My set of Starrett 1" to 6" 436 mikes have the ratchet because when I
bought them, the ratchetless model was out of stock. I wouldn't buy the
friction thimble design because I've seen too many of them with frozen
thimbles. I don't use the ratchet, and I wouldn't use the thimble. I trust
my feel to .0001" which has been good enough so far.

David

A frozen thimble on a Starrett 436?? Mine will be 40 years old this coming
Jan 7. Never had a problem with the thimble.