Wera Kraftform Kompakt Slot Ratcheting Screwdriver

Well designed and very solid feel. The handle is larger in diameter than a normal Wera driver but is still relatively comfortable to hold. It’s not as nice feeling to me as the more slender handles but offers more torque with it’s larger overall diameter. The push button on the back hasn’t ever accidentally opened the handle on me unintentionally in the past year I’ve owned it, yet is easy to push and open to access the stored bits. The button must be pushed in about ⅛” (3mm) to release the closure inside the handle and it has stiff spring tension to pop it open quickly. The bit storage has retainers for 6 1”(25mm) insert bits made from standard 1/4” (6.3mm) stock. The ring selector for lock, left ratchet and right ratchet is made of metal and marked with a small ridge that works like a pointer to the references for the actions marked on the plastic handle with ‘R’ for turning right and ratcheting left, ‘o’ in center for locking the driver in both directions and an ‘L’ for turning left and ratcheting to the right. It works the opposite direction from my Snap-On ratcheting driver in the direction I have to twist the selector to turn for driving. For this driver you twist the selector to the left to select ‘R’ to drive and to the right to select ‘L’ for loosen action. It’s got a solid locking feel when selecting different positions and hasn’t accidentally been bumped out of position on me during use over the past year of using it. The selection ring also has flat sides on a hexagonal trim edge for anti-roll which works well and looks nice. The six sided shaft is a good surface to be able to spin in the ratchet direction easily with my index finger and thumb for quick low torque removal or driving of fasteners. I don’t feel like I miss using a round knurled shaft for this purpose and I think I get a little more torque by having the hexagonal surface to turn with my fingers. The shaft is hexagonal tool stock with the stainless steel magnetic bit holder friction fit at the tip. The bit holder isn’t perfectly inline with the shaft and has a very minor wobble that I only noticed when I checked it for runout. It has about .5mm of runout. I actually had the first one I bought replaced by Wera for having pretty bad runout at the stainless steel bit holder that is pressed onto the end of the shaft. The bits fit well with tight tolerance in the magnetic insert bit holder. The bit holder retains insert bits nicely with it’s strong magnet and the magnet is strong enough to pick up small ferrous objects such as 3”(75mm) screws on the end of an inserted bit. The bit holder doesn’t have a retention ring which I think is a good thing. Bits are easy enough to insert and remove from the holder even though the magnet is very strong and holds bits securely without a retention ring. The ratchet mechanism is designed with a very fine precision ratchet that locks well and feels solid and refined. The softer green molding of the handle feels a little more stiff than most of my other Wera drivers but still delivers a nice gripping surface. I hope this review is helpful.