I had high hopes for this Bosch tool. The double duty 1/2" drive and 1/4" hex is a stroke of genius. The warm glow is short lived after a peak inside. Thank you for helping me make more VJOs. Early access here / ave
@@Cheesen77 I think the boss would be more concerned with getting work done more quickly than a 2$ fastener. In a world of heavy machinery, if man labour slows down the site, money adds up quickly.
I get the idea of the bluetooth but I'm kinda confused why any employer would keep a bunch of guys who can't use an impact gun without busting the end off every fastener they touch.
"The last time I looked up Hong Kongese knocks off of Winnie the Pooh my Huwawei phone, just fucking chewing through the data." - This has to be one of the smartest under-the-radar comments I've heard from one of your vijos
I'll admit it, I'm a newbie in the realm of tools (both powered and non), but I find myself always looking towards this man for an unbiased view on what to put my money towards. It's refreshing to hear someone give a genuine, and knowledgeable, review of tools so I know if I'm getting a deal or just getting dicked by the marketing wank. We appreciate you.
The bluetooth is usually for asset protection, you activate the app when you get on site, if the device leaves bluetooth range of your phone it sets off alarms on your phone and device.
Bosch’s Bluetooth thingy is not necessary asset protection, it’s paired with nfc (afaik) for inventory management, but also parameter tweaking. As for where they’re made, I have some from Malaysia and some from Germany.
i suspect the unit will be bricked with uncle bumbles IOT delete if thats the case, wouldn't be much of a security feature if you could just unplug it to have a free tool, even if it doesn't have a module in the hole the receiver probably needs to be installed for the brain to run the tool
0.13mm copper tab is perfectly fine at those currents and over that distance. You don't need to go thicker. But there should have been a double weld on each tab. Also, it looks like they might be beryllium copper spring material which won't work harden.
@@hilldwler420 no but I've priced beryllium copper and regular copper shim and I've copper welded batteries before with commercial machines. We worked with this tech 10 years back.
Regarding the Batteries: I have been using them for about a year. Almost daily use spread across three batteries, two i emptied during the the day. I gotta say I am impressed. They seem to have a lot more charge cycles in them compared to other brands (in my case that's Ryobi). After around 150 charge cycles they are still within spec, even the one used in the grinder manged to stay above 80% capacity.
Dropping by since a friend of mine discussed the video with me: 4 pins: One pin is for temperature since the pack has jack squat for electronics unlike Makita’s brick-em BMS that sucked off the power of one cell until it went undervolt and errored the pack out if the pack was shelved for too long. I think they fixed that since that was a huge issue in the past. The other pin is pack current limiting/capacity for the charger and tool. My understanding is you can fool Bosch tools into drawing higher current from a "pack" (or DC power source) based off whatever resistance value is in that sense pin's path. You see this if you slot in one of the old batteries and slot in one of the 10 cell packs or that new 5 cell pack you have with the 21700s which have mega capacity. I’m not sure what the ohm values are, but you probably could probe that with the multimeter against another pack (like the ancient 1.5ah ones) and see that it has a different value against the negative/ground. BMS or lack of: This is one thing I've never figured out with Bosch packs and some of the older Dewalts (pre Flexvolt stuff). They're getting away with a pack that doesn't have any BMS (by moving the low voltage cutoff to the tool partially) but more importantly there's a total lack of balancing in the pack but the batteries seem to keep going for some reason. Lack of BMS means no BMS to toast and brick the battery like on Makitas/Rigids/maybe Ryobis but how they keep one cell from killing the pack early on gets me, especially given that these batteries typically can get cycled at >2C charging rates for the first 80% of the charge. Motor Delamination: Probably shouldn't have dropped it before taking it apart, then again yanking on the armature on the Festool saw before yanking the brushes was a sort of uncle bumblefuck moment. Maybe that's why the battery terminals are hosed. Battery plastique: Actually this is an interesting point since there are specific grades of thermally conductive plastics that have stuff like graphite fibers, boron nitride fibers or aluminum nitride in them. I believe they're supposed to be maybe 10-100x+ more thermally conductive than plastic when it comes to heat but they're still like 1-2 zeroes out from aluminum when it comes to the W/mk numbers. They're supposedly really cost effective for replacing aluminum extrusions for applications like LED strips or other high volume production type deals where they can treat the housing as a heatsink. Link to an ancient 2001 article about this stuff: www.ptonline.com/articles/plastics-that-conduct-heat Battery shape: I think you see this on some outdoor equipment battery packs too where they have that "W" shape, except since those have something like a 15-20s configuration they're several lengths lengths of that "W" shape. Supposedly it's good for thermals since you have more cell to outside air rather than cell and dead air. I assume that with the plastic they're able to maybe deal with a bit more thermal management and also keep the pack "length" to a certain shape.
Re: 4 pins - I've got this impact and both the standard batteries and the Core with the 21700 cells. Perhaps it's just my ear Dyno, but it sounds like it's chooching harder with the core battery ,so it leads me to think it's for identifying the battery type? Full disclosure, I didn't totally understand your initial post. I'm not that smart.
Had this set for 3 years daily use installing and outfitting steel doors and frames. No problems. Even after a few meltdowns which ended with the impact flying through the air and landing on concrete.
Update the batteries are still good. The cordless bulldog took a shot. just after the warranty is up. So don't buy one. If yo have one don't run it to hard.
I have the model without the Bluetooth bought on sale. Its fantastic, i use it for cars and carpentry with a dewaltski battery adapter, its faster than dewalt and ridgid.
Brandon Gouge I dunno how many people caught that one like some other I watched today he said something “on account of people been evolving for 6000 years” 😂
48 seconds in and I've witnessed you using combination pliers to cut through the wrappers and a knife to combat the tape. Are you alright dude? Should we be worried?? I reckon a drill and a firecracker would've put T under ten seconds with such a flappy box. Maybe you're just out of firecrackers..
16:07 The fuse within the device has a logical reason behind it. When (as usual) placing fuses into the battery packs, a shorted device on the construction site would lead workers to pop in batteries and blow those internal fuses until no battery is left. When fusing within the device- only the (already faulty) device would isolate. Voilà.
Happened to me with an electric drill from Hilti, it rang like a bell and killed the fuse of the Battery. Brain fart I have had I put in another one killing that one too.
@@billrehm3590 I did, the ones from the hammer drill, but my brain clicked and I figured yeah better not do that again. Send the drill and batteries to Hilti, got an invoice stating the price, told them I don't want new batteries but a repaired drill. They gave me new batteries anyways. They threw away the old ones, so they couldn't change them back anymore and said I could keep the new ones without additional costs except the drill repair.
I picked up one of these, and to be absolutely honest... it's a friggin beast. It slays any normal carpentry or electrical task, and it takes off lug nuts and the like with ease.
I've had the bosch 18v impact for going on 3 years and I use it daily in residential property maintenance. I don't know how the red dingus end stays intact, but it does.
Bcs its residential property maintenance. Put it in the hands of maintenance guys who work offshore, wind turbines, steel mills or other savage industrial environments and it will be gone in no time. Its fine for consumer/prosumer work. But not for stuff like what AvE used to do (I guess mining industry) I have used Bosch in the past, including this impact driver (without the bluetooth-hole in it) and that plastic ring was chewed up AF, their angle grinders die by the dozen. We mainly use Metabo for our grinders now, Hilti for our drills (rotary hammer) and Makita for all the rest including our coffee maker 😂 Makita has given me the best overall experience, there might be others out there that outperform them in charge capacity and power. But the Makita ones are incredibly robust and have the longest overall lifetime. They last for years if not abused.
Hey the bluetooth torque settings are good if you torque about 100 lug nuts a day. You can customise different presets for different vehicles and get the torque just right on each one instantly.
Came back after almost a year to say my workmate uses these and absolutely loves that you can warranty them no questions asked just like the rigid (aeg in my country) at the local bunnings (homeless despot of Australia)
I use DeWALT and BOSCH. I still like the BOSCH more. Mostly because it fits my hand better. Please consider that I'm not native English speaker. The plastic „heatsink” is not heatsink at all. Its designed to keep the cells mechanically and electrically separated and protected in case of mechanical damage. So even if the black side covers are damaged, chiped out, cells are relatively safe. The ribs are there because of weight reduction. It works fine. I have also replaced the cells in three or four batteries - it's doable. The copper sheet is absolutely fine by electrical POV. Yet yes, they tend to pop off when you disasemble the battery. I personally solder them carefully in place first time I do a battery maintenance(after the warranty, if battery is lucky enough to get to that point) I also made myself a few metal rings instead the red plastic one on the head. The BT is useless until you realize how much fun you can have when your colleagues borrow a tool from you - makes them bring/buy their own equipment therefore actually saving you money - we all know these guys. In the end I have to admit that I make a lot of upgrades on my powertolls. The BOSCH is very eligible for this. Thars why I like it. Even without that mods, all my BOSCH tolls managed to live trough their warranty without upgrades, mods, excessive cleaning and without single malfunction or service needed. Daily use. Excluding the batteries(2 cases of mechanical break, one time water inside...I have about 20 BOSCH total/14 BOSCH CORE)
Bluetooth: In an industrial setting, you may need to document fastening processes. Further, when running hundreds of such machines in a production plant where different stations do different jobs, you may have transmitters giving any machine at a given station the required settings without user ruining your entire product.
Really? I worked in an auto parts plant where we had machines to track the torque needed for fasteners. Only the Japanese auto companies actually cared about the data. Gm and Ford only cared about getting the stuff delivered on time.
Jup. 100% correct. AVE was a bit off here. At work we use Cleco tools that work with WLAN. I don't know if this is set up is going to work with 100+ tools in one building all sending data but it might be good for smaller manufacturers. I work at a German Car manufacturer and I can say that every safety critical screw gets data logged.
"Ya gotta get the foreskin peeled back in order to get the anvil out." So THAT is what I've been doing wrong. My wife and my girlfriend thank you, Sir.
I think Bosch may have doing the whole bluetoothery for when a lady comes along and attaches a rubber dingus to the end and you can control said dingus remotely.
Tools are designed for men. Men can use rubber dinguses even more effectively than ladies, much to the dismay of many a men with fragile masculinity lol
Have owned my pre Core batteried driver for over 6 years now, pretty much every day, in the construction equipment repair buisness, and even to my amazement, the thing still chooches along well enough to not need a replacement yet.
I have a Bosch router table but Bosch is about a 5th or 6th choice in my books. Ever since the brushes in my Dad's hammer drill wore down cocked sideways and ripped the commutator strips right out. That drill was from about 1977 and it didn't have very many hours on it when this happened in 1990. I have a Dewalt corded hammer drill that has bubbled the labels from heat, screwed thousand of screws and made hundreds of holes in concrete. After 22 years it's had the cord replaced once and that's it. Dewalt, Snapon, Makita, Commercial grade Black and Decker, Milwalkee, Old porter Cable are fairly good. Some of the old Ryobi was good too.
As an enginerd, the stater lamination separation 18:55 isn't really an issue as the requirement for lamination is for them to be electrically isolated (as well as guiding the flux, minimise eddies etc.).This is routinely done with epoxy but an air gap serves the same purpose. Doesn't suggest that the lamination were flat before they glued them together though. shrug
I've been on the Bosch platform for and definitely agree that this line of machines is not top of the line, especially for the retail price, however I think you would really enjoy the build quality of the Swiss built Bosch tools such as their much older cordless tools and their high end jigsaws, they are some of the few machines I can consistently say I feel more confident in their durability than the HILTIs. Cheers from Seattle!
How's the battery drain on them? do they still have most the power when the battery is low? I find that the regular batteries from some tasks are useless when there down to 1/3, and the 2.0Ah batteries start to tapper off after a few minutes of heavy use. Asking because i'm thinking of going Milwaukee Fuel
@@MrHeHim Hope I'm not too late! I'm running a lot of the (European called ProCore) Core batteries, and have honestly never experienced any loss of power until I'm at like 1/5 or so of the capacity. That said I usually don't run them that low because I have a lot of them and just change them while changing tasks, but I'm very pleased with my purchases over the last 3 years, and would recommend them to anyone. Milwaukee has a lot more tools, some with more power, but I've never felt any lack of power in my Bosch tools, and the comfort is amazing :)
It was interesting to see inside this thing, so thanks for that, and for the amusing comentary. However your beefs seem to be minor and twatty - the pinched O ring, ok, the foil in the battery and the plastic release thing (and the bluetooth). The fundamentals of the unit - motor and impact mech - look robust and I feel encouraged to buy one, thanks again.
standing ovation for that James Burke's Connections mention. Criminally underrated and immensely entertaining show about how science and tech shaped this planet's surface
The new Milwaukee drivers have the bluetooth built in and it is for both tracking and controlling torque. My job switched over to them, comes in real handy for all the dull apprentices that like to run the impact right through the nut.
All the BOLTR's seem to confirm what I see on job sites and workshops here in Sweden. Bosch were quite popular here back in the days when they were still made in Germany. Nowadays it's Hilti first, Makita and Metabo in second place, third is a tossup between Hitachi and Festool (Festool of course for the fancier wood fairies). That is what I see on the job. Even the Ryobis seems to be more popular than Bosch not because of quality of course. Some companies seems to buy them for an apprentices first tool kit.
I've got 2 pennies for ya boss, Tin Basher here, now a service tech. I've been using Bosch since I was a wee first-year slopping goo on joints. Got one of the earlier iterations of this toy 6 moons ago that I spin in my day-to-day. Thank frig my version doesn't have BT, and a shitty bottom light. (WTF) Had it less than a month when she attempted flight from my 8' and lost a toenail in much the same fashion as yours. Also, that condom wrapper was ripped and slipped off mid stroke early in her career. Not that I miss it, better feel of what's surrounding you if you known what I mean. Any who, there's my 2 cents and I think one must have been a Freedom coin by the way I'm rambling. Gotta love that exchange rate.
The answer to the question why the larger batteries is relatively simple. The larger ones have a higher energy density, meaning the old 2 AH battery would be almost as big as the new 4 AH battery. So if you have twice the capacity in almost the same space, I don't think that is marketing, but progress. I would rate the Bluetooth module depending on the tool. For measuring tools I think the transfer of data and documentation is very useful and time saving. Also the battery lights benefit from the possibility to control them from a distance, especially when they are positioned in places that are difficult to access. I also find the possibility to determine the kickback behaviour of the percussion drills very helpful.
The Bluetooth is usually for job site tracking so if it leaves the Bluetooth range it sends you a notification and then disables the tool (theft prevention)
You can be 100% sure that at least 5 German engineers have independently checked and double and triple checked that those battery connectors are sufficient enough to deliver enough amps to satisfy the drill and the fuse in the drill and outlive even the reviewer, at the same time keeping cost down and in front of the competition.
The whole industry is shifting towards these newer 21700 cells. I have both the newer and older 4ah packs and side by side, the newer one is more compact and can discharge higher amps. These new 21700 cells are no joke! I also have two of the 8ah batteries powering my e-bike and they can handle 30A with no sweat. The new 8ah is barely any bigger than the older 4ah.
Really enjoyed watching this video! However I think it should be put into perspective as some aspects were mentioned that are bad while some were considered decent. The tool survived the drop test, mechanical parts were considered decent, battery interface was considered good, electric circuits also positive as there is a car fuse, other fuses and epoxy molded Platine (water: Dust protection?). As mentioned below maybe the stator got bumped and delaminates during the fall, inside mold work is - at least in my opinion - rather a cosmetic issue, plastic ring on the bit mount might be worth reconsidering / spare tools are available though and seeing other options such as metal or rubber it should be considered that the environment is often oily / greasy thus posing other problems. Battery packs have become relatively cheap: per amp hour you generally pay 10 euro here in Germany, if you want procore/ wireless charging it’s another 10-20 euro on top of that. The impact driver is the smallest in the lineup (180NM - 650NM?). On promotions I’ve seen it as solo. Took without l-boxx and battery for 80-90 €. Obviously you can get much better built like the GDS 18V li HT. However for prosumers who don’t want to spend €300+ it’s a viable option.
I bought that kit about a year and a half ago as my first cordless impact and thought I was buying quality. Boy it made work harder than it needed to be. My wife gave me an M18 compact for my birthday last week and it out out-torques that Bosch by a country mile
0.004" is just about the same as a 3oz copper pour on a pcb. Guessing that the width is about half an inch, those copper tabs could easily pass 30 amps.
The Bluetooth is for tracking how often the tool screws per day and how long for each screw. Another hidden feature is the proximity sensor. Driver via BT: "Owner screwed 3 times today, for 10 minutes each time. Only one human body was detected."
The copper being that thin is probably due to the difficulty in spot welding the copper -- any thicker and you probably risk punching through the battery case.
Not... exactly. Most of the heat is going to stay in the copper because... That's what copper does. It conducts. The thicker the copper, the larger the spot weld you can do. To a point.
I also wonder about the flexibility, copper work hardens like Ave said but all of the robotic grade flexible sensor cables I have seen tend to have thin seemingly near dead soft copper (28 AWG 12-18 strands ) maybe the wide strip is for getting the proper surface area for the current and the thickness is also for allowing more flex cycling without failure. I also think you have an excellent and poignant thought about the spot welding, I have hear it takes a tremendous amount more power to spot weld copper compare to other metals in similar joints.
3 years later, im still using the same bosch impact i got before this video came out. Dropped, wet, thrown, you name it. Yes im a contractor, install windows, doors, etc. Batteries last pretty long. Im running older style and newer core and the new new procore. Either way the drill is still going. 😂
All I know is 2 1/2 months I have had this impact and Ive worked it relentlessly at work (Journeyman plumber new const) and hasnt revealed problem 1 yet..holds its own & then some..I drill alot into wood and mix alot of mortar mix and Im telling you this thing does great..
I can't imagine the irritation of the mold maker digging the part out of the A side that many times before getting it to stay in the B side. Probably unloaded half a can of mold release out of pure frustration.
Company I work for bought a dozen sets of these Bosch cordless tools for us last year, impacts, drills, jigsaws, grinders, lights... So far I don't think we've had any failiures... We smoked a ton of DeWalt 18 and 20v stuff though. And we abuse them, I swing 6.5" hole saws with the hammer drill and I've been known to drill through 6" beams with a 1.5" spade bit in the impact lol.... I still prefer the DeWalt drill and impact to the Bosch for torque and feel.. But the Bosch jigsaw is amazing, i liked it so much I went and bought a big plug in one for my shop
Had a Bosch 18V 4 Amp Hour drill. Bouthg because it was the shortest available at the time so I could get stubby augers and drill between non standard close together ceiling joists. Had a lot of use but it fell apart after 5 years and fixing would have almost bought a whole new drill! Had a bare version of the matching impact driver that I was disappointed in from the start. Gave the driver, battery, and charger to a charity. Replaced the pair with a Milwaukee pack - vastly superior. Also superior to a friend's DeWalts. Love my small Bosch angle driver and my 12 volt 85mm circular saw is a bit flimsy but an excellent small tool - actually, I'm using it a lot - amazing how most cuts are 1" or less. But the drill and driver were not good.
@@benbaselet2026 there *is* a thin section though? And the TPE is holding the copper tight to the terminal, the spot weld is probably carrying 5% of the current...
Love your videos brotha, thanks for all your hard work. My business builds and repairs custom PC’s, servers, repair mobile device etc. and your video are extremely valuable to us as it allows us to educate ourselves on as many tools as possible.
He's still alive! There was a BBC thing about the Apollo 11 anniversary, which he presented back in the day. He's still fucking got it, hasn't lost a beat.
Thumbs up for the James Burke Connections reference! Loved that show, but I've never seen it repeated here in UK. Have they shown it more recently in the colonies, or are you really as ancient as me?
I long thought I was the only one who ever saw it. It was a masterpiece, and whatever legendary status AvE had heretofore achieved, this reference confirms it.
@@stephendavies923 yup, I know, i just don't remember them being that blurry! I don't think any good recording have been released, or probably exist! Damn my HD trained eyes!
The plastic fins are a way of making a strong piece of casing that can also expose the battery directly to outside air helps for cooling but expose the battery to things that can bend or puncture them. Bigger battery because it has a bigger capacity and a lower internal rezistance which helps at extracting power from them more efficiently. I think they need them that way. Because the gauge of the motor wire coils looks like it will manage a lot of amps.
Those marks aren't to try and keep the part in the mould, it's to try and take it out. The finished surface(outside) is the cavity of the tooling, and in order to drive up parts per hour the moulders will have likely taken time away from cooling the part(which makes the part cling to the inside core) so they add those little marks to help demould it.
I have used the old model without Bluetooth for over 2 years and it works fine only thing is the red grip on the end came off but its metal underneath.
The Bluetooth adapter is really cool, you can download the BOSCH app, and change the tool from Right handed for RH people, to Left handed. Nice Bosch, other makers should have this.
Honestest Ave, I have a Ryobi one+ 18v impact driver that I have been using at work for approximately 5 months assembling conveyors. It has 120 fasteners per side, per conveyor. We build around 4-6 per day, 5 days a week. She hasn't let the magic smoke out but I'd love to see you do a tear down of it! Please let me know if you'd be interested. I'd love to see the amount of wear/tear a cheap home depot tool has acquired after hundreds of hours of use.
Great video and as someone who regularly drops my hammer drills without catching them ( I saw a guy catch one once with a 3" robertson deck screw affixed and he had to back the screw out of the meat of his hand!) I appreciate the 12' drop test. As far as the 4 thou copper connectors you mention the work hardening of copper... if you have thicker copper you will have much higher strains on the outside of the bends so perhaps the lack of thickness is a way of improving reliability of the copper contact especially at the right angle bend where it goes from the side to the end. Finally, a comment of German wiring... the way that German equipment is wired has left many North Americans scratching their heads...
@@tuneadoes same with my Mercedes Sprinter and VW's... I have a colleague who loves BMWs and VWs because he can get them cheap and has the patience to find the ground faults.
@13:50 Is that an Automotive Fuse 🤣🤣🤣 That gear box is machined beautifully, there's no way that was made by the same ppl who did the molded clamshell lol.
