Of all the bench vises I have seen, either at a store or in someones shop, the ones made by WILTON are far superior to all the rest.
Heavy duty, nice tight screw handle. Nice casting. They hold the work piece tightly without loosening while you work. They ARE a bit pricey, but well worth the money.
We have an 12" throat Wilton vise in our shop (older model) and it gets abused, beat on, you name it and we have tried it with our vise, never let us down. Just my two cents. Brian and Grant