While newfangled EDC "tools" seem to emerge every day, there are still manufacturers improving upon the designs of long-established tools. The ratchet wrench has been around since at least 1863, but Germany's Wera reckons there's still room for improvement. "We just could not believe that it was not possible to make a ratchet work more quickly," the company writes. "Moreover, we did not like the way users had to apply many different types of ratchet to get a job done. We therefore questioned everything that was conventional about ratchets."

The new design Wera developed is called the Zyklop Speed.

A flywheel design makes the ratchet turn quicker.

For getting into tricky spaces, the head tilts, with predefined locking at 0°, 15° and 90°.

Locked in the 0° position, it can be used as a ratcheting screwdriver.

The ratcheting mechanism contains 72 teeth, allowing a return angle as small as 5°.

Because the head can rotate, the conventional locking lever was not viable. Wera's designers devised a thumbwheel instead that can be engaged from any position.

The shape of the metal bracket that holds the head offers, Wera says, "an ergonomic design with finger recesses that offer a perfect contact surface for the hand or fingers to turn the head."

The company also offers an engraving option for the popular tools, reducing their chances of walking off of the jobsite.

The Zyklop Speed comes in ¼", 3/8" and ½" variants, and draws rave reviews from users.

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