The Panavise Junior is a funny blend of heavy metal base with a plastic vise. The vise jaws are not very rigid, though for holding circuit boards and wires for soldering they do the job OK. The ball joint is a bit annoying as it's hard to lock it down tight enought, and I would prefer a real ball joint that is not restricted to a single axis. I'm leery of reefing down on plastic parts because they like to break. I've had mine a few months and it's holding up all right, and it appears to be metal-reinforced where it counts.