I've been to the Fly Fishing Show in Somerset, NJ a few times, and I noticed many of the featured tiers use Regal vises. My unscientific guess is that there are more Regals being used there than any other vise.
I asked one of them what made the Regal vise so popular with these professionals, and his answer was along the lines that they simply work, with "simply" being the operative word. Squeeze lever, insert any size hook, and start tying. No muss, no fuss.
Also, many of these accomplished tiers are very efficient in how they tie (e.g. tying with two pairs of scissors in one hand at all times), and they seem to like resting their off hand on the rectangular platform of the Regal vise, where it is always at the ready to manipulate materials.
With that said, I use an older HMH.
