Panavise209 Vacuum Base Pv Jr. , Black

Great light weight clamp for delicate operations. Very well designed & built. One problem, the suction cup. I expected it would not hold suction on my 20 year old knife mat. My work bench has a very smooth plastic laminate on it and this clamp would not hold suction on that either? It of course did hold great suction on glass. I purchased this 12" diameter by 5/8" thick polished granite disc & problem solved. The weight of the granite keeps it in place and the suction will hold indefinitely.

I needed an extra pair of hands to help me work on the small electronic projects that I do. After doing some searching, I kept seeing PanaVise products, many of them had some great comments in the reviews, so I decided to purchase the PanaVise 209 for my electronic projects. This unit is a nicely made vise, it arrived within a couple of days of ordering, which is normal for me, I live close enough to the Amazon depot that I never pay for the expedited shipping :)The vise was a nice surprise when I opened the box, it was small enough to fit on my bench without being in the way, but larger than I was thinking, it has a matte black finish, it is light and appears to be all metal with the exception of some plastic parts. This is not a heavy duty tool, but for smaller projects like circuit boards, this will come in handy. If I need anything bigger, I would not be doing the work in my house project area but outside in the garage, that is where all of my heavy duty tools are anyway.Operation of the vise is simple, 3 different twist knobs control the placement of the arms and the width of the jaws. The knob that controls the vise jaw is a bit small as has been mentioned by others, and when you want to open or close the jaws a distance it is a bit of work to get the knob turned in, but that is a trade off for the finer control of the pressure of the jaws when are working with the vise.As for the suction of the base, I am using the vise on a clean counter top made with ceramic tiles that are both flat and smooth, adding a touch of water to the rubber suction cup before use and this baby is firmly mounted to the counter with no movement at all... While as I mentioned and has others, I would not try to use this vise in situations where it was required to hold something that needed to be held firmly with aggressive or violent movements applied to it, but as another set of hands for small or lighter devises, this is a very well suited product...Overall great purchase, I will seriously consider other products by PanaVise in the future, this purchase was well worth it.

I bought this so I could work on an iPhone (for repair). I have two other panavise vise products, both of which are metal with some ABS plastic parts.I like the vacuum base. It works very well on my wooden bench. Very easy to get it attached, and a simple locking mechanism.The articulating arm has a good range, and the tightening mechanism works well. It gripped my iPhone4 nicely and was very solid.The screw used for moving the clamping arms is a little smaller than I'd have preferred, which is making me wonder if it will hold up to a heavier load. The clamping arms are also plastic, which showed when I was tightening the vise to hold the phone. It worked, but at one point I began to wonder if they should have been made of metal.Sorry for the basic review, but I wanted to get it out there that my experience with this vise is a good one.

So initial thoughts on the vise was that I didnt like it... After using it for a few hours on a project, I decided that I do like it. At first I couldn't get it to stick for some reason to my desk, cleaned my desk and added some water to the bottom of the suction cup and it sticks like a champ. Its now a part of the desk at that point , holds for hours no issues. It's not vary big only like 2.5 inches or less in the vice, makes it great for small to mid sized boards. Which is all my projects at the moment needs. Eventually I'll need something bigger, but this is great for any hobbiest for electronics or working with small objects. Its durable, but it's not something that feels like you can bare down on to much. It's worth the price, no more, no less.If you want something really sturdy that can support weight look somewhere else.

I got this vise for locksport / lock picking practice. I wanted it to clamp small locks that are awkward to hold by hand, and it works very nicely for that purpose. It holds normal padlocks and other locks very well too. The clamp is very strong. The vise didn't come with the rubber vise jaw covers, but I purchased those separately for a few dollars on Amazon as well. The suction cup mount holds incredibly well on smooth surfaces. I tried it on every table top surface I had nearby and it held perfectly on each surface I tried. I even tried mounting on a painted metal door and it held there too. I was initially a little concerned about how solid the suction cup vise mount would be, but I am really impressed with how solid it is. In the photos I have a Sparrow's cutaway practice lock in the vise. It is a small lock that is particularly awkward to hold and tension properly by hand. The feedback from the lock is actually amplified by being clamped in the vise. I really like how adjustable and portable this vise is. Beyond using this vise for locksport, I'm sure it would be useful for other hobbys as well. I'm sure I will use it for more things than just locksport practice. I'm very happy with the quality and functionality of this little vise!

Overall a very good vise for the money. I'm a modeler of old drag cars and WWII ships. This vise is nice for holding small parts which frees up your hands. The only gripe I have is that the instructions are too vague as to what surface the vise hold onto. My workbench is natural wood and the vise would not grasp it. I had to get a piece of glass to use which works fine.

I had high hopes for this, and they were honestly slightly surpassed.Really sturdy plastic, and more metal parts than expected.

Great for low-moderate force. Quite stable, very little movement once set up, super versatile holding angles as expected. Slower than expected open & close (apparently there is an attachment for that), but plenty fine if you’re not constantly opening & closing to very different sizes. Also holds phone for short videos (again helpful for locksport). Note that you need a good smooth table top or window type surface for the suction to work well.Overall, gave me everything I wanted, and the price was right.

The vice is very good, nicely adjustable to all angles, but the base isn't great, it keeps coming unstuck and failing over with my work piece in it. It would probably work better with a perfectly smooth surface like a steel table rather than the floor tile I've got in on which has a tiny bit of grain to it. I wish I'd gone for one with a solid heavy base inatead, I imagine that would get 5 stars.

Great for locksport

These vices are great. Nuff said.