Disclosure: I bought the Vessel and the Anex with my own money. Klein sent me the ratcheting Fast-Bit Tru-Grip to test. I buy most of my own tools, and sometimes companies send me items to test. Nobody has ever paid me for an opinion. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Real Tools. No Jokes. I’ve been running ratcheting screwdrivers for about a year now, ever since Matt in the comments talked me into trying one. That first one was a Vessel. Then Matt suggested the Anex 397-D, and that became my carry driver. Now Klein has put a ratchet in the Fast-Bit Tru-Grip, Klein Tools 32960ARCHT, and a few of you asked for a side-by-side. So I laid all three on the bench and took them to work.

I’m an industrial maintenance tech. If a tool doesn’t last at work, I don’t talk about it much. All three of these did. Here’s how they stack up.

The Three Contenders

• Vessel 2200 ball grip ratcheting. Mine is the kit that came with 10 extra bits. I bought it, and it was my first ratcheting driver.
• Anex 397-D. I bought it and carried it every day at work. I wrote it up on its own in my Anex 397-D review.
• Klein 32960ARCHT ratcheting Fast-Bit Tru-Grip. Klein sent it. I’ve carried it every day at work for about two weeks.

Quick Comparison

Feature	Klein 32960ARCHT	Anex 397-D	Vessel 2200 Ball Grip
Grip	Longer Tru-Grip handle, my favorite of the three	Ball grip, love it	Ball grip, still like it
Bit hold	Locks in, very little play, spring locking collar	Tightest of the three, almost a vacuum fit	Holds standard bits
Direction switch	Takes a deliberate push. No accidental flips in my testing	Raised, protected knob. Won’t flip unless you mean it	Light. Flips by accident in normal use
Ratchet feel	Lower tooth count, smooth, a little back drag	Smooth and clicky, almost no back drag	Smooth and clicky, a little back drag
Built-in stubby	Yes	Yes, seats deepest	Yes
Fits into electrical boxes	Yes, slim front end	Yes, slim front end	No, fat barrel on the end
Bits	Reversible, standard 1/4 in. Phillips/flat combo bit in the box	Reversible, standard 1/4 in	Reversible, standard 1/4 in
Where it lives	Work carry	Work carry	At the house

Bits, Stubbies and Reach

All three take your standard quarter-inch bits, so whatever you’ve got in the bag will work. All three also hide the same trick: pull the shaft out, drop the bit straight into the handle, and you’ve got a built-in stubby for tight spots.

How the bit seats is where they differ. The Anex holds a bit tighter and deeper than the other two. It’s almost a vacuum fit, with a little suction to it, and I’ve never had a bit fall out of it. The Klein locks the bit in place with very little play. The Anex is just a touch tighter. In stubby mode the Klein’s bit hangs out the front a little more and doesn’t seat as deep.

Reach is the big split. The Vessel has a fat barrel on the end, so you can’t get it down into electrical boxes, control panels or contactor holders, and I’m in those all day at work. The Klein and the Anex are both slimmer up front and fit down the hole. With my thinner long-reach Phillips bits, I can get into those little terminal holes without going back to the bag for a precision driver. There are still a few spots where you’ll need the precision driver. That’s just how it goes sometimes.

Both the Klein and the Anex work with my extra-long bits and my short hex bits. If you want to run a hex screw out or back in quickly, without fighting a regular Allen key for leverage, either one handles it. The Klein comes out of the box with a combination Phillips and flat bit. All three use reversible bits and take standard 1/4 in bits.

The Ratchet and the Tooth Count

I gave them a sound test by the mic. The Vessel is smooth and clicky. The Anex sounds about the same, real smooth, real clicky. The Klein has a lower tooth count, but it’s still smooth.

For back drag, the Anex has hardly any. It moves one click and locks in. The Vessel and the Klein each have a little back drag, if that matters to you.

People have been talking a lot about the Klein’s lower tooth count. I’ve had it as my everyday carry for about two weeks and haven’t found a problem. Screws come out, screws go in. The tooth count doesn’t bother me a bit and hasn’t made any difference on the job. If you’re an engineering type who treats tooth count as the big selling point, go for it. For me the selling point is the grip, and now it ratchets.

The Direction Switch

The Vessel taught me this one the hard way. Its switch is light, and it flips on you in normal use. You’re cranking a screw down, you bear down to snug it up, and suddenly you’re on the backswing and not tightening anymore. It’s still a good screwdriver, but that’s its weak spot.

That’s one of the big reasons I went to the Anex. Its switch is a little raised knob, and everything around it is protected, so your fingers can’t knock it over. You won’t switch it unless you really try. The Klein has been the same for me so far. I’m not sure if that’s just because it’s new, but you have to mean it to move that switch.

The Breakdown

Klein Tools 32960ARCHT Ratcheting Fast-Bit Tru-Grip

I liked the regular Fast-Bit Tru-Grip, and like plenty of you I said that if it ratcheted, I’d love it even more. Now it does. The handle is a little different from a ball grip and a little longer, and it just fits my big paws better. The biggest upgrade over the old model is the locking collar. I knocked bits out of the older one by accident just walking by and brushing it. The new collar has a deliberate spring, so you really have to pull it back before the bit comes out.

On price, I’ve seen the regular non-ratcheting Klein go for about $15 to $18. The ratcheting one just showed up on Amazon recently and runs around $30, a dollar more or less depending on where you buy it. To be straight with you, if Klein hadn’t sent this one, I was going to buy it on my next trip out.

Anex 397-D

When I moved up to the Anex 397-D, I thought, this is the one I’m carrying. I love the ball grip. It has the tightest bit hold of the three, the smoothest ratchet with almost no back drag, and a recessed switch that stays where you put it. For the full long-term rundown, see my Anex 397-D screwdriver review.

Vessel 2200 Ball Grip Ratcheting

The Vessel started all of this for me, and I still like the grip. It used to live in my locker at work, but I’ve retired it to the house. Around the house it’s super handy for putting on outlet covers and general fix-it jobs where you aren’t reaching down into a box. I keep my extra bits with it.

Watch the Short: the Vessel Switch Problem

The Final Verdict

My pick for top overall is the Klein 32960ARCHT. It has the grip I like best, the switch problem is fixed, the new spring collar keeps bits where they belong, and there’s no fat barrel blocking you at the box. At about $30 I’d buy it again. Is it going to replace my Anex? I don’t know yet. I’m still using both, and nothing holds a bit tighter than the Anex. So for now my daily two at work are the Klein AND the Anex, and the Vessel stays at the house.

Check them out and try them yourself. If I left your favorite ratcheting driver off the list, tell me in the comments and I’ll take a look.

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