My 401k has better funds than I could ever get in my IRA. Yes, many 401k's have terrible fund choices but by no means do all of them fall prey to that.

Also, if you're maxing out both your IRA and 401k limits, even if you have a lousy 401k, you now have tax-advantaged dollars that you can roll over to Vanguard or Fidelity when you change jobs.

It sucks that we have to use our employer's 401k vendor. We should be able to have our 401k contributions sent to any valid 401k provider like Vanguard/Fidelity/etc instead of only being able to move it when we switch jobs.

Why do you think the funds in your 401k are better than you could ever get in your IRA? You can open an IRA account anywhere you want. If the funds available where you are now aren't good, just move somewhere with better choices.

A 401k plan can offer low fee Vanguard funds. If your employee has crappy 401k fund options, you should take the issue up with your employer. They likely chose a inexpensive 401k administrator to run the plan to cut costs and left the employees with expensive funds to pick from. Alternatively, if you are self-employed you can open your own i401k through Vanguard. IRAs are great, but the contribution limits are not very high.

Not all 401(k)s are created equal. If you work for a large company it's entirely possible you have access to funds with lower fees in your 401(k) than in an IRA.