I've got about a year's experience with matarelli-style whip finishers, and had read that thompson-style tools are better for the small heads on dry flies, since they trap fewer fibers. After viewing a few youtube videos and some practice I was able to pick it up pretty quickly and am pleased with the results. My understanding is that the matarelli's fare better with most other whip-finish scenarios, so it's nice to have multiple techniques in my toolkit, so to speak. Not familiar with other thompson-style tools, but this one seems nice and not too spendy.
