly, is the reason you are shopping, the Medallion is the wrong vise regardless of price. The Renzetti Traveler 2200 (#28 to 4/0 hook range, cam lever jaw, $274.99 at renzetti.com as of September 2026) puts the hook shank on the rotation axis, which is the one thing no Regal jaw or base option adds to the Medallion. I would buy the Traveler over the Medallion for anyone tying wire-ribbed nymphs or palmered streamers as a regular part of their pattern list, and buy the Medallion over the Traveler for anyone who changes hook sizes constantly and never plans to wrap in rotary. Read the full Renzetti Traveler 2200 review before spending the extra $55 over the Medallion's starting price.

Compared with

Vise Price (September 2026) What separates it from the Medallion
Regal Medallion Starting at $220 Spring lever jaw, fastest hook changes, not true rotary
Renzetti Traveler 2200 $274.99 at renzetti.com Cam jaw, true rotary on the hook's own axis, #28 to 4/0 in one head
Griffin Odyssey Spider $150.15 at griffinenterprisesinc.com Entry-level true rotating head, one jaw covers 28 to 4/0
Peak Rotary Vise (PRV-G2) $239.95 street (Fly Fish Food) Tool steel jaw rated 2/0 down to the smallest hooks made, pedestal only

Verdict

Buy if: you change hook sizes often within a session, want the fastest jaw to open and close of anything in this price range, and are buying from a US maker with a lifetime warranty.

Skip if: you wrap ribbing, dubbing loops, or palmered hackle by turning the vise, since only Regal's Revolution series delivers true rotary function, the Medallion does not.

Where to buy: Regal Medallion Vise

Questions people ask

Is the Regal Medallion a true rotary vise?

No. Regal's own vise identification page says the Medallion rotates 360 degrees with some resistance and no brass knob, and reserves true rotary function for its Revolution series. The Medallion is fine for turning a fly to check the far side; it is not built for wrapping material by spinning the vise.

Which Regal Medallion jaw should I buy first?

The Regular jaw, Regal's standard head, covers size 22 to 1/0 and fits most trout and smallmouth patterns. Add a Midge jaw (32 to 6) if you tie a lot of small nymphs and dries, or a Big Game jaw (22 to 5/0) if you tie streamers and bass flies, since jaws are not interchangeable between Regal's Medallion and Revolution bodies.

Regal Medallion vs Renzetti Traveler, which should I buy?

Buy the Medallion if fast hook changes matter more than rotary wrapping; buy the Traveler 2200 if you wrap ribbing or hackle in rotary, since it puts the hook shank on the rotation axis and the Medallion does not. The Traveler costs about $55 more at $274.99 against the Medallion's $220 starting price.

Does the Regal Medallion come with a base?

Yes, but you choose pedestal or C-clamp when you order through a dealer, since Regal sells only through authorized dealers, not directly from its own site. Regal does not publish base dimensions or a vise weight, so measure your own bench against the C-clamp you're considering before buying.

Updated October 6, 2026.